The Matter with the Market lies in Fish! on the recession, the market and computing

It’s doubtless doubts have crystallized among CoCians when it comes to securing a computing career. With the world plagued with the worst recession since the Great Depression and a steady decline in employment, most undergraduates are. Add to that the Dot Com bubble burst of 2000/2001 and discouraging reports by the media, and you have concern budding among numerous computing majors about the future state of their profession.

The truth is, however, that the recession has barely touched what was (and still is) a continuing expansion of the job market for computing students. Apart from the dent by the Dot Com burst, job opportunities and demand for computing grads remain on a persistent upward climb. The US Department of Labor continues to project that the fastest growing occupations will be in the field of computing, and projects that the job market in computing will increase by at least 21% between 2006 and 2016. Other authorities—like CNN Money and the Bureau of Labor Statistics—affirm such projections.

This, in a way, is really in response to the Dot Com burst. With a 60% drop in enrollment for computing-related majors and a growing need for computer specialists, the demand remains higher than the amount of talent currently available. Many employers in desperation have begun to look overseas, but stress a preference for fellow at-home computing talent. As basic economics dictate, high demand and a low supply of available talent means employers are willing to pay more, and the likelihood of being hired upon graduating also enjoys a considerable bump.

Of all majors, CS graduates are blessed with the highest likelihood of employment upon graduation. Bachelor’s degree obtainees can expect an 82% chance of employment and 91% chance of a fulltime job. Master’s degree obtainees expect a 76% chance of employment and 93% chance of a fulltime job. Then there’s the payroll. According to National Science Foundation statistics, computing graduates with a Bachelor’s tied second in highest median starting salaries with health ($45,000), and computing graduates with a Master’s tied for first with engineering ($65,000). Computing students at Tech are even better off, however, as a survey of 2007 Tech grads found that the median starting salary for students with a Bachelor’s in a computing-related field was approximately $60,000.

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Computing is an almost viral field. Its application to everyday life and various other fields continues to spread and propagate at a phenomenal rate. The extent of its application is beginning to reach the extent of widespread importance that long-time workplace staples like writing and speaking have maintained. Take, for instance, computing’s growing application to the sciences. With the technology available today it has become possible to acquire unholy amounts of precise quantitative data that had previously never been dreamed of. Scientific research has consequently evolved to become heavily data-oriented, and the need to analyze and portray this data has resulted in a growing dependence on software and digital models. In response to rising demands in computing for science, some schools have created programs such as bio-informatics or scientific computing. Schools are also beginning to incorporate technology into the classroom and the curriculum, and technical support continues to be in high demand by such schools.

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Also noteworthy is the explosive growth of the web—despite the hit it took with the Dot Com crash. A website has become a standard for any serious business, organization or event. Web design has evolved beyond tacky tiled backgrounds and simple html. A person who wants to construct a site must now consider a diverse range of possible layouts and pick from a few dozen languages to achieve the desired effects. Demand for web designers therefore continues to rise and will remain a dependable source of work for years to come.

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The biggest problem threatening the rosy disposition of the job market is the lack of computing majors. Although the lack of qualified people in the job pool does increase the chances of getting a job with a high starting salary, the talent pool is shriveling to a point that is slowly forcing employers to fish in foreign pools. Major corporations, such as Intel and Microsoft, express concern for this lack of available talent. Many companies express a preference for homegrown talent and are subsequently willing to pay the extra dough over hiring cheaper foreign labor. For students concerned about the future market for jobs in computing, the best way to contribute to its prospects is to become highly qualified in your major. Now would also be a good time to try to convince friends to switch over, as many other fields have been affected by the recession and have only half the growth rate of computing. A major turn-off for those considering a CS or CM major is the belief a sedentary hermit-like lifestyle will have to be adopted. In truth computing requires good communication skills and creativity. Computing is also a field that continues to thread out into new different fields. A computing degree is therefore flexible and applicable to a wide variety of work experiences.

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Numerous employers seek fish particularly in the computing talent pool. However, misconceptions and myths have convinced most fish to join pools with dropping demand. In order to keep the rising number of employers at the computing pool happy, we need more fish to join us. No matter how badly employers want computing-talent-fish, a lack of biting fish will force them to eventually search elsewhere for such fish in foreign waters. The more fish in the pool, the better for us computing majors.