It's nothing like where I came from doing CAD drawings and design work.
There's a lot more boring paperwork in this position then I imagined.
Why do you think I stop here from time to time?
IT work is 'boring,' students
Summary
IT jobs in the UK have the worst label possible--they're "boring" according 63 percent of students who took part in a careers survey. Plus, the study that the gender divide will worsen.
Topics
The majority of non-computing students perceive that information technology as a career would be "boring."
Currently, IT employers are struggling to fill vacancies, while the number of students applying for IT-related degrees is falling. Research by careers charity Crac shows that, while non-computing students think IT job prospects are good, and have few negative perceptions of IT professionals themselves, 63 percent believe a job in IT would be "boring."
"Over 60 percent of non-computing students cited boring work as the main reason they would not join the sector," stated Crac development director Robin Mellors-Bourne. "Employers should be able to counter that kind of perception. We found that very few of the students hold negative perceptions about the IT profession or its people."
The British Computer Society called on employers to encourage students to study ICT through work-experience schemes.
"Greater exposure of young people to the merits of a job in the IT sector is vital. We need to show them the variety of roles in IT and the importance that IT carries today. IT is at the heart of business these days and there are real opportunities now to have a career in IT which will ultimately lead to a position on the board," said Mike Rodd, learned society director at BCS.
Crac also said that under-representation of women in IT is likely to worsen rather than improve. The percentage of female applicants for IT degree courses fell from 18 percent to 15 percent between 2001 and 2007, and female students of computer science as an A-Level fell from 14 percent to 10 percent over the same period.
However, the proportion of females undertaking ICT A-Levels, which tend to be based on user skills, has risen to around 40 percent between 2001 and 2007. Crac said that, despite the under-representation of females as students for ICT qualifications, they "outperform male students, in terms of results, at all levels".
Talkback Most Recent of 74 Talkback(s)
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AllKnowingAllSeeing23rd Jun 2008 -
Boring. Thankless. Deadend.
I have been in IT for 10 years. I have two certificates in Network Admin and 9 certs. I make $14hr. Jobs are very physical. There is a lot of abuse. So turnover is high. Whatsmore job security is low. There is no advancement. Hours are long and 7 day weeks are common. The IT dept in most companies are not very positively viewed. IT would be a good job for a high school dropout not a college grad. US companies endeavor to hire foreigners for the good paying IT jobs and hire Americans for the lower paying physical and mundane duties. This is the reason there is a "lot of work" in IT. Just like there is a lot of work available for Americans to pick tomatoes in California.
net1tech20th Jul 2008 -
More Wasted Money
People really need a formal study to know that?!!
nothingness23rd Jun 2008 -
RE: IT work is 'boring,' students
Its all in the size of the company. The larger the company the more boring IT work becomes. The reason I say that is in a large company the IT department becomes more segmented and people do specialized tasks which leads to a lot of the same each day. Also the large company is more likely to be publicly traded and then the paperwork and compliance become a pain.
In smaller privately held companies however where a small IT team does everything and you get to jump between different projects and technologies it can be very exciting and challenging.
jfp23rd Jun 2008 -
Ditto that! Your points cannot be stressed enough!!
My first job was a few years at a small (i.e. 30 employees) engineering firm. Variety was the order of the day - you did what needed to be done. You learned on the job as a result. New ideas were relished. Results were the emphasis.
Then went to a large F500. You could not step out of your role - that meant audit problems. Ideas needed vetting...if they got past initial veto, you needed to find a "sponsor" to fund a proof of concept. There had to be an ROI study. You quickly got the picture - unless you have a total blockbuster, don't bother stirring the pot. I.e. spend your own time to prove it, develop it, and bring it to us already 80% done on your own unbillable time. Oh, but we know "our employees are our greatest asset"...so, you have to get x% of your time in on training every year, or your performance review will suffer. So we all go to stuffy training classes to keep us "up to date" on technologies that we should just know if we were able to tinker with things that we find interesting. And yes, there's a form or approval for everything. Sigh.
I guess it is no secret that small & private = innovative. But it really blows the mind every time I think back and do a mental comparison.
techboy_z23rd Jun 2008 -
On the flipside ...
Large companies let you get your hands on bigger and better tech. If you're in IT to work with the latest and the greatest, a big company is the way to go.
RationalGuy23rd Jun 2008 -
Very Boring for some
In my company, IT work can be very boring. Our IT people do not solve problems or build infrastructure. If a computer stops working, they replace the hardware or software (or both). Only a select few get to do the really interesting stuff. And they only use Windows...
barence77325th Jun 2008 -
You got it right
All symptoms of a concern I have had since the early 80's. Big companies bore creative people. What you end up with is mediocre people who feel they cannot escape the system, sticking it out. They end up providing the hardware software and firmware that are essential for profitable computer users everywhere. Big companies push the guys with real talent out the door.
A friend of mine graduated from Carnegie-Mellon with a degree in Computer Science. He went to work at Mircosoft in Redmond. He hated it! Although his pedigree was impeccable, he said he was forced to climb the social/corporate ladder along side graduates of ITTech and the local community colleges. He won the climb of course. And found that it was worse as a manager. He left. He went to law school and is now a criminal defense attorney.
cfostel10th Jul 2008 -
Any job is boring if...
it doesn't interest the one doing the job. Anyone can find something that bores them... and something that doesn't.
bjbrock23rd Jun 2008 -
RE: IT work is 'boring,' students
As an IT worker - Yeah, it's boring. I was basically tricked into an IT career by professors who said I was studying "computer science", and never told me there aren't actual research jobs for CS grads, just IT jobs.
I'm sick of hearing different fields whine about shortages. Teachers, nurses, IT grads, whatever. There are no shortages, only stingy employers. "Shortage" is code for "This job is worth more to us than we are willing to pay for it."
shagbark23rd Jun 2008 -
Yup, I.T. pays less than many semi-skilled positions
these days. That's how companies end up in such a mess with projects/missed deadlines and blown budgets.
Another part of the equation is that there are a lot of bluffers calling themselves I.T. personnel, so that means more random noise to drown out the genuine applicants.
Oh, and let's not forget the move "up" to management, where you get to write reports on reports about things that you know less and less about.
fr0thy223rd Jun 2008 -
I agree
Don't forget about the stupid "IT recruiters" with their stupid interview questions.
ZDNET_guest66625th Jun 2008 -
IT employers struggling not to hire qualified emplyees.
Bob? That you?
Yeah. Ever since that article said applicants should try to meet those who review their resumes I haven't been able to leave by the front entrance either.
I know. They all try to hand you their resumes with perfect qualifications for the jobs and you can't take 'em without possible legal problems when you turn 'em down.
How do they find time to hang around during the workdays, anyway?
They get hired for night shift retail jobs. Even driving taxis. Means they can show up here. And then we've got more qualified applicants...
I've been working the overqualified dodge. Too many qualifications, too high a salary before someone else dropped 'em to offshore the work.
As long as they're not working the salaries are lower around here and we can pay the people on visas less.
Not bad, especially now that lack of training has flopped. Must be 50 outfits willing to give people all the training they need for free.
Tough. The only way we can make any money out of this is to lay off the current people and then hire people about as good for lower salaries. But that can happen only so often.
When are these qualified, talented people going to give up and go away so we can get the people we want?
Who knows. Too many people enjoy the job too much and don't know when they're not wanted.
Anton Philidor23rd Jun 2008 -
Good tact
I give thee 3 UAC prompts out of 5 on the Mike Cox (and his rep) scale.
startx.jeff23rd Jun 2008 -
RE: IT work is 'boring,' students
I find IT work to be hot & cold. When there's a problem to solve IT can be very interesting, like doing detective work. When everything's working and your employer spends his/her time finding new ways to justify your employment then IT can be pretty boring. Working for a technology vendor can be exciting, new technology, new challenges, new places to visit and people to meet on a regular basis but not for the feint of heart. However, this too can become boring when sales are down.
IT is pretty abstract and tough to digest when you venture beyond PCs and get into networking, datacom and IT security but this is where the adventure is if you ask me.
hadoz23rd Jun 2008
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