To the OP topic… IT jobs are tight now. I work for a large engineering firm (one of the big ones mentioned earlier in this thread)… today is the last day of our Unix admin and a few of our IT guys. The company’s been downsizing and now they targeted the support staff. The decision will bite us when we can’t do a release because the server is acting up.
On the the whole IT engineer vs “real” engineer… I got bit on this topic once before when I asked about it. FWIW, my degree is a BSEE and all but thesis of an MS engineering… but I’ve been doing firmware since I graduated from my low-brow SDSU… I don’t consider myself better or worse than any other type of engineer… I just know the skillset I have is different than that of a hardware engineer, an IT engineer, or someone who does web apps. Not better… just different.
And on weekends I’m a domestic engineer… that’s what I call myself when I’m cleaning bathrooms.
Letters after the name (PhD) matter if you’re doing academic research or teaching… Not so much in commercial work.
Good luck in the job hunt WestCoastNole. (And to my coworkers who just joined your ranks.)
