Where the Tech Jobs Aren't

The massive job losses associated with this recession haven't hit IT professionals as hard as those in other professions. Still, IT vendors are laying off workers, which hits occupations such as engineering hard.

According to the EE Times Asia, which surveyed engineers worldwide, fear is gripping engineers as sales at high-tech companies weaken. From its report:

If the global economic crisis was a high-tech design challenge, executives at high-tech giants like Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco System, Dell, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Nortel, Yahoo and even Sun Microsystems would be headhunting, beefing up their R&D teams and scouring the globe for the brightest engineering minds.

Instead, many of these companies, are frantically downsizing, discarding unprofitable business units, selling non-core operations, instituting a hiring freeze and eliminating thousands of skilled and experienced engineering jobs in a desperate bid to reduce costs and remain profitable in the midst of a horrid sales downturn. The result is a mind-freeze.

The article points out that Western engineers are deeply troubled by what they see as assaults by employers on their ability to fend for their families.

Unwittingly, many high-tech employers are encouraging that perception. Job cuts in Western regions are often followed by announcements of continued hiring in lower-cost centers. Seemingly, one set of employees is being swapped for another at a time of economic weakness, hence the rising tide of fear.

Engineers are equally split on whether they'd recommend their field as careers for their children.