IT graduates think others have more fun

A survey of US IT workers has revealed that many would prefer to be working in entirely different fields.

The survey of university graduates was conducted by the Market Research Institute for George Mason University in Virginia. It revealed that 40 per cent of IT workers would pick a less technical subject if they had their time at college again.

They would not pick a subject that put them on their current career path. The IT workers surveyed felt they lacked enjoyment of life and 70 per cent said that would be what they would look for in their choice of subject if they could be undergraduates again.

But the grass is no greener for non-IT graduates. In the poll, 50 per cent said if they had their time again, they would lean more towards technical subjects such as computer science, medicine or engineering.

The survey polled 400 college graduates aged between 30 and 55 who had been out of university at least 10 years and were employed.

'It seems that non-technical people want to know more about technology, while technology people are finding there's more to life than bits and bytes,' said Dr Alan Merten, the university's president, who commissioned the Lifetime Learning Survey.

The survey also found that IT workers were almost twice as likely to switch careers as non-IT employees. 'The results suggest employees are more restless than in the past,' said Dr Merten.