An interesting turn of events in Britain is raising eyebrows on these shores as well. A report in ComputerWeekly UK says businesses that outsource technical work are losing graduate IT talent to their outsourcing suppliers. Diaz Research, a British IT employment advisory firm, says that outsourcing and offshoring has "chopped career structures off at the knees."
In the report (registration required), we learn that graduates are finding more interesting positions working for the suppliers than they can in the lower ranks of the firms that hire them. "IT-knowledgeable people don't want to work in an IT function where technical work is not getting done. The attractions are not good for younger people," the firm says.
While no research has been done on this phenomenon stateside, the implications are obvious: The entry level career track for IT is at risk of being turned upside down as companies face a potential shortage of – or lack of interest from – IT talent that's looking for something cool to work on from day one. The action item: Create career paths from the entry level up that will engage new hires expecting to be challenged with truly technical tasks from the get-go.