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Report: more IT jobs available now than during the dot-com boom

Leader: A new report commissioned by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) says that companies are creating IT jobs in the US faster than they are offshoring them. In order to stay on top of the rapidly growing industry, however, we need to start churning out skilled IT workers again.

IT is still a viable career choice in the US, and there are more IT jobs now than ever according to a new report commissioned by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The report is the result of a one-year study surveying the global migration of software jobs conducted by a panel of over 30 economists, social scientists and computer scientists from the US, Europe, India, Israel, and Japan. The conclusion: with minor qualifications, the IT job market in the US is doing very well.

The report begins with a bit of history, recounting the move towards "offshoring" that began during the dot-com boom of the late 90s. Even as the US tech job market grew, the availability of broadband access in developing countries as well as increased access to educational materials and cheap PCs allowed companies to look overseas for help with standardized tasks. Jobs that were once very specialized became routine. Once routine, they became easy to ship off to countries with inexpensive labor.

The combination of oursourcing and a struggling economy after the dot-com bubble popped led to a fear among computer science students that once they finished their degrees, there would be no jobs. That, combined with continued offshoring, has led many students to shy away from technology studies in school, resulting in something of a shortage of IT workers in recent years. Those fears appear unfounded, as companies are creating jobs in the US faster than they can be offshored. In fact, the report claims that there are currently more jobs available than there were during the dot-com boom, with salaries increasing too. "We have nothing to fear but the fear of competition itself" said the panel's cochair, Rice University Professor Moshe Vardi, to the Stanford Computer Forum.

Some jobs are safe from outsourcing. Those jobs that cannot be performed remotely or are not "routine" are not good candidates for offshoring. Companies also cite cultural differences between client and vendor, and security risks as reasons why US-based workers are sometime preferred.

The study offers some hints to those looking to cash in on the demand for IT workers in the US. Focus on "soft skills" such as communication, management, and teamwork as much as a good education and training; the IT job market of today is looking for more than the stereotypical IT geek skill set.

"Globalization of, and offshoring within, the software industry are deeply connected and both will continue to grow," notes the report. Although workers whose jobs have been outsourced may be experiencing the same emotional response as those from the Industrial Revolution, says Vardi, they have plenty of hope if they are willing to adapt. And adapt they must if US wants to stay on top. Bill Gates was quoted recently at the 2006 Microsoft Business Forum in Moscow saying that Western countries are no longer producing enough IT talent to keep up with the rapidly growing industry. If there are not enough qualified workers in the US, they will either need to be imported from other countries, or the outsourcing will continue despite the barriers.