How is the recession affecting you, people of linux training and skills that make a living out of it?

I guess development roles are hit the hardest, with administration roles second. Am I close?

I bet some industries are less affected. Such as games. Games are too addictive. Anything to do with pharmaceuticals too, is probably not affected at all, people are virtually addicted to "medicine".

Also interesting is the testimony from Shadow_7 here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...7/#post3685348

back in the late 90's I started pointing people to linux. Now I have a core group of people from the end user to power users. That said. The interaction with linux and my Users have helped me dearly with this recession. Since linux is not my main work it has allowed me to to keep a tight group of customers in the community as a wonderful open source group. I got started in computer science in 1978 it was boring then and is boring now. It is about the people that keep me part of this binary world.
I guess that is why I would rather build a Bicycle and leave the nodes to the linemen and the IT people. Point A point B. I live 2 blocks from where the first bios were built. And the beginning of mosaic. I see what the code world is doing and it saddens me that people think sitting in front of a screen in stead of being involved with the end user has created most of are problems.
Open Source Bicycles

Could you explain this? What is the real source of most of their problems?

I was the Linux Admin for a small software company that developed a MMORPG, they laid off about %80 of the company without notice one day. I found a much better paying job with a much better(growing) company in less that 2 months.

I consult. Linux is one of the tools I use. I have as much work as I feel like doing, and recently I've been turning work away.

Sure the problem is the end user has no idea what it takes to make it. So it means you take time and show the user why your product is so good.

Like when you go to your favorite mechanic he takes time and explains the mechanics. You probably have know real idea what he is saying, from his level. But now you see the work.

People do not see the work get up from the desk go talk to them just like a author of a book he goes to a book store and pushes his words.
The code world needs to go to that same store where they sell they books,And sell the program language and get evolved with the people.
Remember the low level driver is the people not the corporate world.
I think the next time I am at Barns and Nobles and Pat Volkerding Shows up for linux format I bet I buy some Slackware.
Get up rub elbows .

Screw the corporate world the individuals are screaming for something new. They need need tech supermen. I custom build bikes so can you.
you. You can do IT admin etc. so can I. People can buy a cooperate bike. But many want something special. I have open source bikes.
I take old bikes change it like I want it and make people happy or they can change it.
I see this every year one of my favorite college student friends spent last 2 years working on bikes and porting linux to his robotics arm.
He got out there rubbed elbows and got people thinking about the software that ran the arm. Next thing he new he was meeting people that own
big companies that ride bikes and are always looking for something new.

Lost my job years ago. I stopped waiting for some company.

The computer world is global so get evolved with your community let them know how good you are. It is tough and you may have to buy a bike because the cost of gas, insurance, etc.
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Admin and IT are the back bones of the network world. The code people are the artist. The mechanic automates it. Jobs are down and things have merged.
no one needs me to go in there factory and set up there systems they do it by network. Merged jobs. every year.
It is up to the people like you to grasp, the people by the arm and lead them to to new binary world. Not just listen to them say I want.
Show them what they need.
You are the master of your system the god of your domain. Let them know it.
AND BE IT.

They will come to you after a while.

Wow long winded. Sorry

it's not.

I was a subcontractor to several training development firms designing technical training courses.

Their clients (manufacturing companies) stopped spending and they stopped hiring.

Things have been tight in my world. Not strangled, but tight.

I (all the staff) was threatened with redundancy earlier this year, but they decided to keep me on.

Since then, we have more than doubled our staff we have that much work coming in.

Aside from that, it hasn't affected me.

What job were you doing? Sorry it is not clear to me.

I think the real money comes to technical people when they sell to non-technical people. A community where everyone knows how to make shoes cannot bring income to its members from each other.

Recession was just an excuse for many stores to raise their prices.
Never been out of a job though during the time

It is believed by some analysts that it will get far, far worse, making the 1929 recession look like a picnic. And the result will be the extinction of the middle class. Because spare income will soon not be enough to pay the mortgage, and then you lose your house, and you can't afford to rent a decent one either so you end up where the low classes are now, so it is predicted. Much like Argentina, when some people realise their wages are not enough to buy even food, looting begins, martial law follows, the currency collapses further, and it's goodbye middle class.

IEEE-488 Interface
well the old interface is still used but today it is controlled by the network. No need for old farts to go on site. LOL then opened a computer store and no one wanted linux in the mid 90's. Oh well.Your point is taken. I believe you have something there. When you tell me you have Intel inside does anyone really understand what is said.
When I call a IT and ask a question the first thing they say is did you use the disk. I spent a month working on a problem with a local company that is part of a huge company.(my time why? My user group used there system) told them they had problems with a node.
Week later it failed and then two weeks later lost there DNS server. But hey little trace back goes a long way.
the field tech realized this but he works by the hour. Plenty of work out there.
I am happy and will help anyone I can.
I need Super tech able to call the ofice and tell them hey I see it lets fix it. We need people like Linus Travold, Richard Stallman , Steve Jobs , Andy Bechtolsheim and Yes Bill Gates . we need them in the IT Service world. But at a community level. It is not comcast or Att Or verizon

I work in the IT field, mostly in windows shops, but I have been laid off twice in '07 & '09 and went from middle class to low class. Now I'm working a job but not IT to survive.

I generally don't believe those hyped up doomsayers, but I guess we shall see.
Had a chat with my CEO recently, our plans are for expansion next few years, so I hope that I'll be spared that prob ^^