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If you are interested in a career in information technology, by now you’ve probably heard both sides of the ongoing debate.

The country’s IT employers are scrambling for more temporary work visas for foreign IT graduates, claiming that there’s a shortage of skilled domestic workers. U.S. tech workers are arguing the exact opposite — that there are plenty of available employees, just not enough good jobs. The nation’s IT workers believe that conglomerates are fabricating (or at least exaggerating) a worker shortage to keep wages for IT professionals down. The simple fact is that foreign employees will work for less.

It is difficult to confirm whether or not claims of an IT worker shortage are merely a political ploy to avoid hiring U.S. workers who’ll demand more money. But experts on both sides of the debate agree that something needs to change. The current system that’s in place allows IT companies to hire multiple foreign workers on a temporary basis with H-1B visas.

Earlier this year, several U.S. senators argued that some organizations were abusing this system to keep their own expenses down (and not to make the U.S. more competitive in the IT industry). Domestic workers are convinced that they are being turned down for jobs they’re qualified for because companies are looking to hire workers who’ll make less of a dent in their payrolls.

What’s more is that the pay for IT workers hasn’t increased since 2000. When adjusted for inflation, tech workers are actually making an average of $850 less per year than they were seven years ago. (Although the mean annual salary for computer workers still stands at $69,240.)

So while there’s proof that wages have stagnated in recent years, employers argue that the current unemployment rate among IT professionals in the U.S. (a low 1.8%) confirms that domestic workers are finding positions. Large organizations like Microsoft are also pointing to the 3,000 core technology jobs that they have to fill in the U.S. as evidence that the country needs to award more foreign work visas.

Aside from the relevant arguments that each side makes, there is one issue that make this IT debate even more confusing, and that’s the treatment of all IT specializations as one field. Some areas, such as software development, are generating multiple positions, while industries like computer programming are in a steep decline. (Programming jobs have dwindled 25% since 2000.)

So while you may not be able to resolve the debate between IT employers and the agitated tech workforce, you can increase your owns chances of securing a job in information technology. The IT areas with the most open positions in the U.S., as well as the most potential for growth, are as follows: software engineering, IT management (jobs up 50% since 2001), and network systems analysis.

Earn your degree in one the IT fields mentioned above, and you should be in a great position to find work upon graduation. Westwood College Online offers degrees in software engineering and computer network management, AIU focuses in network administration and computer systems, and University of Phoenix offers an MBA program in technology management.