If you've been following Calculated Risk you'll see that the credit crunch is already here.

Sure, technology companies dependent on discretionary spending will be hit... but IT encompasses far, far more than just technology companies with product to sell. Every business uses techs to some degree: either they're employed by the company, or they're contracted in on an as-needed basis. Either way, techs are still going to be required to do business.

In my opinion, a 2% recession in the IT industry might not be such a horrible thing. I dare say that everyone here who knows 100 techs can certainly think of 2 who really ought not be in IT.


Just be sure you're in the other 98%.

First off I'm thinking 2% recession is too low - I suspect a bit worse.
I agree IT encompasses far more than just tech companies; but enterprises have already started the belt tightening. So the adage "if it ain't broken don't fix it" (especially if we're making a profit) will start to take hold. It cannot apply to everything, but it can to many upgrade scenarios.

As for not being in the 2% pool ...

Those companies who let go of IT staff indiscriminately because "things aren't broke" will quickly figure out the hard way what happens when you don't support your IT infrastructure.

agree they might find out they actually had a good team which were herocially holding their infrastructure together with sellotape and chewing gum because everyone was ignoring IT's request for a decent budget!

This is true, however...
In some cases (depending on executive make-up) the easiest group to cut resources to is the one that nobody really understands the importance of and/or feels like a financial burden.

To make IT more involved in the business decisions at an exec level, there needs to be an IT exec voice (CIO; CTO; etc...).
Bit off topic here...

That's why it is important to be certified,it validates your skills. When it comes to lay offs and you are certified and your associate isn't......

Yep... and then have to hire someone on short notice who might cost more and might not be the best fit for the team/company... or worse, pay a IT consulting company by the hour for additional techs (which is often what happens).

It'll LOOK easy to cut resources there... but what I'm saying is... just because they don't understand it or just because things don't look broken doesn't mean everything will continue to work when you let go of IT staff. Thus... they'll learn the hard way.