IT Jobs and the Economy: Strong at the Broken PlacesIT Jobs and the Economy: Strong at the Broken Places

The IT job market and IT salaries remain strong despite the unsettled economic climate: oil at nearly $100 per barrel, inflation looming, and persistent uncertainty in the markets.One reason for optimism is the U.S. Labor Department's October jobs report, which showed that employers "added a net 166,000 workers to their payrolls last month, nearly twice the 85,000 jobs that experts had predicted."

Another is the historic resiliency of markets -- and of people -- to withstand a brutal pounding, only to bounce back stronger than ever. The person who wrote this in a cover letter for a system administrator job is a beautiful example:

"I've been shot at, shot up, blown up, broken and put back together again; from Baghdad to Namibia and from Sudan to Djibouti. I strongly feel that I have the skillset, experience and thick skin to take on the world of IT in the greatest city on earth."

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places." -- Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.