John, you have my complete sympathies. The Sunday after I was downsized from 
CGI, the Boston Globe's front page had an article on the worst job market 
statistics in more than fifteen years. In addition to hitting the job 
boards, I got to work on MS certification. And then I took a grad course in 
database management at Boston University, arguably the best school offering 
a Computer Science Masters program that wasn't a full time job (which MIT's 
program is, not that their recruiters came calling), although homework was 
twelve to twenty hours a week. After about a year of unemployment, I found a 
job in an Ecometry shop for about 75% of what I had been earning, and that 
didn't work out as I had hoped. So now I am in a Windows shop much like Art 
describe, and I am the IT department, so to speak. I still tend processes 
that must run, I still check logs, and I still make sure that the backups 
ran as expected (must every backup product be told not to try to back up 
files that its operating system always lock?). It's strangely familiar.

In addition to picking a new skill set (or a new vendor for your existing 
skill set) and finding some way to demonstrate competence, I would encourage 
anyone to post his or her resume to the job boards. It's feeding frenzy with 
recruiters. Robert Half reopened their IT recruiting practice in my area. 
And I have been contacted by more than my share who found my resume by 
keyword search, and only read my phone number. But I was in a contract job 
six weeks after the Ecometry shop job ended, and went from that to the 
current job. And both paid significantly better. At least here, the economy 
seems to have recovered.

Greg Stigers, MCSA
one exam to go for my MCSE 

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