Echoing what others are saying here - IT can be a good or bad field, depending on where you land. On the embedded side, the market locally is declining (not that it doesn't exist) but mass-marketed products end up getting a lot of their design/build done offshore.
Some of the changes I'm seeing are showing that modern workflow automation is getting to the point where it is becoming a real contender for the standard code-pounding jobs out there. Look at some of the low/no code platforms out there now - they have come a long way.
The alternative is to work in an R&D role, but those jobs have a tendency to be fickle (unless you can find one that gets a steady flow of government funding).
For auto diagnostics, I doubt that any of the programming is done locally - An IT training won't be a big asset there.
However, have him take a look at automation. A few weeks ago I had an interesting lunch chat with the CTO of a company that produces an integration platform. They are foraying into the world of IoT. Companies like Brandt, SMS etc. are doing that as well - in regards to autonomous vehicles, worksite sensors (nodes embedded in hardhats) etc. This will lead to work on the industrial side that will require embedded/IT knowledge. This will also mean growing demand for workers in the areas of handling unstructured data/big data.
There's an article in today's paper that talks about Big Data and how it may shape Calgary's future economy
here.