IT Is A Recession-Proof Profession

A new survey puts more tech jobs in a list of top 20 recession-proof professions than any other single category. Does IT feel recession-proof to you?An online job site called Jobfox says salespeople, software developers, and nurses -- in that order -- are the three jobs most likely to weather an economic storm. The site arrived at that conclusion by analyzing the job postings it gets from recruiters and employee-seeking organizations. Jobfox puts together a monthly report based on that data, and the survey represents data from Jobfox's lists for November of last year through July 7 of this year.

Here are the technology jobs on the Top 20 list:

#2: Software development/design #6: Networking/Systems administration #8: Business analysis (software implementation) #12: Testing/Quality assurance #14: Database administration #16: Technology executive

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says IT jobs increased in the second quarter, putting the number at an all-time high. However, there's evidence that that growth may be slowing, and considerably.

Also, a couple of new surveys indicate technology spending overall may slow in the second half, due to worries about the economy.

My colleague Marianne Kolbasuk McGee and I are in the process of reporting a story about the effects of the economic turmoil on IT spending and IT projects, and the anecdotal evidence isn't all that dramatic. Many business technology execs are saying that the economy so far hasn't affected them all that much -- that projects budgeted for in 2007 are still on track, and spending plans are holding firm.

IT budget and spending data can be tricky -- slowing growth isn't nearly the same thing as hacking big projects or IT staff. As long as there's demand for IT professionals, there's demand for IT projects.