Anecdotal I know, but the job situation (in IT) seems to be improving.

[Statistical]

Little over a year ago my company was downsizing so I looked for other options. I ended up finding a replacement job (good thing my company cut nearly 20% a month later) but honestly there was very little out there. I guess I should feel "happy to have a job" (never understood that sentiment) but I I feel stifled where I work now. The company is reluctant to implement changes to modernize the database. As a result waste an unbelievable amount of productivity keeping aging, fragile, and poorly designed systems running So I started looking for new employment.

My primary job listing source is Dice.com. A year ago there were maybe 6 job listings for SQL Developer or similar positions. Of those 6 only 4 were valid. One was a 90 day temp job at 50% of going rate, and the other wanted an insane amount of experience for under market pay. All 4 jobs actually listed more experience than I had even for an entry level position.

I started looking about a month ago there was a dozen or so. Today there are almost thirty (some are DBA). Also I have noticed many employer have relaxed the requirements. A year ago the average listing was looking for 7-10 years experience. Even junior posistions required 5+ years. Today the experience requirements are getting closer to realistic. I also think HR dept have increased funding for 2011 so they are setting up listings in December to try and get ahead of the competitition.

Anyways I know it is antecdotal and likely depends a lot on the employment type and geography but at least here the listings are much more promising. Maybe I am an optimist, maybe it is the Christmas season, but I honestly think 2011 will be a better year for employment.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. A good friend of mine is an IT guy and he was out of work very briefly

Only about a month. Found a new and better job pretty quickly.

[Statistical]

2. Glad to hear it. A similar thing happened to a friend of my who was laid off.

Msybe I am over optimistic but it reminds me of early spring where it is still cold but there is the hint of warmer days ahead.

[xor]

3. What part of the country do you live in?

I hate when I see those ridiculous job requirements though. Often times the people wanting someone who is pretty much a master in everything. Be a network admin, server admin (Windows and *nix), messaging admin, expert in voice and security, be DBA with knowledge of Oracle, MS SQL, MySQL, whateverSQL, be a real programmer, oh and of course virtualization.... and so on and so on.

I came across one of these ads the other day and it annoyed me enough to respond. It was amusing because they considered it an 'entry-level' position, which really means entry-level pay with senior level requirements in more areas than any single person should deal with. Hopefully those types of things will go away if you're right.

[Statistical]

5. Norfolk, VA (Hampton Roads)

Yeah the insane job requirements are annoying. Then again it does seem to be slightly less insane.

A year ago maybe it was 20 requirements + 10-12 years experience. Today similar job might only be 8 requires + 5-7 years experience.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Am I the only one amused by the clash of the thread title and the OP's username?

[Statistical]

7. I know pretty sad huh?

Usually I do try rely on statistically valid samples. Kinda hard to do unless Dice wants to give me historical access to their records. :)

[DavidDvorkin]

6. I'm seeing more listings and getting more calls

Denver metro area.

[undeterred]

8. Dice has over 71,000 tech jobs posted today

Now I remember back in the day when there was over 100K, but that was before the Bush recession of 2001 and the H1B visas. At the end of the Bush presidency there were under 50K posted on Dice. I took a couple of really low paying contract jobs and now I am at something that pays better but is slightly outside the field. Still hoping I can get back in again.

[Statistical]

9. Glad to here it is not in just my neck of the woods.

[Statistical]

10. A shameless kick for the DUer who were away for the Holidays. n/t

[boston bean]

11. i think you may be correct. I know my monster un-updated resume posting is getting

more hits, not a lot, but once a week, I am being solicited for tech jobs.

Where as before I went a whole year with no inquiry.