Monitoring trends
Today, information technology is one of the fastest grow area, highest paid careers, and always in high demand. However, it also has risks that students must consider when selecting this field of study. For students who wish to build a career in information technology, they must constantly monitor the market trends to identify what jobs are “Hot” and what are “Not”.
It is important to note that the fields of study in most universities are highly general to give students enough foundation for their knowledge but students must develop their own specialty and this will have significant influence on students' future career. For example, university teaches programming languages and all students know how to program but there are many particular areas in programming that may appeal to some but not others. Some may only want to write program for applications when other want to program an operating system or go deep into the hardware and software interfaces. Once students master the general knowledge, they will need to create their own expertise and specialization. This is where individual learning begins.
For example, a student may want to specialize in Microsoft Windows platforms. There are many tools and technologies that Microsoft produces to people who are interested in their products. Other people may want to focus on mobile platform such as Apple's iPhone, iPad etc. Of course, some would prefer Java and Open Source software. These are your own preference depending on your interests. The most important is you have a specialty and NOT just general knowledge, as it will impact your future career plans and strategies.
By monitor the market trends, you know what the demands are and what skills the industry need. Simply by having a degree and general knowledge would NOT be enough as you are competing with so many people who have the same degrees and knowledge. By having extra specialty will give you a competitive advantage and help you gain employment. Even when you are fully employed, you still need to monitor the trends because market demand changes often. A specialized skill may be good for awhile but could be bad as market changes. if you are an expert in a certain technology area that is used by only few companies, then there are less demands for your skills in the market and it will be difficult for you to find work. However, because only few people know about that particular technology meaning that you can potentially demand much higher salary for your expertise. As long as you are enjoying what you do, interest in what you know and continue to improve your skills you will go far in your career.
My advice to students is to stay with the main stream companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Apple, IBM because these are well known companies that have established well in the market. They have so many tools, documents and trainings available for you to learn and continue to improve your skills. These companies set the trends in the market and they control over 85% of the software technology market, they always monitor changes and act quickly as new technology emerge. The best way to monitor market trend is to read as many technical articles as possible, follows technical blogs or technical websites, watch for news from these established companies, and watch the local market.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
