If Not an IT Career, Then What?

Here's a book for professionals tired of working in IT or can't find a good job as an information technologist.

Janice Weinberg's “Debugging Your Information Technology Career” (Elegant Fix Press) identifies 20 other careers that use skills IT professionals offers. While most of them aren't usually thought of as computer jobs, a press release states, computer proficiency is a key qualification for success in each. Among her suggestions:

An architect's knowledge of best practices in systems design would be a strong asset in a technology due diligence position.

A business analyst who guided logistics staff in defining their IT requirements would be a credible candidate for a strategic alliance management position at a company marketing logistics software.

A network operations center manager who upgraded a change-management function would bring a valuable customer's perspective to a role as a change-management software product manager.

A network security administrator could become a broker or underwriter of cyberliability insurance.

A software engineer who supported customer relationship management applications could parlay that experience into a position selling CRM software.

A premise of the book, or at least the press release touting it, is that IT jobs are vanishing in this recession. No doubt, many IT pros find themselves out of work. But government data consistently shows that employment opportunities are greater in IT than in nearly any other occupation class.

If anything, what this book demonstrates is how closely linked IT is with the functioning of business. IT skills are business skills, and this know-how—whether in an IT or some other corporate job—will be needed more than ever.