I agree with nrf. I'd also like to add that you have to believe in "the vision" of this field if you want to stay in. If you believe that computers (and your toaster, refrigerator or your car) are going to become an omni-present, networked entity as most technologists and futurists predict, then you have to know that the field of networking and the Internet is still in it's infancy. If you are going to have computers everywhere, you need to link them. And it's not just computers that are going to be connected - home appliances, cars, gadgets, and things I can't imagine are going to be on the net. That's just *one* aspect in which I see us being useful. Heck, I just took a proposal a few weeks ago for a snack company to have us link their vending machines with Cisco routers, so they could monitor their levels without sending a guy in a van to check.
There are hundreds of predictions that everything will be connected to the Internet, that computers will become more networked, (based on a peer-to-peer type design that Napster and others proved to be so sucessful), bandwidth will increase (we haven't seen our first 10 Terabit link yet in the core of the Internet nor do most homes have anything faster than a dial-up connection), that voice, video and data networks will converge (they already are starting to) and many other things. All these things take people to roll-out. So just because we're in a recession doesn't mean we're all doomed. Companies would like to hire us, they would like to grow and be able to add more employees, computers, locations, etc., but they can't spend money right now. If you follow the market, most economists think we have just been through the worst of it, and that it's going to be a slow and steady recovery to the 4th quarter of this year when it will pick up. my $0.02 ""nrf"" wrote in message [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > This is going to sound fairly cutthroat and antisocial, but one of the best > ways to judge whether a particular career has staying power is to see just > how easy it is to become qualified. Was it easy for you to learn the > skill - i.e. did it require little financial investment or not much study > time, or whatever? If it was easy for you, then it's probably easy for > other people also, and inevitably the forces of commoditization will hit you > hard. > > On the other hand, if a particular position requires endless years of > schooling (like a medical doctor), requires that you have a degree from an > Ivy League college, or requires experience with extremely expensive and rare > pieces of equipment, then that job stands a much better chance of > maintaining its worth, because the simple fact is that if you happen to have > those particular qualities in question, then it is difficult to find > somebody to replace you with. You have to look at the barriers to entry, > because that's what allows you to maintain your value. Companies, under the > profit motive, love to replace expensive people with cheap people, and > ideally would love to pay everybody minimum wage, or even less by just > moving the job offshore where the labor is cheap. So if you want to > maintain a decent wage, you will constantly have to show that you cannot be > easily replaced. You have to show that you have a set of skills that few > others (ideally nobody else) have. > > > > > ""s vermill"" wrote in message > [EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]... > > When I was in high school (vocational) studying to be an electronic repair > > technician, I thought I would retire from that job a very wealthy man. > Two > > realities caught up with me and the rest of that career field pretty > > quickly. First, the throw away revolution. Second, a bloated job market > > (DeVry was as common as McDonalds for a while there). I'm glad I didn't > > mortgage the farm on a degree in that field. The Navy was kind enough to > > give me a "free" education instead. I guess if you have a perfect job, > you > > had better start looking for the next one. > > > > > > AMR wrote: > > > > > > Something I have noticed with clients is that they have laid > > > off too deep > > > and then end up having to use jr. staff or rehire staff with > > > the same > > > constrained budget to manage their systems and network. As a > > > result these > > > companies are still running their networks but with less > > > qualified staff at > > > much lower wages. It seems great at first but these companies > > > will come to > > > their senses when their network falls apart. But I hear your > > > frustration. > > > > > > You also have to understand that MASSIVE number of people > > > rushing into the > > > networking/IT job market. It's simple economics. The more > > > people that come > > > into the sector, the fewer the jobs, and the lower the wages. > > > If you are > > > old enough to recall or study historical data this has happened > > > to several > > > job sectors in the past. The last I recall reading about was > > > the jet > > > mechanics in the commercial airline industry. Not a lot of > > > highly skilled > > > people available so those that were qualified were writing > > > their own > > > tickets. Eventually more people were lured into that skillset > > > with the > > > amount of money they saw. The jobs became fewer and the > > > salaries lowered as > > > a result and then the airlines hit a few down periods and that > > > killed the > > > massive interest in being an airline mechanic. Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=35732&t=35611 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
