Andrew DiLiddo: No Job Doesn't Mean No WorkAndrew DiLiddo: No Job Doesn't Mean No Work

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the vast majority of ex-IT workers are younger than 40 years old. It seems common sense: people in their 20s and 30s, as a group, have fewer financial and familial obligations, and therefore more freedom to take a career risk. But that doesn't mean that IT workers over 40 aren't rethinking their profession, particularly in the light of Sept. 11.

Consider 50-year-old Andrew DiLiddo.

It wasn't just the economy that had the erstwhile project manager depressed. After Sept. 11, DiLiddo was watching so much news and becoming so morose that his friends threatened, only half-jokingly, to put him on a news ban. But when President Bush, in his State of the Union address, called on Americans to do volunteer work, it struck a chord. DiLiddo is leaving IT behind--at least in his day job, for a time--and volunteering as a county field coordinator for former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who's running for governor of Massachusetts.

He says the biggest difference between his former job and this one--aside from no paycheck--is the sheer volume of communication. Three hundred to four hundred contacts via E-mail, phone, and in person is a typical day, in marked contrast to his work in IT. "As a project manager, I was usually cloistered in the core group--anywhere from 10 to 40 people," he says.

And anyone who's worked in a campaign knows the hours are no better than in IT. Two weeks ago, DiLiddo says, he worked 60 hours. Last Thursday, he attended a dinner with Reich and a group of Democratic leaders; most nights involve meetings and campaign events.

That doesn't count the time he spends getting additional IT training in preparation for the time when he's ready to re-enter the industry. "I need specific hard programming skills," he says, so he's going to the Boston University corporate training center to learn more about Java. "I just got out of consumer debt, and now I'm taking on a $10,000 loan to go to school at night."

DiLiddo has a strong IT background: project management at Coopers & Lybrand followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers for many years. Then he jumped to an entrepreneurial company, Platinum Technology in Chicago, for one year, but when Computer Associates bought it out in 1999, all the Platinum Technology staffers were let go. Since then, he's done consulting: Y2K project management that he says kept him busy well into 2000, then shifting gears into project management for E-commerce and Web development.

DiLiddo acknowledges that as a 50-year-old, he's in the statistical minority of those who make a major career shift. Younger people "seem more willing to go out and volunteer and do pro bono work," he says. "Over 50, the attitude is, 'I'm a good person: the company should invest in me, bring me on, train me.' "

But he's not waiting for the company--any company--to show up and take him under its wing. For DiLiddo, it's bigger than career: it's about social responsibility. "The problem goes beyond IT, and in the wake of Sept. 11, when the opportunity arose for me to roll up my sleeves and challenge this problem on a more universal scale by working for someone who knows the challenge of labor, I jumped at it," he says. "It's not fair to advance yourself and leave everyone behind. We need to help each other."

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