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but as a professional in the IT industry i've found over the past 15 years how quickly things change. the global information age makes professional services just as transportable overseas as manufacturing jobs

From what I remember, IT had a great run in the 90's but took a big hit after Y2K. I thought they had recovered since then, not only in the availability of jobs, but also with earnings. I'm surprised.

I'm probably a little older than you are and I have had to continuously update my skill sets and education. In the 12 years I've been with my current company, we've doubled our sales volume but have cut the number of employees by one-third.

The guys who didn't survive lost their positions because they didn't have the skills necessary to continue to create value for the company. They have also had a hard time finding new positions paying what they used to earn.

I don't think they fully understood just how competitive the world has become. The bottom line though is that our unemployment rate is lower than the averages of the past three decades, real incomes continue to rise, home ownership is at an all time high, household net worth is at an all time high, interest rates remain low and the economy continues to hum along.

There is more opportunity now in this country than at any other time in my life. I only wish I was 20 years younger.

keeping up to date on my skillset is the only reason i've made it this far, i stay on the bleeding edge of technology as a way to keep my rate up. but since y2k i would venture to guess you'd be surprised at the number of projects that have been lost to $5-10/hr india developers. back in 2001 everyone thought it would be unmanagable fad but the fad isn't over yet.

(regardless it is a rat race and the problems being solved today are the same problems that were being solved 20-30 years ago, just "improved" technology. it doesn't seem many in the (enterprise) IT field learn from the past so i fully understand why business leaders are happy to send projects to india.)

based on the current trends and the amount of effort i have to put into "updating" my skillset, at this rate i certainly won't be able to carry through to retirement.

but that is the great thing about america right? the ability to reinvent yourself.