When will the IT bleeding stop

Set the stage

If you have read my story, you will see that a layoff can happen to anyone, even long term employees.  So many IT jobs have been lost lately, that Dice.com reported a 45% drop in IT jobs.  Now that’s very comforting (tounge in cheek) to know that I have so many brothers and sisters in the IT world in the same predicament that I am.  Let me say that if I were the only one laid off, I’d still be happy for those who are still working, but that’s not the case.

Without spilling my inner feelings out and ruining a good post, let me say that it’s good that companies like Oracle feel the economy is stable enough to buy Sun Microsystems.  I hope they get it right, and the IT economy levels out and then makes a turn up.  My gut feeling still says that by summer’s end more jobs will be available than there is now, but still not at the levels they were in Q4 2008.

So let me put my steel toed shoes on lest my toes get stomped on,  and say how sad is it that Oracle feels they may have to lay off 10,000 employees after they buy Sun?  OK stockholder friends, I feel for the depressed stock and value of 401K plans.  My 401K hit the crapper, and I’m still trying to fish it out.  So IT is not the big and glorious employment umbrella that it once was, but there are still jobs out there.  I’m determined to get one of them.

Over at layofflist.org you can find a running list of some of these unfortunate stories, including more about Chrysler refusing George Bush’s care package, the Sun deal, Lexmark laying people off (I never liked their printers anyway), and one that may hit some people here in Central Illinois – Yahoo, who may lay more off too.  It’s a good read.

When will the technology bleeding stop?  I hope soon, for the sake of everyone.

Photo courtesy Flickr by Paul Garland