Career Outlook

Overview The Internet is a great resource for up-to-date information about the current status of IT careers. Many excellent Web sites serve as “barometers” of the state of employment opportunities in the IT industry. Some Web resources provide extensive IT career-related data as part of a larger site that is devoted to career development. Other resources include public or private databases of labor-related statistics. These databases often provide results of surveys dealing with areas such as job satisfaction and salary.

IT Career Outlook Resources Without a doubt, the Internet is one of the best places to find IT career outlook resources. Large databases of statistical information, such as those maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provide insight into the realities of IT careers. Information such as salary, job satisfaction, growth potential, and hiring rates are easily found at a variety of Web sites. For an introduction to this world of IT labor statistics, visit The Information Professional’s Career Page (www.brint.com/jobs.htm#Surveys), a site that includes job surveys and IT occupational outlook data. Also, be sure to visit the ITWorld.com career Web page (www.itworld.com/Career/) which includes articles about the future of IT, as well as information about pay scales, corporate culture, relocation, and job titles. The DataMasters.com home page (datamasters.com/) provides general information about IT careers, including salary, and cost of living data. For more detailed statistical information, employment projections, and career guides, visit the online publication “Occupational Outlook Quarterly” provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS home page (stats.bls.gov/) has in-depth statistics on labor-related topics about all careers, including IT industry careers.

Compensation Guides Which IT careers will provide you with the best pay? Which IT careers have the most potential for growth? What geographic region, on average, offers the highest salary for a specific IT job? What benefits should I expect to receive? These are some of the most common questions posed by the entry-level and seasoned professional alike. Salary and compensation guides for the IT field are easily accessed online. These guides provide valuable data about what to expect when entering a career in the IT industry. For reliable and up-to-date IT salary information, visit the Riley Guide’s Salary Guides & Guidance page. A salary survey for IT job titles for the year 2004  can be found on this Web page. If you are looking for salary surveys for entry-level IT positions (defined as 0 to 2 years of experience), visit this Web page.

Additional Links Additional information for IT career seekers can be found by visiting Open Directory's  IT  Employment directory page. This directory categorizes the employment information for IT careers by specific technical area.

The 2004-2005 issue of the Occupational Outlook Handbook produced by the BLS can be ordered at www.bls.gov/oco/. This handbook is useful to anyone looking for a single source of information about a variety of jobs and the associated working conditions, career outlooks, and earning potentials.

The article “2005 Forecast For IT Salaries” by J. Steven Niznik provides useful information about the current state of the job market and salary growth in the Unites States.