Importance, Myths, Negative
Images
Importance
• So, why do we care that we have so few
students?
• Is it a fear for our jobs if we do not have
enough students?
• That is an issue in some places, but there
are other issues
Importance
• According to the World Economic Forum [Forbes 2005] the U.S. has
dropped from 1st to 5th in the rankings that measure “propensity for
countries to exploit the opportunities offered by information and
communications technology (ICT).”1
• The change in the US position was attributed “less to actual erosion in
performance with respect to its past history and more to continuing
improvements by its competitors.”
• The need: an educated workforce that spans the many fields of computing
including computer science, computer engineering, information systems,
information science, software engineering, and emerging fields that bridge
between computing and critical application areas including medical
informatics, bioinformatics, and information technology to avoid long-term
skills shortages that will cripple our field and industry.
1Singapore,
Iceland, Finland, and Denmark were ranked ahead of the
United States
Importance - Jobs to be filled
Table 3c. The 10 fastest growing occupations, 2004-14 (Numbers in thousands)
Occupation
Employment
Change
2004 2014
Number Percent
Home health aides
624 974
350
56
Notice - if you
Network systems and data
communications analysts 231 357
126
55
don’t fancy
Medical assistants
387 589
202
52
healthcare,
Physician assistants
62
93
31
50
computing is it!
Computer software engineers,
applications
460 682
222
48
Physical therapist assistants
59 85
26
44
Who will do
Dental hygienists
158 226
68
43
Computer software engineers,
the work if we
systems software
340 486
146
43
do not have
Dental assistants
267 382
114
43
Personal and home care aides 701 988
287
41
enough
graduates?
Myths
• There are many and it is hard to say which are the
most important to potential students and their
parents
• Some that we hear about:
– Nerd image
– High stress, in front of a computer all day, no
interaction with people, job prospects low, will not
make a positive change in the world …
• Outsourcing makes a good news story. Bureau of
Labor Statistics is not so interesting…
Employment by major
occupational group
Occupational
group
2004
2014
Thousands
of jobs
Thousands
of jobs
Computer and
mathematical 3,152.8
science
occupations
Healthcare
support
occupations
3,492.3
2004
2014
%
%
Change
Thousands
of jobs
Percent
4,119.8
2.2
2.5
967.0
30.7
4,656.2
2.4
2.8
1,163.9
33.3
Computing is second only to healthcare in projected job growth
CS and DB employment
• Computer scientists and database administrators
are expected to be among the fastest growing
occupations through 2014. Employment of these
computer specialists is expected to grow much
faster than the average for all occupations as
organizations continue to adopt and integrate
increasingly sophisticated technologies. Job
increases will be driven by very rapid growth in
computer systems design and related services,
which is projected to be one of the fastest growing
industries in the U.S. economy.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos042.htm#outlook
Software Engineering
employment
• Computer software engineers are projected to be
one of the fastest-growing occupations from 2004
to 2014. Rapid employment growth in the
computer systems design and related services
industry, which employs the greatest number of
computer software engineers, should result in very
good opportunities for those college graduates
with at least a bachelor’s degree in computer
engineering or computer science and practical
experience working with computers.
Software Engineering
employment
• Employment of computer software engineers is
expected to increase much faster than the average
for all occupations, as businesses and other
organizations adopt and integrate new
technologies and seek to maximize the efficiency of
their computer systems. Competition among
businesses will continue to create an incentive for
increasingly sophisticated technological
innovations, and organizations will need more
computer software engineers to implement these
changes
Negative Image
• The nerd image suggests dull, hard work devoid of
imagination and creativity, with poor working
conditions and high stress levels.
• By contrast, Money magazine [Money/CNN 2006]
listed Software Engineer as Number 1 and
Computer IT analyst as Number 7 among the
“Best Jobs in America” based on stress levels,
flexibility in hours, working environment,
creativity and ease to enter and advance in the
field, in addition to job prospects.
Input - Process - Output
• The “negative” image has not changed, but
the response to the image appears to have
changed.
• Perhaps the way the image is processed has
changed.
• What is different about the processing?
The image processors
• The people responding to the image of computing
careers
– Do not have to major in a computing field to work
intensely with computers.
• We cannot offer the cool technology as a draw
• Many students think they know all about computing and don’t
see the point in studying that.
– Other possibilities
• Hard work to get into the field and stay up to date is not as
attractive?
• Computing is not seen as a way to make a difference in a
troubled world?