In these days finding a job is the hardest thing, job stability is a distant second.

IT job sector is still stronger than engineering, i.e. you can find a job in IT easier than you can find a job in engineering. So, getting a job is your concern then stick with IT. But I think engineering provides more stability if by good fortunes you do get into engineering.

Now for your second question, it really depends upon your friend (or is it yourself? admit it) what he is good at. If he enjoyed programming, go for it. If not, then don't force it, go for network admin, database admin, security expert etc etc.

With education and experience from outside US, you will have a real hard time getting a job going with option 3 so I would dump that for now.

Hope this helps.