IT Job Market Recovering Faster Now Than After Dot-com Bubble Burst

tsamsoniw writes "More new tech jobs have emerged since the end of the past recession than during the same recovery timelines following the dot-com bubble burst and the early-1990s recession. What's more, the unemployment rate among technology professionals is now half that of the national average — with especially low unemployment rates for database administrators and network architects. What's not clear, though, is how many unemployed techies aren't being counted because they've abandoned job searches."

Comments

At least one

[tverbeek]

Well, I've pretty much stopped looking. I suppose what I'm doing now counts as a "tech job", but the IT job market sure has lost a lot of appeal to me. Who wants to get chewed up and spit out again?

Re:At least one

[TheGratefulNet]

I was (still am) out of work for a long, long time. spent 5 years at a big-name bay area company only to get rif'd when a huge org change happend.

for the first 6 months, I looked and looked hard. companies were not hiring and those that were, were asking for god, himself. nothing you could do would be good enough and the rates were below market, taking advantage of the poor job market.

I gave up, started my own one-man company in the hardware/software area and made some product prototypes. was hoping to bring them to manufacturing but was a bit outside my experience level (I did the hardware design, software/firmware, mechanicals, user interface, pretty much everything, all using home lab equip I bought used on ebay).

FINALLY, once the year turned over, I started getting calls from companies and recruiters. like the flood gates opened! night and day. not sure why, exactly, but I'm not complaining!

it was a very dry period for a few years. fwiw, I have 30+ years writing C code in the networking field and have spent the last 20 yrs in the bay area. yet I could not get anywhere during the dry-spell of the last few years.

I hope this up-turn is going to stay. we have been at bottom long enough!

(wish me luck, too; I have some onsites this and next week).

Re:At least one

[Cryacin]

Same here. My current employer almost went belly up keeping everyone on without the work. Eventually when faced with either closing their doors, my boss took everyone in a room and explained it had gotten worse, asked who had options and if they were willing to exercise them, and then the remainder were let go with the crystal clear understanding that they did everything they could, that it was certainly not by bad performance on their part, and that should things turn around, they will be the first to get a call.

Contrary to what they teach you at the Ivy league schools, as the employees were treated like reasonable people, they treated the business owners the same way. Some left of their own accord, and the rest although terrified about being out in the cold, understood and agreed that this was the only course of action.

Fast forward a few months, and most of the people who left, are now back working for us, as things have turned around. The rest are all in well paying jobs, and have nothing but good things to say. If only more employers worked in this fashion.

Re:At least one

[kelemvor4]

"It doesn't really matter. I uh, I don't like my job, and, uh, I don't think I'm gonna go anymore."

Isn't this to be expected?

[viperidaenz]

The dot-com burst was a tech sector bubble.

The current burst is a finance sector bubble.

How's that finance job market recovery going?

Re:Isn't this to be expected?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great. They just announced another round of executive bonuses.

Prediction: Bye-bye "re-shoring"

[mrheckman]

Employment in high tech is cyclical - boom to bust, followed by boom again. It seems to happen roughly every 10 years (1991, 2001, 2009 come to mind, but there was another boom around 1980). When employment booms, there's a shortage of skilled engineers and programmers, so companies look to off-shore. Meanwhile, the number of CS students in the US skyrockets. Then those students graduate, and not long after, the industry tanks, the job market softens, and there's a local surplus of skilled workers who are suddenly more affordable vis-a-vis off-shore workers. Seeing the surplus of skilled on-shore workers, companies start "re-shoring" -- bringing jobs back to the US. But lots of unemployed engineers and programmers go on to other things and, seeing so many engineers and programmers out of work, CS enrollments plummet. When the next boom hits, there's a shortage of workers again and the cycle continues.

Re:Is the job market real?

[niado]

I have been a victim so to speak. You see, I got a job but the employer wanted me to get "up-to-date" certification at my cost, at my time and then commit to working 5 days a week and being on-call at least one weekend every 6 weeks for the first year, then on-call for one of the weekends in two months.

Needless to say, I declined the offer....still looking.

This may have been sarcasm, and if so, a big whoosh to me, but if you seriously declined a job offer because they wanted you to get some certifications and be on call for 9 weekends per year, you evidently don't really need a job.

Re:Is the job market real?

[vux984]

I have been a victim so to speak. You see, I got a job but the employer wanted me to get "up-to-date" certification at my cost, at my time and then commit to working 5 days a week and being on-call at least one weekend every 6 weeks for the first year, then on-call for one of the weekends in two months.

That actually seems pretty reasonable to me; the only point I'd negotiate on would be the certifications at my cost relative to my starting wage and/or signing bonus.

Surely the 5 days a week, and being on call one weekend in 6 wasn't the deal breaker? Doctors deal with the same reality... people don't get sick only from 9 to 5, and computers are no more accomodating. Things break on weekends.

Re:Is the job market real?

[TheRealMindChild]

This is the problem though. Give an inch, a mile is taken. What is one more weekend? One less sick day? 30 more minutes to a day? You need to bring your own computer to work on.

Re:"techies" unemployed? Maybe those over 50...

[TheGratefulNet]

I'm over 50 (just barely).

the agism (in the sf bay area) is visible and intense. my healthcare went up A LOT on my 50'th birthday and I have private HI since I'm not employed now and wasn't when I was 50, either.

companies have to pay higher rates for older employees (I'm pretty sure). they also have more legal hurdles to jump thru when they fire you. in general, they don't like older guys. lots of reasons, with very few of them actually good reasons.

fwiw, if you are in the bay area and approach mid 30's, start thinking about an 'exit strategy'. by mid 40's you should have some idea or plan. I did not and I'm paying the price for my lack of forethought (I really didn't believe this, back when I was still young).

maybe other areas of the country are more accepting of us older guys, but the bay area IS NOT! trust me. yes, there are companies that have grey-hairs there but they are usually the minority and very few of them feel totally secure in their jobs, if you ask them and if they answer honestly.

its a shame. some cultures in the world respect and honor age, experience and wisdom. the bay area, fwiw, is NOT one of them ;(

(I wish I could speak one of the asian languages or be able to move there; I am told that the eastern part of the world still DOES honor and respect age and experience.)

Re:Local differences

[TheGratefulNet]

I went for an interview (really well known company, everyone wants to work there, or so they think) and when they told me that the job was paying about half of what I made 10 yrs ago (!!), I did not balk. it would have covered the rent, at least, and employment is honorable even if its way below your last several jobs' rates.

they would have no part of me, though. too old, way too overqualified (they said so) and they didn't want to risk taking me on. I did not (at all!) act above-the-job. I honestly would have been fine working there, even for that rate. maybe it would lead to other things or I could establish myself in that company. but no, they never even called back to give closure. (this company is known to be rude to prospective employees, and people still put up with it, too).

employers, please don't turn down those who are 'overqualified' in a tough market. get a feeling for whether they'll stay or jump; but don't just -assume- they'll jump. those who have been out of work would really appreciate the chance and they'd likely be loyal and glad to have the chance to come aboard. if they're older, they'll likely be more stable, too, and not be a job-hopper. believe me, the job-hopping days ended 10 yrs ago or even more.

the tough part is staying positive when you see the ugliness and greed that companies have, when they know its an employer's market. its soul crushing to see the lack of humanity and lack of compassion. it was a learning experience for me and I'm going to try never to do that to anyone, if I'm on the other side of the interview table.