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Forrester Says Tech Downturn Is "Unofficially Over"
alphadogg writes "The US IT market will grow by 6.6% as high-tech spending rebounds in 2010, according to Forrester Research's latest estimates. The research firm based its projections on data reported for 2009, though its fourth quarter numbers are incomplete. Forrester says hints of a recovery surfaced in the third quarter, and now the company expects the global IT market to grow by 8.1% in 2010. Forrester's US and Global IT Market Outlook: Q4 2009 reads: 'The tech downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over, while the Q3 2009 data for the US and the global market showed continued declines in tech purchases (as we expected). We predict that the Q4 2009 data will show a small increase in buying activity, or at worst, just a small decline.'"
Does this mean I'll get a job this year?
The tech jobs market in Boston does feel less dead now than it did for most of 2009. I entered the job market in April and it was six months before I had an interview. Now I've had three in three months. It's tricky to extrapolate from those data points to locate a job offer but it does give me hope.
... now back to the bit mines.
I graduated last November. I was looking for jobs since August. I did not get any calls at least until end of November. Since then I have had an interview every day and finally had the luxury to choose from multiple offers. I know a lot of companies are starting up new projects. A lot of the jobs in my area - Computer Architecture/Systems/Networks is being driven by Cloud Computing. Datacenter style jobs are big. Most positions require experience in Fiber Chanel SAN etc or hardware for large Datacenter switches.
The "real" (u-6) unemployment rate is about 17.5%, because the official rate only counts those looking for work. So even if 17.5% of all IT workers were laid off, 82.5% still have their jobs, so yes, it is the same for "most". I got axed along with a significant portion of my department (25%) in May when they decided to outsource a lot of that work to India, but rather than collect unemployment or bitch about it I started my own company. Head still above water...
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
Same here. I was unaffected, making $45K a year, putting into a 401K, getting decent health benefits while doing tech work for a bank (of all places) until I was laid off. We're now in mid-foreclosure. I'm getting a paid sh!t wage doing warranty repair work about 10 hours a week and it's the only work I've been able to find since I was laid off last May. I've got no health benefits, I cashed out my 401K and what was left kept us in this house long enough to learn that the bank wasn't going to work with us at all... and a year ago I was telling my laid off friends how rock solid my job was. Things went down hill fast. NotQuiteReal, you're making yourself sound like an ignorant, arrogant ass.