I ran into an old neighbor at the hardware store last weekend and he told me that his son—about to begin his second year at Purdue University—has given up his plans to be an engineer and instead will focus on a double major in math and computer science.
I don't know if he will end up in the insurance industry—although that math major certainly won't hurt—but the next time I see my neighbor I'll be sure to mention that his son should consider a job in the insurance IT field once he graduates.
I've spoken to several CIOs lately about their concerns for the future and more than one has expressed their trepidation about the same issue: Recent college grads are needed in insurance IT as the industry faces up to the fact retirement is approaching for many of its key IT people.
I wondered if the insurance industry was partly to blame for the shortage and one CIO, Rick Roy of CUNA Mutual, agreed with me that the insurance's focus on IT outsourcing—particularly offshore—is partly to blame for today's labor shortage.
Roy pointed out that insurers have failed to convince potential college students that excellent opportunities remain in this country. Like many insurers, CUNA Mutual takes advantage of offshore opportunities, but so much attention has been paid to U.S. companies looking offshore for IT help that the insurance industry failed to combat the perception of shrinking U.S. IT shops.
As Roy said to me, "Many young people have failed to look at IT because they felt all the good jobs were going to India."
Outsourcing remains a viable option for insurance carriers, but by no means are all the good IT jobs being shipped out of the country. The programmers that have been the heart and soul of much of the legacy technology still in use by insurers are taking that technical knowledge they brought to their jobs—particularly with older programming languages—to retirement. That leaves CIOs like Roy wondering who will step into the breach.
Colleges are about to resume classes in the next few weeks and tens of thousands of bright students who would make excellent IT workers—and the potential CIOs of the future—are enrolling in majors other than computer sciences.
Some organizations—IASA for one—offer scholarships for students interested in studies that focus on the insurance industry, but they've had problems finding technology students who might have an interest in insurance.
I hope these students aren't dreaming they'll be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Oh sure, something like that is a possibility, but so is me winning this week's Powerball lottery.
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