Young techies reboot careers as work goes elsewhere

STANFORD, Calif. - As an eager freshman in the fall of 2001, Andrew Mo's career trajectory seemed preordained: He'd learn C and Java languages while earning a computer science degree at Stanford University, then land a Silicon Valley technology job.

Mo, 22 and a native of Shanghai, graduated last month with a major in computer science and a minor in economics. But he no longer plans to write code for a living - or even to work at a tech company.

He'll begin work in the fall as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, helping to lead projects at multinational companies. Consulting, he says, will insulate him from the offshore outsourcing that's sending thousands of once-desirable computer programming jobs overseas.

More important, Mo believes his consulting gig is more lucrative, rewarding and imaginative than a traditional tech job. He characterized his summer programming internships as "too focused or localized, even meaningless."

"A consulting job injects you into companies at a higher level," he said. "You don't feel like you're doing basic stuff."

Mo's decision to reboot his nascent career reflects a subtle but potentially significant industry shift. As tens of thousands of engineering jobs migrate to developing countries, many new entrants into the U.S. work force see info tech jobs as monotonous, uncreative and easily farmed out - the equivalent of 1980s manufacturing jobs.

However, Amanda Matheu, director of engineering career services at Washington University, said the school hasn't seen this kind of career shift.

"We don't see that playing out here," she said. Matheu said that while outsourcing concerns maybe in the back of students' minds, she hasn't seen any change in career goals.

"The jobs still seem to be plentiful," she said about entry-level positions in traditional fields such as programming, Web and software development. "The job market have been very strong in the last few years."

•	Young techies reboot careers as work goes elsewhere St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Wednesday, July 6, 2005 Byline: Rachel Konrad of the Associated Press

	Story also ran in 1 others:  Associated Press