Depressing IT Job Prospects

[Joshua Zeidner]

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 7:44 AM, Josh Coffman <josh at computeristsolutions.com
> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 4:59 AM, <storkus at storkus.com> wrote:
>
>> That's a good point, Tony, but one of those articles quoted directly
>> from the Dept. of Labor (the one with the stats), so it's not just the
>> usual media love of blowing things out of proportion.  I completely
>> agree with you on the Valley, though--when I went back home to Reno a
>> couple of weeks ago, I discovered the economic downturn has hit much
>> harder there than it has here, so we're very lucky down here, IT or not.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>
> My personal experience and what I see on job boards indicates that demand
> for programmers remains strong.
>


   Hi Josh,

   Job boards, especially free ones, are not a reliable indicator.  Many
people use those boards to gauge markets, which means that a lot of the
postings are not legitimate jobs.

   My take on the economy: there is a major reorientation underway.  We have
just funneled an enormous amount of tax money into insolvent semi-private
institutions, which not only is a huge expense, it stands as perhaps one of
the greatest erosions of american commercial concepts in history.  Remember
these same people who we are bailing out were stating huge profits (private
profits) as little as 2 years ago.  Any economic region based on real estate
is going to deflate severely.  Most raw material and agro commodities will
retain their value, while all RE assets and just about any job market
related to it will be a wash.

   I had mentioned before that the direction the economy is going might very
well be a GOOD thing for FOSS developers.  I concede that a weaker
comparative dollar will actually stimulate the FOSS sector.  Licensed
software is supported by this currency differential, take it away and much
of the wealth will shift into other schema. jmz



> Now I'm more focused on windows development because that's what I do, but I
> also watch non-windows ads because I'd like to get away from windows
> eventually.
>
> Lately I've seen job postings for MySQL admins, which is something I
> haven't seen in a while or maybe not ever.  Usually, its for a PHP dev or
> Linux admin position.  I'm inclined to think that demand is strong enough to
> warrant a dedicated MySQL position.
>
> I watch both local job boards and some for areas like L.A.  Also, I should
> note that I'm pay attention to senior level positions because that fits me
> better.  Although, I also look at mid-level postings for non-windows gigs.
>
> good luck
> -j
>
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-- 
"Never take counsel of your fears." - Andrew Jackson

- http://www.joshuazeidner.com/
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