One factor dissuading people from joining the IT industry – and persuading many to leave – is the knowledge that in many jobs, costs are being cut ruthlessly and work is being exported to low-cost economies (Who killed the reputation of UK IT?, roriedevine.computing.co.uk).

This has a number of effects. Many of the roles being outsourced are entry-level, so it is harder to get into the industry; the supply of more experienced staff is reduced as the training posts disappear; salaries are depressed by competition with low-cost countries.

In addition, a lot of the interesting challenges – doing things with technology as opposed to telling someone on the other side of the world to do something – are no longer there.

So we end up as project managers, business analysts and pen pushers, as opposed to technology experts. Of the two competing trends – the drive to outsource versus the growth in the need for IT – I expect outsourcing to win and IT in this country to go into a slow decline, especially the 30-year-plus working life that a new graduate would be looking forward to.

Andrew H Wood