I’ve been in the distressing situation of seeing good friends laid off. Even more distressing was when I saw it coming but never quite got around to talking to the friend in question because he was in a different city. I often wonder if I could have saved him that turmoil.
IT people often think that their technical knowledge makes them too valuable to sack, rather than understanding their business value. i.e. Joe sees himself as priceless while his boss sees him as useless 🙂
So I highly commend to you these articles that appeared a while ago:
How Secure is Your Technical Career? http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3662621 (“As you get older, you get slower, uglier and more expensive.”)
and Strategies For Securing Your IT Career
http://www.itcareerplanet.com/news/article.php/3674261 (“If you are an IT technical person of increasing seniority (and cost), here are options for staying ahead of the layoffs.”)
Please make sure you don’t let this happen to you, or at the very least you see it coming and are prepared.
