Michigan Radio News (FM 104.1 – NPR) carried a Michigan News item on the shortage of software engineers in Michigan and the importance of encouraging more college students to study computer science. Listen to the full report.

According to an article at JobFox.com, six of the twenty most recession-proof jobs are computing related:

• Software Design/Development—#2
• Network/Systems Administration—#6
• Business Analysis (Software Implementation)—#8
• Testing/Quality Assurance (automated)—#12
• Database Administration—#14
• Technology Executive (Web 2.0)—#16

And this is not counting Project Management (#11 on the list).

July 25 is System Administrator Appreciation Day. The success of our labs are due in large part to the hard work of our system administrator, Gary Draving. Thanks, Gary! (By the way, we have a new version of Java and Eclipse that need to be installed…)

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top 5 fasted growing jobs through 2016 will be:

1. Network systems and data communications analysts
2. Personal and home care aides
3. Home health aides
4. Computer software engineers, applications
5. Veterinary technologists and technicians

So computing-related jobs are the #1 and #4 fastest-growing jobs in the US, for the foreseeable future. Please help us put an end to the myth that there are no jobs in computing!

Calvin CS Senior Ryan Holt spent this summer at IBM, applying what he has learned at Calvin about computing, God’s creation, and environmental stewardship. Read the whole story at ZDNet.com.