best path to career change

Indeed.

 

IT

I work in IT. I am a Configuration Manager leading other CM people. At one point I had been an accountant but switched into in 1995.

I have seen wages go down drastically over the past few years largely as a result of offshoring. I meet with a lot of other CM people at other companies and have seen them offshore work that just became crap. However, they got it for cheap. That's the main consideration.

A company can bring all the CMM and Six Sigma in they want but generally paying cheaper wages is the goal. That's often hard to do when talking quality, too.

HOWEVER, I see that the Indians are getting better and better as time goes on. We, the U.S., have paid them to train for years now. Their English skills are picking up and they know the tools well. Sure they do. They work hard, for cheaper, and tools are free over there. They can get .NET and not pay a dime for it(often due to the lack of enforcement of copyright laws). Their education costs are low, too. They can attend college for something like $200 per year. Wow! Here the "Freshman fee" is at least that if not more.

It used to be said in IT that "...sure, the Indians are good programmers but they will never be project managers or manager because of their social and English skills." Here's a news flash. They are getting better and better at it. These days you will likley see Indians, and Chinese, in PM and manager roles.

I think March is a turning point in the H-1b program. It is supposed to be easier to transfer labor and attain the green card due to some act in congress. That's something to keep in mind for possible IT career.

It is getting more expensive in India, though. What will that do? Likely it will bring the U.S. CEO to Phillipines for labor. Still, when you look at India there are a lot of people there. So many in fact that it will be a long while before their costs are so prohibitive that we won't go there.

If I were young and starting out I would do something I loved to do. If that were IT then I would do IT. If it were engineering then so be it. Do what you love to do. Just keep in mind that salaries/rates may adust for the market.