A lot of these companies I don't feel sorry for because they PAINT a picture that they're doing SO well, but at the last minute, when they're about to tank, they let you know that they're tanking. Sometimes they don't even let you know that they're tanking. See Bear Sterns and various other SMBs.
They go on and on, in their advertisements, their websites, about all these services they offer and why you should buy their crap. They're groveling. I'll give it to them that they (these IT security companies etc.) are probably working Very hard (gotta feed the wife and kids and overpriced house), but it's so easy to read through all the BS and overkill on selling themselves.
They (companies Marketing dpt. CEO CIO CFO C-MOFO) use the newspaper to death, repeating the same ole news about moving to different offices etc. certification of Cisco, promotions, whatever to make headlines, when you know they're fightin on a razor's edge for a buck in this eroding economy.
I feel somewhat sorry for the people in IT, because globalization and outsourcing are causing a
flatline in the market. The gap between America and the rest of the world's wages for technology workers is getting flatter or narrower. I know several people with 20+ years experience who's jobs are being outsourced to India
. You can easily have a website or any other ambitious project built for your company from bids from this site
http://www.getafreelancer.com/projects/90181.html for dirt cheap via willing foreigners.
I would not want to be an IT engineer or salesperson in America today. I shutter at the thought of having to scrap for scraps in that highly competitive environment.
I got my degree, but I'm thankful that I chose not to go down that road, and took the blue collar pathway.