The Business of IT: Opportunity Ahead
By Robert ForsytheDean of USF College of Business
There is a lot of good news for business schools these days. Student demand for business education is near all-time highs. The USF College of Business in Tampa has added new courses, opened additional seats in core classes, and changed the delivery schedule for some courses so that students have more options at registration time. Demand is surging for all but one of our majors - Management Information Systems (MIS).
Nationwide, the number of students enrolling in information systems and computer science majors is down 70 percent from its peak during the tech boom. At USF, demand for undergraduate MIS majors has dropped twenty percent each year since 2001.
If demand for business education is greater than ever, why aren't MIS departments across the nation bursting at the seams?
Perhaps business, education, and media share the blame because America's young people don't know that IT jobs are the hottest jobs in the nation. Fears of outsourcing - misplaced fears - are often cited as the reason students steer away from the field.
Indeed, some technical jobs, such as programming jobs, are being sent overseas at alarming rates, but there remains a large and growing demand for IT professionals. A recent editorial in the University of South Florida's student newspaper, The Oracle, summed it up well, saying that the "fear that India might 'steal' all of America's tech jobs has been around since the ascension of India's economy and the bursting of the American tech bubble," when information and communication technologies sectors lost 400,000+ jobs. The editors rightly point out that such numbers are scary but smartly note that "things have changed since 2004."
People like Jose Torres, managing director of Protiviti and a member of USF's Information Systems/Decisions Sciences Advisory Board believe that students don't know how much things have changed. Torres believes that that universities and industry pros alike must do a better job informing young college students about career potential and opportunities.
"We're not educating students on the potential and opportunities in the field until after they've started considering other majors," he said. "They don't know what an MIS graduate can do. And parents (who influence decisions) may have memories of the dot-com bubble and fear of outsourcing."
Opportunity ahead
Granted, outsourcing will likely continue for coding and help desk jobs, but there is opportunity ahead for future IT pros. Hot job lists are loaded with IT careers and a simple internet search confirms these positions draw a nice salary. Kiplinger's "Top Ten Hottest Jobs" list includes five IT careers, with median salaries ranging from $58k for a network and computer systems administrator to $79k for software engineers.
Half the spots on CNN.com's fastest-growing jobs list are in the field, many requiring only a bachelor's degree in information systems or a computer-related major. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, it will be a challenge to fill these jobs. The Bureau says that the reason that such jobs account for such a large segment of growing occupations is because there aren't enough graduates coming out of America's universities.
With fewer professionals entering the field, and baby boomers likely to start retiring soon, there is opportunity ahead for smart young IT pros.
A different kind of IT pro
The opportunity that outsourcing and retiring is creating involves change. There is and will continue to be a growing demand for a different group of IT professionals.
According to top IT leaders, the most highly-sought after analysts will be those who understand how to blend process and technology. Future IT jobs will require employees who can work across teams, departments, and even corporations due to outsourcing and mergers.
"IT work will require more of a blending of process and technology," said Torres. "For years popular mentality had IT in one silo and business process in another, talking different languages. Now, organizations are seeing the need for integration," he said. Torres said the jobs will be spread across industries and won't be limited to large IT departments.
Tomorrow's CIO's must possess basic business acumen, too, because they must do more than simply create and manage programs. They must contribute to the bottom line and understand company objectives. ComputerWorld quotes a Robert Half technology survey: "Forty-one percent of CIO's polled said they are placing increased emphasis on business fundamentals when evaluating applicants for IT positions."
Mastery of the so-called "soft skills" will be required, too, such as communication and relationship-building skills. As colleagues will be spread across departments, teams, and nations, IT executives must be able to convey complex information effectively with people outside the IT world.
So what's next?
If businesses, education, and the media share the blame for sagging enrollment, then these groups can work together to solve the problem. Businesses can partner with education to carefully evaluate curriculum so that MIS programs produce students who are more than technical experts. USF, for instance, has scrutinized its information systems programs to ensure that the skills noted above are part of a student's learning compact.
Educators must work with industry leaders, too. Educators need to know what employers seek in new hires and not only educate students in terms of curriculum, but also in terms of what it means to be a professional. One way to do this is by identifying corporate partners and providing "real world" projects for students.
Educators, corporations and the media must work together as well, to spread the message that outsourcing is not the end of IT. High-schoolers, college students, and parents alike must understand that well-rounded, business-minded IT professionals are the next group of highly-sought-after employees.
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