What if today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

This is something I would wish to ask everyone in the IT field. What if, today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

It is something very relevant to the current economic situation, and also an eye opener to the labourers who toil away with their eyes, hands and brains sitting in a vegetative state for hours together, working for their IT overlords, who now have have been busy sorting them out for keeping their profit margins intact.

2001 was a preview of just how vulnerable IT was. 2008-09 has showed how resilient it has become. No more there are IT bubble bursts, even though the current situation has sent a electric jolt to those who had come into this line just for the greenbacks and a great lifetime opportunity to people who could really do something great apart from their IT skills.

Seeing the way people have come together in Bay Area after being laid off, to collaborate, to identify new ventures, new ideas and press on to initiatives which were on back burner due to various reasons. It reminds me that all we need sometimes is a gentle nudge to remind of what we are capable of.

Coming back to the title of the post. Well, my honest answer to this would be, anything to start off with to keep my home running, and then I would gradually draw up a plan to utilize my knowledge and channelize it to do something which would help to utilize IT to enable the common masses.

It could be anything from, teaching in a primary school to going back to school to empower you with the skills to really push for that goal, which you dreamt of, but never dared make an attempt at, for the fear of upsetting your routine 9 to 5 office life.

I come from a home of goldsmiths, a profession which was last practiced by my grandfather. The generation after that moved to businesses in metals, and I have a medico father. Although, it's a art which is being overwhelmed by precision machines, gold jewellery making is something, which is seeing tough times due to high prices and lack of expendable money.

Since, even I am not clear, what I would like to do apart from IT, I think it is imperative, that I give a deep thought on this and also continue to focus on my career. I hope, the reader of this post is also in the same mind frame and has a plan 'B' ready for the worst of times.