Is Information Technology (IT) a good field to major in?

Is the information technology field over saturated?

• im 24 years old and decided i want to go to a community college and get my associates in Business Admin and transfer to a 4 year college to get my bachelors in Information Technology. Im excited and ready to start this adventure. However, im slightly concerned that after all of my hard work i'll have earned a degree in a field that is over saturated.I don't want end up like many Americans who have degrees and cant get a well paying job/career in their field of study. It seems anyone can get a job in the IT field via ECPI or other technical schools. I choose this field because I've always had and interest and desire to learn more, so why not make a career out of it. I just don't want to waste my time or money and not be able to be successful. Any advice, comments, or unforeseen concerns are greatly welcomed.

• Answer:

  Yes, it is. Of course, this really does depend upon where you are. I'm in a major city with 4 large universities cranking out CS/IS graduates constantly. Competition is fierce. In general there are 50+ qualified applicants per position. Competition recently got worse when a major employer laid off several hundred IT people in order to offshore their jobs to India. They're not the only ones. I have an MS and 15+ years of experience but have a fairly low-level job because it was what was available. I know others with similar degrees who have given up on the field entirely. Ditto for some with doctorates. My understanding is that it's better when you're in smaller cities and towns, although I have no personal experience to back that up. It also depends upon your specialization. Bioinformatics is currently a hot field. So is computer security, but I'd be wary of it becoming over saturated soon. The fact that you love the field is good. I was shocked when I was in grad school and many of my classmates really had no interest in computers - they were just in the field for the money. Many of them are the ones who gave up. Being interested in computers will give you something of an edge. The field is interesting and challenging and can be really rewarding. It's also incredibly frustrating. Try finding out what hiring is like in your area. Talk to people at the community college and see if there's any internships available, even if they're unpaid. If you're interested in programming, join an open source project to get some experience. You might even look into a job in IT at the university - they usually offer tuition remission to employees. Barring that, see if you can get a student job at the school that's in the IT field to get more experience. Networking (the people kind) is critical. Who you know can mean more than your degree. Experience means more than paper.