Gloomy economic forecasts got you down? Worry not, says Russ Curtis, CEO of JustAS400Jobs.com. "The impact (of an economic downturn) will be minimal on the AS/400 market," he says, "especially since AS/400 servers are showing such versatility in enterprise applications."
Curtis spoke with search400.com's Mark Baard about what to expect in 2001.
Search400: How might a weakened economy affect the AS/400 job market?
Curtis: The companies that will suffer the most in the IT world are the ones with poor business plans and inexperienced management teams. But the companies remaining will tend to be more stable and will still have the need for midrange technologies such as the AS/400.
Search400: Should AS/400 job candidates lower their expectations for many benefits, especially stock options?
Curtis: With the current shakeup in the IT world and the demise of so many dot-com companies, I think stock options will be become a less prevalent part of salary packages.
Search400: Which AS/400 jobs will see the fastest growth in 2001?
Curtis: Development in general has always been the dominant job category at Just400Jobs. I see no reason for this category not to continue to grow.
Search400: In which geographical regions are you seeing the fastest growth in IT jobs?
Curtis: I don't see any slowdown in any of the strongest IT geographical regions. I have noticed a surprising growth, however, in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions.
JustAS400Jobs.com regularly lists opportunities at dozens of companies, from Coca-Cola to CompUSA. We encourage you to check out JustAS400Jobs.com's ongoing salary survey, and then compare its findings to ours at search400.com
About the author: Mark Baard is a contributing editor in Milton, Mass.
