big time tech pessimism

I believe the problem is all these schools that promise their students a %98 chance of getting a job right after they get their degree. That almost never happens unless you know someone that can get you a job. I guess that false promise can make alot of people become pessimists

It really does depend on the area where you live. Another variable is if you are willing to relocate if jobs are not available in your area. Salary expectations can be to blame in some cases too.

Where I am, the tech market never did get overinflated. This area is also not seeing the decline in the tech market either. This makes my perspective a little different than many.

It's not a single answer but a combination of factors that have many IT folk down about their chosen careers.

First, as was mentioned earlier, the number of available IT jobs is down. Used to be the paper was lousy with openings of all kinds. Even here in Backwater, USA I could count on 10-15 job listings in the Sunday paper. Now, 2 or 3 would be an aggressive guess at the average.

Second, with IT certification shops popping up all over, there are a lot of unrealistic expectations being handed out. I think there should be a disclaimer. "I make $80,000 a year as my company?s IT guy." (Weight loss... I mean salary not typical)

Third, when you do get your BS and a couple of important sounding certifications, and you head out for the job market you are hit with job listings like this one (real job posting)

"Requirements include a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering w/ training and experience, 7-10 years of IT experience with increasing responsibility to include experience with sales and marketing systems, e-business, ERP, client/server and quality managerial experience. Experience in a rapidly changing business environment as a change agent in systems implementations is necessary. This person should also have at least two years programming in RPG on the AS/400. Applicant must also have good knowledge of CL, RPGIV, RPG 400 and ILE. Any VB, VC++, COBOL development skills, also utilizing some or all of the following tools: SQL, HTML, Java, Oracle Databases/Forms/Reports. Travel up to 30%."

They are looking to pay this person as close to $40k a year as possible. Oh I also left out the last line of the posting, "?walking on water not required for hire but would be a plus."

Finally, it's atough economy we live in and as dependent as most companies are on IT and technology many still see it as one of the first and best places to "save" money.