[NTLUG:Discuss] It must be true that IT is back...

[Chris Cox]

brian at pongonova.net wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 16, 2007 at 10:45:32AM -0500, Greg Edwards wrote:
>> PHP is too small of a niche to use as a benchmark.  The market has become 
>> dominated by Java, C++, and point and click case tools such as Oracle 
>> Forms/Financials/etc.  The other trend that I've seen over the last year is 
>> MS specific environments such as .NET, C#, and SQL Server.  If the 
>> development world is any indicator of future OS market share then MS has 
>> been kicking *NIXs butt over the last 12-18 months.
> 
> Possibly, but you're making the assumption that IT folks have only one
> programming skill.
> 
> Anyways, this wasn't a debate on which programming languages are hot
> at the moment.  I'm simply making the observation that the IT
> industry, at least in Dallas, doesn't appear to be hurting too badly
> based upon the not-so-random cross-section of subscribers to the list.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I'm all for caps on H1B visas.  I just don't
> believe the problem is as bad as is portrayed.

I agree... the market actually look pretty good right now.  I'm not
sure where people get off saying it's bad.  However, with that said
the amount of 6 figure jobs is still rather limited... and
unfortunately, many from the dot-bomb got their salaries elevated
to such a level.

> 
> I've noticed the same phenomenon in the teaching field, that there's
> this mysterious "shortage" of teachers.  Yet, schools in the Dallas
> area appear to be flush enough that they can specify X years of
> teaching experience.  Obviously, if they can set those types of
> constraints, the school districts aren't hurting that badly. 

Another things I've noticed is that while I have a job, I'm having
to work harder than I used to.... so, there are jobs, but they
can be pretty hard jobs.  I've seen many job opps recently that
read:

Need skill, etc, etc, etc,

And you need to be willing to work on weekends..
And you need to be willing to work on off hourss...
And you need to be willing to etc, etc...

Gone are the days of having enough staff to adequately cover
a 60+ hour work week.  All of the additional stress will
eventually take its toll.

But, if 50-60+ hr/week  jobs are your thing... there are plenty of
those jobs out there right now.  Want a 40hr/week job?  Those
are in very short supply.