Saturation, virtualization, and optimization are the greater “culprits” here, if you must find a villain. All infrastructure work is cyclical and driven by demand. IT is not exempt from market swings and corporate decisions.
The notion that companies exist to provide lifelong employment hasn’t been true in my 50+ years. There are still plenty of IT jobs going begging; but neither the jobs, nor the technology, ever remain static. It is a industry predicated on continuing education. Adapt or die.
That's a concept that is very, very hard for most people to grasp. But if it were true, then it would mean the re-emergence of serfdom as an economic model.
I work in IT at a company that does fulfillment and depot repair for Cisco and several other vendors and I just received my 2 weeks notice yesterday. I don’t feel too bad about it, as I started there on a 3 month contract 28 months ago.
The remaining IT staff all bring in curry for lunch and are getting paid about half of what I was. I guess they can hold all their meetings in Hindi now that I won’t be there.
B.S. It is H1Bs and “off-shore” or what HP calls “best-shore” that is causing American IT workers to lose jobs. I will have nowhere to land because there will be no jobs left for white older American workers and not because I need to adapt!