"People on the budgetary end of things see it as a perk, an extra," says Fries of Columbia University. "If it comes down to spending $5,000 on extending training in Solaris or AIX or putting that money into storage, the money will go to storage. But in the long run it hurts us more."
There's not much training going on at the South Florida Educational Federal Credit Union, either. Lio, the IT director there, is concerned that his four-person IT department, supporting 180 users, isn't keeping up with much of the network technology it's deploying in new switches and routers.
"The knowledge we're missing is crucial in some cases," he says. The credit union does reimburse for education, "but people don't want to go to school on their own time."
Some IT managers warn of a greater risk. PepsiCo's Cleal believes training is the best way to retain good workers. "What I've seen over my career is that people who put their personal time and money into training are more likely to look for other opportunities when the market picks up again," he says.
There's still a lot to like about a career in IT, however. Respondents say their jobs are challenging, they're learning new skills, they like their coworkers and they're happy with their employers' commitment to quality.
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