It seems that in my line of work, there is always some sort of “reorganization” going on. One week we hear one rumor, the next another. Things are always in flux. Over the last eight years at my J.O.B., our department has been officially reorganized three times. We’ve gone from 30 staff members to 17, and our workload of active computers on the network has doubled. When things get hairy during roll-outs or upgrades and we start whining, the boss always brings up the fact that our jobs could be outsourced.
How incensed we are to hear that! My job outsourced? No way!
But when you look at it, unless you can offer something unique and irreplaceable, you are ultimately at risk of having your job outsourced. We maintain our tenterhooks on our IT responsibilities through only two things:
1. We have the ability to be first responders due to our location on-site.
2. We are the corporate knowledge for our organization.
If this balance shifts at any time, we are vulnerable to being outsourced right out of our jobs. As an IT worker with a commitment to our organization’s mission, and more importantly, to my department’s mission, it behooves me to always keep in mind that only these two things keep me in my job.
This is why it is critical as an IT worker, from my perspective, to maintain my training, keep my finger on the pulse of new technology and tech solutions, and to look for new ways to be useful. There are things I’ll never be able to do (computer programming is not my thing), but there are plenty of things that I can, and should, be learning how to do.
Anyone who thinks they can’t be outsourced in this economy is deluding themselves, no matter how specialized their skills or job description.