In a few weeks I’m going to be giving a speech to a group of college students who all are in some “flavor” of an IT program (some Comp Sci, some MIS, etc.). I asked what they’d like me to cover, and this is the guidance they provided for content:
While I can do all that, it sounds pretty boring.
Here is my request to all you Dopers:
Thanks.
Dear graduates, you are about to go forth into this world and compete with people from India, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Poland, etc. that have a better technology background, more schooling, will work twice as many hours for half as much, still have their home support system to take care of them… they will come home late to home cooked meals while you live off of fast food, twinkies, and Skittles all washed down with Mountain Dew Code Red. The spectre of your job being sent to these other people will haunt you at all times. Health care and other benefits have probably been slashed. Good luck!
Shibb, certainly not what they want to hear. But… not boring and a great ice-breaker. Mind if I steal liberally from this?
I’ve spoken to undergraduates a few times and they all have the same questions:
Can you give me a job?
If not, can you tell me who can?
How much will I make?
Answer those and it doesn’t matter if the rest of your presentation is reading from the phone book.
If you do steal from it, you might want to make it more of a challenge than a bleak prediction, but feel free. Now it would be really funny, although terribly non-PC, to have an Indian friend of yours come in halfway during your speech and “outsource” you, finishing your speech…
I would add something about your vision of the future for the technology that will be used in your company. You can take some liberal guesses about the specifics if you don’t know. People tend to like the excitement of upcoming things rather than things that are already in place now although you will probably need to mention the old with the new. I have been to several of these kinds of speeches and that is what always went over well and tended to impress more.
If you want to address the issue of outsourcing, you might encourage them to think about what jobs they can get that aren’t going to be outsourced easily or how they can use this trend to their advantage. For example, jobs that require security clearance are unlikely to be outsourced overseas. And perhaps instead of being a developer, they may want to consider working as a liason between the local client and the overseas developers.
As a college prof. I’ll say one thing right off the bat: What you are doing is very good for these students, even if some of them don’t even know it. Trust me, be open and honest, and let them know the ins and outs of your field. I would certainly cover monies made, realities of stepping out of college, and myths of the field.
Other than that, don’t try and be trendy if that is not who you are. Be yourself, and give the presentation in a comfortable way.
I learned very early to be myself, and not play the gargantuan know-it-all…I wore jeans and a blazer my second day as full prof. and have been wearing varients of that ever since. I feel comfortable in khakis and a blazer…never a tie.
Be honest and open…I think thats the best advice.
Assuming this is a decent tech school, make fun of Microsoft and/or Bill Gates, and then praise Linux, BSD, and other *nixes. This should go over quite well.
It probably will, with the audience. But then, Algernon, you should follow the above with the fact that they may have no choice in the matter–if their eventual employer uses Windows instead of Linux, then they might not only have to use Windows, but they’ll also possibly have to act happy about it.
I’ve seen a few talented systems people (most of whom were one or two years out of school) lose their jobs because they were quite vocal about their disdain for what the company made them use.
“But I’m doing the company a favour by saying we should dump this crap and replace it with ____,” is the justification they often state.
“Obviously, you’re not a team player,” is the company’s response.
This is probably not what your audience wants to hear, Algernon. But maybe it’s something that they should.
Maybe set them straight as to their role in the big picture of business. A lot of talented (and not so talented) IT folks think that because they have obscure knowledge about computers and systems, the entire universe should revolve around them. Truth is that unless you are developing software, IT is a support function just like the accounting or marketing department. Companies are not looking for the latest and greatest, they are looking for the best tools to help them run their business.
You might also want to tell them that they might want to learn an additional business skill other than programming. The programmer who just knows programming is more likely to be the one outsourced compared with someone who can develop applications for specific industries.
Yeah, I agree with telling them the truth.
“Your going to be a consultant for 2 years, with no vacation and little pay, and then get outsourced to India.”
Sorry, but IT is a dying career option, unless you can design and progam applications, as well as do high-end security stuff.
Speaking as a Comp Sci student right now, although this might be a little more hardcore than your intended audience, I know that universities don’t teach you everything. Nearly all programming done is command-line based and theres never really any “true” collaborative group efforts that last more than 6 or 7 weeks and theres no maintainence or support work done. Theres no effort to familiarise you with standard industry tools like CVS, Visual Studio, MFC, .NET etc. Once you go out into the industry, your essentially thrown in the deep end and told to learn how to swim. What are some things that students should be doing outside of classtime to give them the edge when they are looking for their first job?
Thanks for all the good feedback. I truly appreciate it.
My presentation is titled:
Thy Career and the World of Tomorrow
(The Passion of Advice: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Your Vocation But Were Afraid To Ask)
Algernon will contrast some of the myths and realities of IT in the “real world”, provide advice regarding characteristics of success in ones career, discuss the challenges of off-shore outsourcing, examine a few of the trends in technology, and offer a high paying job to anyone who wants one (heh, just kidding about this last point).
Working back through your thoughts and suggestions…
I definitely will try to articulate the realities of the business world, which is often vastly different than what they imagine, both in terms of the type of work they’ll likely be doing (maintenance) as well as the technology they’ll likely be using (outdated). Even in my company which is a small software company, the business world realities of attempting to make a profit, limits the money we can spend on keeping our software “fresh”.
And in spite of how Microsoft is reviled and Linux revered by us Geeks, the real world is that corporate America is Microsoft America. Any decision to do anything otherwise is potentially career ending. Deal with it.
I won’t have any difficulties avoiding coming across as a know-it-all. It will be intuitively obvious that I don’t. I’ve been in management far too long (20 years) to be intimate with the newer technologies. I know enough to talk about them at a 30,000 foot level, but that’s about it. My forte is leveraging the technology to help make the business successful. Technology, no matter how advanced, is simply a tool to achieve other objectives.
Offshore outsourcing is obviously a concern and threat to any one of us in this crazy business. But, as people mentioned, not all jobs can be outsourced. And the pendulum will continue to swing back and forth as to its popularity and success. A few years ago I had a couple hundred software engineers in India reporting to me (along with another 300 in the States) and it was a mixed blessing. Seemed to generate as many problems as it solved, and it wasn’t quite the financial panacea that is usually claimed. Having said that, it is of course a real issue to be dealt with.
And of course money. The ultimate question in the “what’s in it for me” list of questions. I’ll provide them with up-to-date entry level salary information for various jobs. Funny thing is that it is as important to the long term employees as it is to the soon-to-graduate undergrads. Our company just got acquired and the main concerns revolve around salary and vacation and health benefits (and the Milton-esque attachments to their office chairs – “can we take our chairs with us?”. The move Office Space is not exaggerated fiction.) 
If I may offer some constructive criticism, this title is awful.
OK, I guess that wasn’t constructive at all. But it really doesn’t make sense to me. Are you trying to be funny? The single Thy is out of place, but adding context makes it worse (“Thy Career and Ye Olde World of Tomorrow”?). I also don’t get “The Passion of Advice” – what is that? A play on “The Passion of the Christ?” If so: yikes.
It’s simply too disjointed, trying to be funny in too many directions at once. If you want something tongue in cheek, simplify it, e.g.
Career Advice for IT Graduates
How to keep yourself busy for a few years before your job is outsourced
or
Career Advice for IT Graduates
How life in the real world is completely different from college
Well, it’s not an official title yet.
Could you tell that I couldn’t decide which movie title to parody?
I’ll re-think it of course. I respect your reaction Giraffe. One thing I should disclose is that this is a pretty informal presentation. About 30 students (the university’s IT club), eating pizza that I’m paying for. I know a few of the students personally too, so I feel a little more free to be silly and geeky than I would in front of a more formal group.