IT is going down, what to do??

I've been in IT for over 20 years. It is not "going down". Look at how business is conducted. Do you see companies moving away from automated interchange of data back to paper forms? Do you see companies looking to lengthen their product design cycles, delivery times, billing processes? Are we planning to capture and store LESS information than we do now?

The answer to all of these is NO. A lot of the cut backs are due to the failure of dot-com companies that never should have been started in the first place. Companies that had no product or service to sell, no business plan, and no idea of how to build a revenue stream other than placing a lot of obnoxious banner ads at the top of the web pages.

Also, business cycles do goup and down. The US had been in a VERY long economic boom but nothing lasts forever. We will slip for a while then build back up. There are no guarantees that any one individual will be granted permanent employment, but if I were you, I'd just concentrate on learning everything I can - - both from the technical side and the business side - - and you will find continued employment.