Is IT in a slump? And should you care?

certifications

When the economy sucks, its sucks for all, not just IT professionals. And most people in all industries start getting into panic mode. The truth is, the economy goes up and down.

When it is down you may experience some short term annoyances like losing your job.

This may sound like something huge but it's not. When we reach a road that seems like it's a dead end, when we panic we don't see all the other roads open to us. If we just open our eyes. They are just around the corner.

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us" -- Alexander Graham Bell

Should you panic when the IT industry goes into a slump?

A slump is just a slump. It doesn't mean that the industry is dying out. It just means that factors are influencing it and bringing it down a notch. A slump isn't permanent. Can you seriously see information technology dying out? I mean seriously! Things are becoming more specialized now. Network roles are becoming more specialized because they are evolving. Technology is evolving. This means more opportunities.

So when things seem bad, look at how they can be better for you. Focus on you.

I can give you many examples of people that I know that lost their job and went into business for themselves. Other examples of those that decided its time to hit the books again to become better than what they were.

At a time in my life when all I could get was shitty low paying jobs I decided to stop looking for low paying shitty jobs and stay on unemployment for a year till I got more certifications under my belt. Although getting high certifications without experience doesn't guarantee you a high paying job, do you know what it does guarantee?

More options.

A year later I still landed a low paying job but I built experience and the next one after that was when those certifications I got 2 years before started to work their magic.

So make a decision not to panic and start doing something about it. When something bad happens to us, ask yourself if fate (or whatever) is just asking you to slow down and rethink your situation - so you can get to a better place.