The word is in. Anybody who knows anything about what's going on in the IT industry is now saying it. The IT jobs market is back with a vengeance.

There was a time about two decades ago when people held computer programmers and other IT professionals in high esteem. There was a certain mystique about these strange people who could make those enormously complex calculating machines do weird and wonderful things.

Then IT went mainstream, there was a massive IT downturn, computer programmers joined the ranks of the unemployed and the mystique was gone. All that was left were seemingly a bunch of scruffy out of work redundant computer hacks. Whereas once IT was the course of choice at universities, it was now to be shunned like the plague. IT jobs were as rare as hen's teeth and employers were firing not hiring computer room staff.

However, as always, the wheel turns.  Beer Files has been doing the rounds and everybody who is anybody is saying that the four year drought, the IT equivalent of El Nino, is now history.

Yes there is now a shortage of good project managers; we have known that for a while. However, now there is also a shortage of graduates. There is a shortage of SAP people, Peoplesoft people (there will be an even bigger shortage soon), Siebel people and networking engineers. You name it and there is either a shortage or soon there will be.

Whereas a few short months ago, the main problem recruiters had was dealing with the plethora of resumes crossing their desks, now they're lucky to reach double figures for some positions on offer. An IT boom is unfolding before our eyes.

However, the boom is not like the boom of the 1990s. There are no more large projects on offer. Just lots and lots of little projects are now underway. What's more employers are now being forced to compromise and train people who don't have the exact skill set they require. This is what we're being told anyway.

Please take note of a word of caution, however. Recruiters are now talking up the need to lobby the Federal Government to relax its immigration laws for IT skilled workers. For the moment, at least, this should be resisted. Instead, the Government should give incentives for employers and training institutions to train people locally in areas where skills are in short supply. Or does that make too much sense?

Anyway, after four years in the wilderness, of being looked down upon and treated as the down and out poor cousin of business professionals, it is time to loudly proclaim that IT is back!