Future for IT pros?

A

Angry_Birds

Weaksauce
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Aug 16, 2011
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Hi everybody, I'm currently a 19 year college student working part-time as a network administrator (I really love my job, the people are great and I'm the go-to IT guy on a lot of days). I currently have my CCNA, MCP, and MCTS, and am studying for my B.S. in I.T. and CCNP. The plan is ultimately to move into security (I've heard security is difficult to break into right out of school).

My one concern is that computers are becoming easier and easier to configure, and with the prevalence of cloud or internet-based services (as well as the bandwith to support them) it seems to me like there won't be a demand for competent IT people for very long. I was thinking of switching majors to go into C.S., but I'm not very good with math. Can anybody provide some feedback, or possibly just reassure me that I've made the right career choice?

Thanks
 
"IT people" with real skills will always be in demand. Who do you think builds and maintains those cloud services? BTW, anything to do with gov't, defense, medical, etc cannot be sent "to the cloud" due to privacy and security requirements.

There are a staggering amount of security and networking jobs out there and I really don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. The real trick is just keep your skills current and don't become complacent.
 
mattjw916 said:
"IT people" with real skills will always be in demand. Who do you think builds and maintains those cloud services? BTW, anything to do with gov't, defense, medical, etc cannot be sent "to the cloud" due to privacy and security requirements.
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I beg to differ,

McKesson, Athena and others in the health care software fields have been pushing stuff to the cloud a lot. And it can be done and comply with all regulations at the same time
 
k1pp3r said:
I beg to differ,

McKesson, Athena and others in the health care software fields have been pushing stuff to the cloud a lot. And it can be done and comply with all regulations at the same time
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3rd Parties are also hosting McKesson as well. My old place of work is hosting out of their data center. Securely and complying with the rules
 
mattjw916 said:
BTW, anything to do with gov't, defense, medical, etc cannot be sent "to the cloud" due to privacy and security requirements.
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Case Study : California's move to hosted email. (City governments, police force, etc)

That is just the beginning.
 
mattjw916 said:
"IT people" with real skills will always be in demand. Who do you think builds and maintains those cloud services? BTW, anything to do with gov't, defense, medical, etc cannot be sent "to the cloud" due to privacy and security requirements.

There are a staggering amount of security and networking jobs out there and I really don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. The real trick is just keep your skills current and don't become complacent.
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I am a Network Admin at a hospital and we are migrating to a McKesson remote hosted solution along with 8 other hospitals in the region. HIPAA and other regulations do not force us to keep data local. It does force the datacenters where our data is stored to be compliant with those regulations.
 
Some institutions may be moving to cloud-based EMR and other tools, and yes, there are ways that they can be HIPAA compliant, but larger hospitals (like mine) would never move over to the cloud for anything except one-off applications, especially if patient data is involved. Even though they are "HIPAA compliant," having dealt with some of these vendors (not McKesson or Athena, but others), I would never trust anything sensitive in their hands.

I can confirm that IT Security is definitely a good place to be, especially in healthcare. I managed to get an Information Security gig here (major hospital in NYC) right after I graduated.
 
mct said:
I am a Network Admin at a hospital and we are migrating to a McKesson remote hosted solution along with 8 other hospitals in the region. HIPAA and other regulations do not force us to keep data local. It does force the datacenters where our data is stored to be compliant with those regulations.
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Exactly. I work for a company developing software for hedis audits, and we use hosted servers. Its easier/ cheaper to have servers in a datacenter that already meets the security requirements than it is to have to take care of that ourselves.
 
Anything federal related requires data to be housed within the U.S. and all support and management personnel must be U.S. citizens and submit to various levels of background checks, etc. That means you don't have to worry about your job going overseas or to some H1B visa holder.

I'm willing to bet most of these "cloud" solutions were just a basic managed service solution that someone tacked the work "cloud" onto to make it sound more current and relevant.

"Hosted servers" are still maintained by someone, just not the greasy basement dwelling mom-and-pop IT guys of yesteryear usually.
 
mattjw916 said:
Anything federal related requires data to be housed within the U.S. and all support and management personnel must be U.S. citizens and submit to various levels of background checks, etc. That means you don't have to worry about your job going overseas or to some H1B visa holder.

I'm willing to bet most of these "cloud" solutions were just a basic managed service solution that someone tacked the work "cloud" onto to make it sound more current and relevant.

"Hosted servers" are still maintained by someone, just not the greasy basement dwelling mom-and-pop IT guys of yesteryear usually.
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In my case they never used the "cloud" marketing language. In essence however that is what they are offering. In our situation we have virtual servers dedicated to us the same as the other hospitals however we all run on the same hardware. We access these applications through Citrix. It is a bit more complicated than that but that is the gist of it. If that isn't the "cloud" then I don't know what is.
 
As a small business consultant...at first I was worried about it. I thought it would take away exactly what we do. And to some extent...it has taken away some of our bigger ticket items...building servers for clients, installing/configuring/maintaining them. Yeah those days of $10k - $20k server projects are dwindling.

But to use an example, a nursing home client of mine. They moved to a cloud based EMR..but I still have to take care of all their workstations/laptops, configure them, make sure they run this app fine, and do all the other stuff to maintain their network.

On a smaller level, we used to make good money installing Microsoft Small Business Server...I'd often charge at least $5-7 grand for some of those installs...just on labor alone. Now we have Microsofts cloud product....Office 365. Pretty much SBS "in the cloud". We recently signed up with this program to resell it. Have my first small client to setup on this in the next few weeks. Yeah no big "one time install fee" like I used to have, but I'll still have a small setup fee to setup this client..."groom" the workstations, set it up for them, and get monthly residual income for reselling Office 365. We'll still provide antivirus for this client through N-Able (more monthly income), and occasional tuneups. New workstations as they recycle, etc.

I'm on day 2 of a big 5 day wiring project of a 10,000 sq ft office one of my growing clients is moving into. Clients still need this kind of consulting and management. Upgraded wireless with several HP ProCurve wireless APs, a nice new Untangle appliance (NG-100).

Still have to help clients with computer/workstation/laptop repairs. Cleaning up if bit by a virus. Selling new computers. Wireless networks. Remote access.

There's a quote by Clint Eastwood from the movie Heartbreak Ridge, which I use all the time. "Adapt and Overcome"
 
Once everyone moves to the virtual desktop with thin clients I think that would cut you out of the picture except for very small things which may not even be worth staying in business. It's scary if you ask me.
 
Nocturnal said:
Once everyone moves to the virtual desktop with thin clients I think that would cut you out of the picture except for very small things which may not even be worth staying in business. It's scary if you ask me.
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It is scary. Where I work they are doing this. Basically they wont need a desktop support guy. Some companies will do this, but outsource it completely, then you don't even need a server guy either.

In the long term, as IT people it's best to start looking at alternative ways to make money. To survive in IT I think it will come a point where the only way is to really do something different that nobody else does, and sell it. The days of applying to be the "IT guy" at a company are numbered. There will always be a certain need, but it will be small I think. If you can offer some unique service and have people outsource to you, then that's where you will shine. We are basically janitors, and being replaced by robots that clean everything automatically.

The only thing IT will be needed for is spoon feeding users, and possibly all the political stuff. The actual fun stuff wont be needed anymore because it will be outsourced.
 
For now though I am trying to prepare myself for that. But I plan to ride it until the wheels fall off.
 
As long as you don't have a desire to be rich then yes this is a good field. But very few IT people become rich...Upper middle class maybe but rarely rich.
 
stevedave said:
As long as you don't have a desire to be rich then yes this is a good field. But very few IT people become rich...Upper middle class maybe but rarely rich.
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But the future looks grim with virtualization and the cloud.

If you're someone like NetJunkie who fills a specific niche then you will prosper more than likely God willing but if you're just a general IT guy or sys admin, things seem kinda grim if you ask me.
 
You are probably safe for now but yes do consider the future. There is still enough small companies not using the cloud, or outsourcing. And yes, you don't get rich in this field. It's decent money, but I'd say trades people probably make more (electricians, plumbers etc) but they also work harder physically. Do you want to be changing a light socket at 30 below zero, or fix a database corruption issue from a desk in a comfortable environment? :p
 
Nocturnal said:
But the future looks grim with virtualization and the cloud.

If you're someone like NetJunkie who fills a specific niche then you will prosper more than likely God willing but if you're just a general IT guy or sys admin, things seem kinda grim if you ask me.
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Yeah but the expansion of the digital age hasn't slowed down at all so jobs will still be on the rise in IT......they just might not be the same job you were expecting. Small home brew applications will go up in demand, Small business to small to justify cloud, System admins for applications, and most of all Database admins.
 
You people never talk about new technology that may come around and increase the demand for IT people.
 
AMD_Gamer said:
You people...
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I was just having this exact conversation at work today. There is a strong future for IT people. I work for a hospital and my managers like the idea of having support on-site staff. All the switches, access points, servers etc. have to be managed and yes all these devices can be accessed remotely there's still a ton of other projects that need on-site IT Staff. Troubleshooting wireless connectivity, installing any kind of new hardware whether its a wireless bridge, new SAN, working with a vendor to install their system and the list goes on. Yes we can remotely access devices but some work has to be done onsite. Remember you can't even patch in a computer, rebuild a rack, build a new TC, without being physically there.

My company even outsourced the help desk for about a year but then brought it back locally because users didn't like the idea of talking to someone that had no idea of the actual work environment. It showed on our surveys.

Also keep in mind user training. A lot of people are not as computer savvy as you may think as enthusiasts...
 
AMD_Gamer said:
You people
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images


I remember the big push for thin clients in the late 90's; it never happened.

It could be different this time, but luckily for me I don't think I'll ever have an issue finding work until I retire.
 
squishy said:
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I remember the big push for thin clients in the late 90's; it never happened.

It could be different this time, but luckily for me I don't think I'll ever have an issue finding work until I retire.
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why what do you do?
 
squishy said:
I remember the big push for thin clients in the late 90's; it never happened.

It could be different this time, but luckily for me I don't think I'll ever have an issue finding work until I retire.
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Back then the thinking was that terminal services would serve as a sufficient desktop replacement. Not so.

Virtual desktops however are here to stay (just like virtual servers), and a thin client is a perfect way to serve them. Or if you are a remote user, you can even check out your VM if you won't have connectivity back to HQ. Lots more options with virtual desktops.

If you are afraid you might lose your job because of cloud hosting or remote support or any other efficiency related decisions, the best thing you can do is skill up.
 
The thing about thin clients back in the day is that the horse power is no where near what it is now. It's changed drastically, same goes for virutalization of servers.
 
I've been in IT for 10 years now. Virutalization and the Cloud have really reduced the need for how many IT people a company has to have. I am on my 7th year at my current job.

When I started we had a tech crew of students and 2 full time tech people. We had about a dozen servers and a student population of around 250. We now have around 35 virtualized servers to support and 450 students. We dumped the student tech crew and still only have 2 tech people. We went from having around a max of 300 devices active on the network to over 1500+. We average 2.3 devices per student.

What has really grown with my job is network maintenance. With everything being in the "cloud," every person having 2+ internet connected devices, and everything being electronic; we as a whole grind to a halt if the network has a problem. The school needs someone on site throughout the whole school day. If something goes wrong, they need someone there right now. Otherwise class stops. I'm that person. I have great pride in the fact that we have had less than 1 hour of downtime per year for the past 5 years.


I guess the TL;DR version is that I moved from just being desktop/server support to supporting the physical network as a large part of my job. Without the physical network no one can get to the cloud. I've even gone as far as "apprenticing" under our electrician so that in a few years I can get my limited voltage electrician license. Lastly I also took over and maintain the phone system, our security cameras, and other security systems like door key fobs.
 
Been in your boat, and you are definitely going in the right track OP.... but look these words up:

OUTSOURCING
ECONOMY
ROBOTICS

There's few cities an IT person can get a job and make good pay... the rest is just nonsense and dwindling opportunities. I just change and find diverse ways to make money with technology, so if one way takes a crap, I still have the other incomes to lean on.

You can be a SUPER GRADE A professional in dial-up in 1999, but where would you be now? You dig?
 
Greene420 said:
OUTSOURCING
ECONOMY
ROBOTICS
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These 3 factors affect almost all jobs not just IT but you are correct. Robotics halted the growth of factory jobs and assembly lines. A depressed economy encourages organizations to cut back and conserve. Outsourcing works great sometimes but in other cases it doesn't work at all and adds to a depressed economy. People still genuinely prefer face to face interaction but working remotely can have its advantages.
 
IMO this topic is looked at too broadly. "IT" as a generalized field..yes some areas will be cut back, some more than others. In big business, enterprise...I see IT departments, such as "help desk", being dropped. Larger places will be driven more towards thin clients again, and hosted apps

But in my field, I don't see it being impacted as much. Small Businesses still want 1x local IT guy to help them with their stuff...from top to bottom. Even if they go "cloud based" with their virtual office...they still want a local IT guy to set that up and manage it for them.
 
Wow, all this doom and gloom, but I couldn't be busier. I guess it's true that I'm doing a different kind of work than I did 5 years ago, but then it's always been true that you have to adapt to where the industry is going.

A lot of my work lately has been in voip and business intelligence more than straight network administration ( although I still do a lot of that too ).
 
cyr0n_k0r said:
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I was thinking the same thing when I read his post. :p
Shottah_king said:
These 3 factors affect almost all jobs not just IT but you are correct. Robotics halted the growth of factory jobs and assembly lines. A depressed economy encourages organizations to cut back and conserve. Outsourcing works great sometimes but in other cases it doesn't work at all and adds to a depressed economy. People still genuinely prefer face to face interaction but working remotely can have its advantages.
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This is the case with any industry, just certain things you can outsource and certain things you can't.

IMO, the "cloud" especially for keeping and maintaining records is just a horrible idea. What happens when the network goes down? How are you going to get patient info then? I believe that hospitals should have their servers onsite, so no matter what happens, they can get their information that's needed.

I don't have much to say about the whole IT thing, but it does kind of suck that it's going away. I was thinking about switching careers to that (in the auto industry now).
What would be a good area to focus on?
 
OmegaSupreme said:
What happens when the network goes down? How are you going to get patient info then? I believe that hospitals should have their servers onsite, so no matter what happens, they can get their information that's needed
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Although, "if the network goes down"....and the servers are local, chances are they still can't get to the data...since "the network is down".
 
Wow, all this doom and gloom, but I couldn't be busier.
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this
If you are afraid you might lose your job because of cloud hosting or remote support or any other efficiency related decisions, the best thing you can do is skill up.
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and this
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
Although, "if the network goes down"....and the servers are local, chances are they still can't get to the data...since "the network is down".
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Properly designed networks hardly ever go totally down. There may be a slight outage somewhere but not the whole network. Some industries which vitally rely on their data, will most certainly have on-site IT support staff even if they are using the cloud to host some of their services. The system admin will still have to make changes to the servers, update group policy, create user accounts, etc. The cloud will simply take on the risk of hosting the physical servers which will most certainly come at high price and for large corporations.
 
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Networking/Security people are in pretty good shape as far as I can tell.

There are still enough new fangled networking and security features coming out that demand relevant IT skills that I don't see the market for employment shrinking in this area.

Traditional desktop support and general IT people aren't in trouble but the job base for these types of jobs is definitely going to slowly shrink.
 
Shottah_king said:
My company even outsourced the help desk for about a year but then brought it back locally because users didn't like the idea of talking to someone that had no idea of the actual work environment. It showed on our surveys.

Also keep in mind user training. A lot of people are not as computer savvy as you may think as enthusiasts...
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my old company did that with their help desk the reason why they brought it back the users couldn't understand the thick accent :cool:
 
I work in manufacturing/engineering. I actually do the hardware stuff and some software stuff in C++. Decided to continue education in new technologies in network systems. I have a CCNA, CCNP, MCP, A+ and a degree EET. Reasons for this was I realized that most of the electronic designs will be networked via Ethernet for now, maybe it will change to fiber later.

So I can go back and do IT stuff or forward continue new hardware technology. But IT guy almost always can't maneuver in my field of electronics. In short I could do his job but he can't do mine. I didn't do certifications to take his job but to enhance mine.

Higher learning is continuous process through out you life. I am 50 and been in and out of college for most my career. I am gainfully employed now for 30 years.
 
In the long run, you'll probably "feel" like you have more job security if you go the CS route... Or just develop strong programming skill on your own and get whatever degree you like. I'm an IT manager with two associate degrees (working on BS), as well as CCNA, Net+, MCSE, MCITP, VCP4.1, Security+, ECSA, CEH, LPT, CHFI, and a bunch of others I'm forgetting. I've got about 10 years on the job. If I could start from the beginning, again, I would go the CS route. I feel like those who are good at coding are more valuable than I am. Just my 2c.
 
I feel like those who are good at coding are more valuable than I am.
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Why? Just because you can fly a plane doesn't mean you need to know how to assemble the engine or how the alloys in the fuselage were made. It's just a different field of study.

Contrary to some of the ridiculous job postings I come across on Dice where they want a DBA with a CCIE that can code in C++ and has an MCSE (all for about $65k/yr too I might add) you're better off picking a field and excelling at it. Nothing wrong with diversifying a bit but there is a point when your skills just get too watered down.
 
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