What do you guys think? Is the DR ready for the technological boom? I was thinking of taking a degree in IT -more specifically Information Systems Management- with me to the DR. I don't see many opportunities developing (at the moment). Am I wrong? Does anyone have any information? I know the DR is a leader in telecommunications in the Caribbean... but what is the status of the IT field?

Welcome to the forum

I'm went to school for Computer Science and now working in here is USA but as far as DR goes there is options and the future looks good since the Independent Financial Centre of the Americas is getting build which would require lots of IT and Network managements check it. I know there are good jobs for Windows world developers. I don't know about LAMP programmers but is probably going to get better soon since is taking off in USA and DR may just follow. .NET programmers future seens pretty good especially for C# and VB .NET. I know web designers are picking up there and graphics designers too. The future looks good if you are starting now in DR. Network managers are always safe bets and IT in general is getting the same.

Hola Belly. Thank you for the welcome, and thank you for the boost of confidence. I feel a little better now...

Hope all is well for you.

-Dusan

Well, there are many opportunities in IT in Dom Rep however dont expect the income levels as in the US as companies are not willing to pay equivalent rates for many reasons one which is that DR is lacking the Intellectual Infrastructure and investment atmosphere to support such expansion. While India and China were investing in education in technology fields DR still pussy footing around with tourism. DR should have begun years ago to invest in Open Software, GNU i.e BSD/UNiX as these technologies can provide the biggest bang for the buck. Therefore I believe that the greatest opportunities are in Open software i.e LAMP, MAMP, as the cost will increase the return exponentially.

Agreed. Open source software and Linux is huge in Brasil and Argentina. Not only is Open software good to keep software costs down or non-exist in some cases...it's also good for education. Linux can be used on very old computers as well or computers with low specs.

What i cant seem to understand is how developing countries waste there money on MS product when they can employ open source solutions that are competitive and equal to those that commercial software can offer. It must be tied into the whole corruption scheme.

they would probably leverage there iT intellectual resources if they switched to Open-source solutions instead of MS products.

I couldn't agree more.

To me IT development is backward and inefficient, most Dominican made websites are crude and unfinished, using old programing methods and designs, most software developers are just ventorrilleros looking for a couple of bucks on payroll programs, Dominican companies are still looking for inexperienced young freshmen to run their IT departments in ALL aspects, they have to be programmers, network admins, tech support and hardware technicians.

Just look at the Dominican presence in the web, it is almost non existent with a few good websites here and there, the goverment has websites that are always filled with dead links and the information is always irrelevant, filled with useless pictures of this or that Secretario de Estado.

I hope someday we have the human resource that we lack today.

And it is true that we should move away from the ALL TOURISM economy.

Microsoft has a good footing in the DR because they had donated software and money to the Dominican government, therefore assuring all gov. agencies run MS crap.

Even the ITLA concentrates their efforts on MS certifications since they are "more rewarding" in a country run by MS operating systems.

I used to be IT manager in a department of a gov. agency, I put Linux Red hat running as a backup server for the windows based network, I ended up using Linux as the backbone OS with windows running only on workstations.

Even so, I was looked upon like a crazy aunt locked in the basement since they never understood why Linux and Unix makes a better system in terms of security, up-time, speed and stability.

My servers were running 24/7 with up-times that ranged from 3 to 6 months without a single reboot.

It is true Open source software cost down cost up-front but remember business don't just look at up-front cost they also have to look at operating cost and for business having a 1-800 number to call is very important as well. Linux is a very solid choice but as a person that have to work in all major platform I can assure you that in the easy of use of the software Windows maybe hated by lot but they just have no competition in there by all others.I'm a solid supporter of Open source but it still in general software development behind closed software environment like MS and others may be due to resources. Open source make sense to invest in it if the tech support and talent was locally available but when you look around you have to realize that Linux Talent in DR is almost non-existent and even the MS talent around need to grow to become avg talent on the international scale of business. Like i said before the gov in DR won't invest in IT. If ever developed it will come from a Dominican Entrepreneur.

That's so true. DR needs a person that's willing to lead and move into the real IT not this so call programmers. As far as Dominican Websites go DT from my opinion has been the most professionally well designed site i have been to. I know it could use some improvement but in general the backbones of this site is good but i have to admit they could use some photoshop experts around here to help with the graphics design process because is in need. If DR ever gets into this field with a attitude to becoming respected it will be done by entrepreneurs not the Dominican Gov. Personally i wouldn't trust any government into investing into this field especially DR politicians who are barely learning how to send a e-mail. We have to stop thinking that the government somehow after all this time is going to wake up and invest in IT well let me be the one to wake you all up. Most IT developed countries were not started by gov. so i don't think DR is going to be any different so if you want a industry like this to develop go to school and get a degree and open a business in DR and grow from there otherwise we will be talking about this for centuries.