Tech Jobs

Tech Jobs are basically short form of technical Jobs. Let’s see the recent Jobs scenario. The employment market may not be on an upturn, though at least layoffs have slowed. But as unemployed and underemployed engineers wait for brighter signs of improvement, there’s plenty of concern about the impact changes in the global marketplace will have on what’s now being referred to as a jobless recovery.

High-Tech Jobs and industries as a whole have finally slowed their cutbacks after having led all industries in handing out pink slips during 2001 and 2002. “Telecom and computers are not even in the top five any more,” said John Challenger of Challenger Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm. In fact, the electronics, telecommunications and computer industries together accounted for only 16 percent of the Tech Jobs cuts announced during the first half of this year, Challenger said. Telecommunications serves as a bellwether, he added. In that industry, companies trimmed 36,025 workers during the first six months of this year — about the same as the 35,937 laid off in February 2002 alone, he added.

But there’s a significant difference between fewer layoffs and more jobs. Most observers didn’t expect any marked increase in hiring the previous year, 2003. Rather, they are echoing the refrain that’s become all too constant during the past couple years: the upturn is about six months out.

As everyone continues to wait for the turnaround, there seems to be a growing sense that the High-Tech Jobs market is changing significantly. It’s always been something of a boom-and-bust field, but circumspection about globalization is raising concerns that some professional and Tech Jobs could move offshore, similar to when manufacturing jobs left during the 1980s.

“We are entering a time when we’re going to see a lot of employee unrest,” said LeEarl Bryant, past president of IEEE-USA. Bryant noted that engineers have staged a few small demonstrations around the country in recent months to help raise public awareness about companies that are moving Tech Jobs offshore.

Nevertheless, "offshore outsourcing will grow because companies have to cut costs," predicted Nick Corcodilos, president of AskTheHeadhunter.com. Others aren’t so sure that such a move will be the economic remedy companies need, however. The debate about whether or not the comparatively low cost of offshore engineers is a good way for companies to improve their bottom line is fully two-sided.

When it comes to Tech Jobs, the battle between what’s good for individual workers and what’s good for the companies that hire them will undoubtedly continue for some time. And while worker nationality is a hot button in that debate, many observers contend that engineers’ creativity and originality are more important than their salaries or location.

A company can’t save itself into prosperity. It needs innovation, which requires the right talent and the cost of the workforce is not as big a factor as workers’ ability to open new markets with unique products. The breakthrough of a new technology and in turn the Tech Jobs are so great that you put the talent wherever you can get it.

There’s a difference between Tech Jobs that move offshore to save costs and those that help create revenue, with many of the latter staying in the United States. The EEs who survive and thrive are those who figure out what kind of work can only be done here and then pursue that kind of work.

This notion places the burden on the engineers, who must watch and analyze the global market while staying up to date technically. This dual priority will be particularly important for young engineers entering the Tech Jobs market. They will need to consider some fairly long-term issues to avoid starting their career specializing in a discipline that might go offshore. People going into engineering need to consider economics and the world outlook.