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**CindyLavender** · 03-02-2007, 10:51 PM

What experience does your father actually have the IT market? I'm just wondering what he is basing his belief on that "everything will soon be automated".

Personally I am now a media technician (at least that's what they call me) but I did a course called Software Systems for the Arts and Media my friends on the other hands who did straight forward Computer Science are both now programmers and earn a fair bit more than me but on the upside I work less hours and have about 12 weeks holiday a years so I'm not complaining.

I don't think entering the IT field is a bad prospect they will always need people that know what they are doing on computers to allow all the people that don't to use them efficiently. Let me put it this way the number one problem I always have to sort out is helping tutors set the data projectors to the correct input because "It's broken nothings coming up on the screen, I did what you told me last time." No you didn't. So even if everything were to become automated these people wouldn't have the skills to use them. At the end of the day Computer Science/Programming goes beyond the programming language you learn and is more about learning structure, storage, sorting, retreval, etc. whatever language you use or however automated the system you are still going to need a good understanding and a good mind for thinking that way.

Sure if you enter this field expect to have to update your skills learn new languages, etc. but at the end of the day these things don't just die. When I was doing a BTEC National in Computer Studies in the mid 90s we all got quite upset by the fact that we were expected to learn to program using Cobol (the year after us were using C) but I tell you what if I had carried on with Cobol I could have made a few bucks around 2000 updating all those old systems out there and a Computer World article from last October highlighted the fact that I would then be in a niche as it's almost impossible to hire new Cobol programmers since they no longer teach the language. The NYSE only just migrated from Cobol last year! I still wouldn't want to program Cobol though, I hated it, though there probably are better compiliers these days.

03-02-2007, 10:51 PM	#5
CindyLavender Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 437 Senior Member	What experience does your father actually have the IT market? I'm just wondering what he is basing his belief on that "everything will soon be automated". Personally I am now a media technician (at least that's what they call me) but I did a course called Software Systems for the Arts and Media my friends on the other hands who did straight forward Computer Science are both now programmers and earn a fair bit more than me but on the upside I work less hours and have about 12 weeks holiday a years so I'm not complaining. I don't think entering the IT field is a bad prospect they will always need people that know what they are doing on computers to allow all the people that don't to use them efficiently. Let me put it this way the number one problem I always have to sort out is helping tutors set the data projectors to the correct input because "It's broken nothings coming up on the screen, I did what you told me last time." No you didn't. So even if everything were to become automated these people wouldn't have the skills to use them. At the end of the day Computer Science/Programming goes beyond the programming language you learn and is more about learning structure, storage, sorting, retreval, etc. whatever language you use or however automated the system you are still going to need a good understanding and a good mind for thinking that way. Sure if you enter this field expect to have to update your skills learn new languages, etc. but at the end of the day these things don't just die. When I was doing a BTEC National in Computer Studies in the mid 90s we all got quite upset by the fact that we were expected to learn to program using Cobol (the year after us were using C) but I tell you what if I had carried on with Cobol I could have made a few bucks around 2000 updating all those old systems out there and a Computer World article from last October highlighted the fact that I would then be in a niche as it's almost impossible to hire new Cobol programmers since they no longer teach the language. The NYSE only just migrated from Cobol last year! I still wouldn't want to program Cobol though, I hated it, though there probably are better compiliers these days.
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