I recently read a posting on a mailing list I frequent from a person that said that:

"I have a stable full time job in a corporation, so I don&apos;t 
really need to worry about being competitive."

This comment struck me as kind of odd because I recall just a couple of years ago how so many people were freaked out about job  security. The dotcom bust really put a scare in many an IT professional and the glut of talent on the street when all of these companies folded must&apos;ve made Monster.com the busiest job site on the web. I too was affected by the dotcom boom as I was unemployed for almost a year. Its an experience that I&apos;d never gone through and never plan on going through again. 

So when I read that comment, I honestly had to wonder if:

1) The industry has truly become so revitalized that we don&apos;t have to worry anymore about our skills?

or 

2) Have we been lulled into a false sense of security because things are getting better?

Personally, I feel its the latter. 

I&apos;ve seen a resurgence in IT positions over the last year and recruiters have definitely be proactively calling to try and place candidates. This is a big contrast from a couple of years ago where even the recruiters were hurting for business. I&apos;ve also seen salaries go up a bit (nowhere near the dotcom craze) which is also a good indication that things are getting better. 

These factors, in my opinion, are making people complacent and letting them rest on their laurels. I feel that you need to stay competitive and refresh your skills frequently. While the job market appears to have perked up, I&apos;ve experienced being laid off and having to fight with people with similar skills for the same menial position. Its not something that I&apos;m willing to do again and the only way to avoid that is to keep your skills up. Whether its .Net, Ajax, Flex, Ruby or project management, I honestly feel that we should never allow ourselves to get too comfortable and forget what happened just a couple of years ago.

People tend to forget the bad times when things are going good and I for one won&apos;t let myself fall into that. If anything, my mentality will be a benefit to any client that hires me because they&apos;ll know that I take my career seriously.

Maybe I&apos;m wrong though. Maybe I&apos;m being overly paranoid and should just feel comfortable in the fact that CFML will be around forever and that it will be the only skill that I need. Hmmm, I think I&apos;ll err on the side of caution and continue learning Ajax, just in case.

I look forward to your comments.