There's just a small number of job disciplines that claim to have a built-in future. Since its beginning in the Fourties of the last century, information technology has attracted numerous tech- and math-savvy people and has changed our life style significantly. IT development was always driven by highly charged situations like WW II, the cold war, aerospace, and the general need for progressive technology. Also, working in the IT industry has always been a warranty for a secure and wealthy life, a good basis for working in a hard but nonetheless satisfying environment.
This situation changes. After the New Economy bust a few years ago, the advent of offshoring, nd the commodification of IT services, a recent survey done by eWeek reveals that many IT workers like their work but feel somewhat unsettled and wouldn't encourage their children to work in the industry as they once did or still do. This is IT's midlife crisis and the declining number of IT students raises the question where to go from here.
At this moment, IT is dithering between eclecticism and Bohemia. Eclecticism in a way, that development of technical solutions (be it hard- or software) is penetrating nearly every aspect of everyday life, bowing to the dictate of creating something 'innovative' every few months. Innovations come and go like fashion trends, just consider discussions about programming paradigms, hardware cycles, trends in corporate work etc. Bohemia can be found in numerous people working as artists or self-employed persons, often with low salaries. One may even count scientists to this group, not to forget many low-cost workers like programmers in small companies with small income. An industry with product cycles geting shorter all the time, products that aren't innovative any longer (Do you really need all of Word's features?), innovators (researchers, developers) who are wasted in crunch time and are considered being 'old' when they hit their thirties: such an industry loses its attractiveness.
Unfortunately, there's no lunar landing programme that would boost technology; the 'war against terror' is a playground for military and security companies but not for the mainstream IT. Also, plans like saving mankind through technology have failed so far. So what's the Next Big Thing? Another reorganization? Calling the controllers? Some Next Generation technology? Which one?
The hype is over. Let's do it some more years, let's maintain the standards and let universities begin from scratch. IT must change to keep alive and vivid. When the Internet was invented, nobody thought about its return on investment. Fortran was invented to simplify the process of programming and not to lower scientists' salaries. When the first computers started computing, money was the last thing their inventors worried about. They just had to save their country. Think it over. It's time get fresh ideas and to inspire people again.

To be continued. (Source)