[Poohbah]

The dotnet bunch simply didn't employ the vast majority of programmer/analysts and/or project managers; the Y2K projects did, until 1/2/2001.

"IT jobs" included the idiot who updated the web site news page for $70K/year plus stock options.

And, absent the threat of Y2K (which was a real worry), COBOL programmers were never going to be worth $80K/year.

Incidentally, while these programmers were fixing Y2K, they fixed OTHER problems as well. I saw a consulting firm's report that said that urgent fix projects on deployed systems declined about 30-40% in 2000 & 2001 relative to 1994-95, despite the code being much more complicated. Basically, Y2K marked the first time there'd ever been a concerted effort to fix systems BEFORE they broke.

[jb6]

"IT jobs" included the idiot who updated the web site news page for $70K/year plus stock options.

What makes him the idiot. I'd say he is a very intelligent person. In such a case, the only idiot is the guy who authorized that pay level.