Workers file suit against Molina Healthcare and its outsourcer, Cognizant
By Patrick Thibodeau July 12, 2011 03:53 PM ET
Computerworld - Eighteen IT workers in California have filed a lawsuit against their former employer claiming they were replaced by H-1B workers from India and then laid off in violation of the state's anti-discrimination laws.
In the lawsuit, the 18 workers say that IT managers at Molina Healthcare Inc. increasingly catered to the Indian workers while leaving U.S. workers, mostly security analysts and programmers who earned at least $75,000 a year, feeling excluded prior getting laid off last year.
The lawsuit, filed in April in Los Angeles Superior Court against Molina, its CIO at the time, and Molina's outsourcer, Cognizant Technology Solutions, contends that over a period of several years the U.S. workers were marginalized as the IT department became dominated by Indian nationals.
The laid off IT workers used anecdotes to make part of their case.
For instance, the workers describe an IT department that took to celebrating Indian holidays, while Indian managers "actively discouraged U.S. workers from celebrating U.S. holidays and traditions, such as Christmas, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, by assigning mandatory work that, in order to be timely completely, required work during holidays traditionally celebrated in America."
The lawsuit says that non-Indian workers were kept from participating in critical decision making processes "for the purpose of putting them at a disadvantage to the employees of Indian descent."
It also charges that the IT management team only hired and promoted Indian nationals
Some meetings that had long been conducted in English, would "on many occasions" be conducted in "the native language of Indian employees," the lawsuit contends.
The lawsuit makes a number of charges, including discrimination based on national origin.
"The IT department was known as little India," said James Otto, an attorney for the 18 former Molina IT employees. The 18 workers were among 40 that were laid off in January, 2010. The 18 workers that filed suit claim the layoffs were made to make room for H-1B workers.
"They just wanted to fire the Americans, and that's what happened. It wasn't a downsizing, it wasn't an outsourcing, it was bringing in foreigners onto American soil to replace American workers. That [was] the scheme and it's going on around the country," said Otto.
Molina officials, in a written response to a Computerworld query, said the action is "nothing more than a shakedown lawsuit brought by a plaintiff's attorney who -- when the company refused his ridiculous financial demands -- filed a legal action grounded in falsehoods and malicious gossip."
Otto said he never made any demands and he had initially sought mediation.
Molina, in its statement, also said that "we will win in court because specific allegations in the lawsuit have been examined and found false. The fact that the general allegations also provide no basis for legal claims confirms that this plaintiffs' attorney included them solely for media attention."
Molina said it is an American company "employing more than 4,200 Americans," and that "less than 50 of our employees are H1B visa holders and they were hired only in cases when it was necessary to cast a wider net for particular skills."
The lawsuit says that on Jan. 14, 2010, one day after the U.S. Department of Labor approved Cognizant's application for 40 H-1B workers, Molina fired 40 programmers, security analysts and managers.
Molina, in response, said that particular Cognizant filing "had nothing to whatsoever to do with Molina and not a single person was hired at Molina based on that application."
Cognizant is named in the lawsuit, in part, for not trying to find qualified U.S. workers for the positions.
It also claims that the wages for the H-1B employees were approximately 50% less than that paid to their American counterparts.
In a written response to a query about the lawsuit, Cognizant said it "takes legal and regulatory compliance very seriously. It is Cognizant's view that this lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously contest it and pursue all legal remedies that may be available to us."
"The healthcare industry is one of the largest industry segments that Cognizant serves," said Cognizant. "Our expertise enables our clients to be more competitive in the marketplace, thereby enhancing their ability to provide affordable, quality healthcare to consumers."
Otto said allegations in the lawsuit are backed by direct testimony. He noted that Molina's former manager of budget and regulatory reports and audits testified that IT department expenses increased beyond its budget after the layoffs.
The lawsuit also alleges that in 2007 and 2008 "Molina learned of numerous material violations of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) but did not take any action with respect these violations."
When Molina's IT department runs a test on new software projects, the IT employees are required to mask the data embedded in the software to protect privacy, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges that that Molina's H-1B employees would send patient names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and full medical files to employees in India.
The lawsuit also alleges that on Jan. 12, 2010, Molina IT employees spoke with their manager about discrimination and HIPPA issues. Two days later, according to the lawsut, the employees who complained were included in a broad layoff action.
Molina, in response, said that this claim is false, and that it "rigorously protects patient privacy and fully complies with all federal and state laws" including HIPPA.
yes, the US will always need the "hands-on" IT, but programming can be done anywhere. Tho, I must admit, they need a little more refining before they fully take it over. But, wont be long before they develop a OS. That will be the turning point.
I had heard that if you had a Company in California, you HAD to have your IT support there (no outsourcing) I have no idea if that is true...
In on Company I worked at, the management brought in "Shadows" - Workers from overseas that they flew in to trail employees and then they followed the person they were replacing around for a month. The employees had to agree to this, or they lost their package. They all wore red ID cards, and literally followed the people except during lunch and when they went to the bathroom. Lunch was odd, because they tended to sit in the same relative seats as the people they would be replacing.
They fired the employees, and then within a few months, fired all the red carders after they went back abroad (and hired even cheaper labor)
Wheeeee back stabbers stabbin backs
stab stab stab
Eventually, the OS won't matter. Just different ways to get yer data from "The Cloud"...
[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 07-13-2011).]
IP: Logged
11:07 AM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 25247 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
I just read the article, and I was not at all surprised that this took place in California. To be honest, it actually answered all the questions for me. I'm not trying to bust on WhiteDevil's state, but in terms of IT... that is one of the FEW states that's actually shedding IT jobs. As I stated in my other post, the unemployment rate for IT is currently between 1-2%. As with my own company, we could NOT find a person for one of the positions that we needed to fill. We literally could not find anyone that had the exact specific Brio / Business Intelligence / Analyst skills that we were looking for. We ended up hiring an Indian foreigner (Telugu) and brought him on full time after the contract was over. This isn't to say that we didn't interview at least a dozen other people... we just couldn't find anyone.
The ONLY problem here, is that those guys in California were not willing to move...
The IT industry is NOT LIKE other industries. It's considered ODD and WEIRD if you decide to stay at a company for longer than 5-6 years. The average lifespan of an IT employee at any particular company is 3-5 years. With other industries, if you moved around that frequently, you were considered "disloyal" and you were looked upon as someone a prospective employer didn't want. Now... in the IT industry, if you move around every 3-5 years and have worked at a variety of unique and decent companies, that makes you very valuable because it means your skill set is going to be much more broad than say someone who's stayed at one company doing the same thing for 10 years. It makes you stale. You cannot command $100k+ jobs while having sat at one or two companies for a LONG time just doing the same thing. Unless you go to work for a competitor, no one is going to want you. You NEED to have diversity.
I've been in the IT indsutry now for 13-14 years. I completely understand how it works. I've left all of my companies after 3-5 years, and the pay increases each time have been exceptional, and each time I leave, the previous company asks me to contract for them because they didn't have time to find a replacement. In all of those jobs, I remember seeing guys who had put in 10 years or more, and they always got laid off. They started to make a lot of money, didn't maintain their skills, and weren't producing to the same level as the other younger programmers.
In the IT industry, there's no such thing as loyalty anymore. That's not a bad thing, but it's just understood. There's only so much talent to go around, and an IT director, CTO, or VP of IT understands the need for fresh intelligence in his / her department... this goes for WHATEVER you do, whether it's health care, automotive, or entertainment.
All of these guys that were fired, should have been willing to move to another state and they would have gotten jobs immediately... there-by putting the company with the bad practices at risk. Their lazyness and apathy actually HELPED the company continue to do the shady business practices that they did.
My Indian buddy here at work (for which I will only be here for one more week after I finish up this week), told me a story a long time ago... it's a story about three kinds of "fish."
The story goes something like this. You have the first fish, second fish, and the third fish.
They all live in a pond. The pond starts to dry up, and it's connected to a bigger pond by a small creek. Upon immediately hearing that the smaller pond is going to dry out, the "first fish" immediately swims up the creek and goes to the larger pond. The second fish is a bit more weary, and takes his / her time. He thinks about it, thinks about it... and he decides to traverse the creek. At this point, it's much more difficult, and some of his 2nd fish friends don't make it, but ultimately, he does. Now comes the third fish... the third fish is the most scared of the group. Apathy is a way of life for this fish, and he's too scared to go up the creek. At this point, the creek has completely dried out, and the pond he is in is now seriously starting to dry out with no hope of escape. Ultimately, the third fish dies, and that's the end of his story.
My Telugu buddy told me... "Todd, you are first fish."
You need to be the first fish in the IT industry. It moves fast, if you don't stay with it... it'll pass you by. The time for retirement is when you're old or burnt out. These 18 programmers should have been gone LONG before it came to this. I don't wnat to be a jerk here, but they all should have moved to a place where there were more jobs... it's clear to me that they were all third fish. Moving is hard... but we CANNOT allow ourselves to be consumed by our posessions. In the past few weeks, I've sold off everything I possibly could. You've got to do what you've got to do. We only have one life (as far as I know) and I'm not about to waste mine quibbling with an employer that doesn't respect my skills. With a 1-2% unemployment rate, I just have no excuse...
I just read the article, and I was not at all surprised that this took place in California. To be honest, it actually answered all the questions for me. I'm not trying to bust on WhiteDevil's state, but in terms of IT... that is one of the FEW states that's actually shedding IT jobs. As I stated in my other post, the unemployment rate for IT is currently between 1-2%. As with my own company, we could NOT find a person for one of the positions that we needed to fill. We literally could not find anyone that had the exact specific Brio / Business Intelligence / Analyst skills that we were looking for. We ended up hiring an Indian foreigner (Telugu) and brought him on full time after the contract was over. This isn't to say that we didn't interview at least a dozen other people... we just couldn't find anyone.
The ONLY problem here, is that those guys in California were not willing to move...
The IT industry is NOT LIKE other industries. It's considered ODD and WEIRD if you decide to stay at a company for longer than 5-6 years. The average lifespan of an IT employee at any particular company is 3-5 years. With other industries, if you moved around that frequently, you were considered "disloyal" and you were looked upon as someone a prospective employer didn't want. Now... in the IT industry, if you move around every 3-5 years and have worked at a variety of unique and decent companies, that makes you very valuable because it means your skill set is going to be much more broad than say someone who's stayed at one company doing the same thing for 10 years. It makes you stale. You cannot command $100k+ jobs while having sat at one or two companies for a LONG time just doing the same thing. Unless you go to work for a competitor, no one is going to want you. You NEED to have diversity.
I've been in the IT indsutry now for 13-14 years. I completely understand how it works. I've left all of my companies after 3-5 years, and the pay increases each time have been exceptional, and each time I leave, the previous company asks me to contract for them because they didn't have time to find a replacement. In all of those jobs, I remember seeing guys who had put in 10 years or more, and they always got laid off. They started to make a lot of money, didn't maintain their skills, and weren't producing to the same level as the other younger programmers.
In the IT industry, there's no such thing as loyalty anymore. That's not a bad thing, but it's just understood. There's only so much talent to go around, and an IT director, CTO, or VP of IT understands the need for fresh intelligence in his / her department... this goes for WHATEVER you do, whether it's health care, automotive, or entertainment.
All of these guys that were fired, should have been willing to move to another state and they would have gotten jobs immediately... there-by putting the company with the bad practices at risk. Their lazyness and apathy actually HELPED the company continue to do the shady business practices that they did.
My Indian buddy here at work (for which I will only be here for one more week after I finish up this week), told me a story a long time ago... it's a story about three kinds of "fish."
The story goes something like this. You have the first fish, second fish, and the third fish.
They all live in a pond. The pond starts to dry up, and it's connected to a bigger pond by a small creek. Upon immediately hearing that the smaller pond is going to dry out, the "first fish" immediately swims up the creek and goes to the larger pond. The second fish is a bit more weary, and takes his / her time. He thinks about it, thinks about it... and he decides to traverse the creek. At this point, it's much more difficult, and some of his 2nd fish friends don't make it, but ultimately, he does. Now comes the third fish... the third fish is the most scared of the group. Apathy is a way of life for this fish, and he's too scared to go up the creek. At this point, the creek has completely dried out, and the pond he is in is now seriously starting to dry out with no hope of escape. Ultimately, the third fish dies, and that's the end of his story.
My Telugu buddy told me... "Todd, you are first fish."
You need to be the first fish in the IT industry. It moves fast, if you don't stay with it... it'll pass you by. The time for retirement is when you're old or burnt out. These 18 programmers should have been gone LONG before it came to this. I don't wnat to be a jerk here, but they all should have moved to a place where there were more jobs... it's clear to me that they were all third fish. Moving is hard... but we CANNOT allow ourselves to be consumed by our posessions. In the past few weeks, I've sold off everything I possibly could. You've got to do what you've got to do. We only have one life (as far as I know) and I'm not about to waste mine quibbling with an employer that doesn't respect my skills. With a 1-2% unemployment rate, I just have no excuse...
You may be the "first fish", but somebody's peeing in your pond.
You say you couldn't find a particular skill set. Ever considered teaching someone? Or developing those skills in-house? No, you just said "Screw it, hire a foreigener." The "diversity" you so cherish breeds people who lack the specific, in-depth, skills you sometimes look for.
Nothing in the excerpt quoted above stated the laid-off employess were "Outdated" or "Stale" and "had been there too long". Or even that they were not currently employed elsewhere. It did make clear that they contend that the company DELIBERATELY brought in cheaper workers from overseas, just so they could fire expensive Americans. Not even that the new workers had skills that couldn't be found here, but that they developed those skills, THEN laid off the Americans. The company disagrees, of course.
In a global economy, there is NOT "only so much talent to go around". You are competeing with all your Indian friend's friends. And now, your employer won't even bother looking locally for YOU. They'll just hire much cheaper workers and import what few they need to do what can't be done overseas. And your next job only offers the wages an Indian would accept to get his foot in the door here. Or even worse, what he gets paid back in India.
So, keep swimming, my friend. And pity the second and third fishes that are not as quick as you. Keep jumping from pond to pond. Until you find that the pond you just jumped into has no exit.
IP: Logged
01:28 PM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 25247 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
You may be the "first fish", but somebody's peeing in your pond.
You say you couldn't find a particular skill set. Ever considered teaching someone? Or developing those skills in-house? No, you just said "Screw it, hire a foreigener." The "diversity" you so cherish breeds people who lack the specific, in-depth, skills you sometimes look for.
Nothing in the excerpt quoted above stated the laid-off employess were "Outdated" or "Stale" and "had been there too long". Or even that they were not currently employed elsewhere. It did make clear that they contend that the company DELIBERATELY brought in cheaper workers from overseas, just so they could fire expensive Americans. Not even that the new workers had skills that couldn't be found here, but that they developed those skills, THEN laid off the Americans. The company disagrees, of course.
In a global economy, there is NOT "only so much talent to go around". You are competeing with all your Indian friend's friends. And now, your employer won't even bother looking locally for YOU. They'll just hire much cheaper workers and import what few they need to do what can't be done overseas. And your next job only offers the wages an Indian would accept to get his foot in the door here. Or even worse, what he gets paid back in India.
So, keep swimming, my friend. And pity the second and third fishes that are not as quick as you. Keep jumping from pond to pond. Until you find that the pond you just jumped into has no exit.
So what you're saying is that you're a third fish?
You completely missed the entire point of the post. IT is NOT LIKE other industries... it is completely different. I'll try to say it again more forceful with less verbage. People in the IT field SHOULD change companies every 3-5 years. The exception is if they are in management positions. This is "par for the course" in the IT industry. Are you in the IT industry? It is extremely fast paced.
You said that I should have trained someone, rather than hiring from another location. Who should I have trained? Are you suggesting that I hire an inexperienced person and try to train them? Maybe you don't understand how this industry works. When companies need a specific skill-set, they usually need that person IMMEDIATELY, and can't afford to train someone in-house, or hire someone inexperienced and train them. We needed someone with business intelligence. You're assuming that I am, as well as the other guys here, are already experts in business intelligence. Specifically with Brio... I've used Crystal Reports, I understand Microsoft SQL Cubes, and I've used Cold Fusion reporting tool. But I've never used Brio (or Hyperion, which is what it's called now). We needed that position filled immediately. We interviewed 10-11 people who had similar skills, but turned out to not really have what was needed to get the job done. We were getting down to the wire, and called a consulting agency to see if they had someone "on-hand" that could come in and immediately start working. The guy turned out to be Indian. We didn't say "Hey, we want to hire an indian guy..." That's just what they sent us. He worked well, and he immediately fit in, and he did awesome.
Companies are not social institutions... they exist to make money... that's life. There are very few companies who have that kind of lifestyle. Google is one... but that kind of frivilous corporate lifestyle only works until they start losing money, and then it ends. Most companies have a specific goal that's needed, and they maintain that. They only upgrade or improve their own software as the demand is needed. Because of this, programmers usually only last 3-5 years, as I said. A medical company is not going to care about the latest and greatest programming language, or web standard. When they DO finally care about it, and realize it's importance, it will be almost too late, and they'll need it implemented immediately. This means that there's very little time to train their existing programmers, which means they'll end up needing to hire all new people.
I've got a story exactly like this. When I worked for AmeriPath (a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics). We developed software in a language called "MUMPS." It's an old language that's been around since the 60s. The labs we would buy-out, would be coverted from paper to computer standards. We typically implemented a type of AS/400 system (that's what the mumps language / environment operated on). The company decided at some point that we wanted to upgrade to a newer langauge. For some ungodly reason, they decided they wanted to use JAVA as the new language for the new laboratory system.
The then-CEO decided that he WOULD in fact train the existing developers. There were about 40-45 programmers here in South Florida. Most of the guys were all aged 40 and over. I was the youngest programmer there, a junior programmer at the time, in my mid 20s. The company dedicated every Friday from noon to the end of the day, to JAVA training. They brought in someone from CompUSA (who was teaching programming classes) and they trained us. They did this for about 4 months. They gave us homework, etc.
These guys all programmed in MUMPS, using an interpreted languge, and a heiarchical database. Completely, COMPLETELY fundamentally different than the concept of a web-based application that utilizes an SQL Server relational database.
The guys just weren't getting it. It wasn't working out.
They needed to move fast, especially with the HIPAA compliancy going into full effect (which had passed in 1996, but was taking effect I think by 2002/2003). So in the end, they created a new IT department in Dallas, Texas. They hired all new programmers. Two of them were Chinese, three of them were Indian, and the rest of them were people that they were able to find in the DFW area. A month later, I came in to work, and literally 40+ people had been fired. Only four people were left... me, and three other programmers... two of whom ended up moving to Dallas at the new office, one who later quit, and me who quit and I continued to contract for another 4-5 years.
The IT industry is so fast-paced, that you simply CANNOT remain in a place for longer than 4-5 years. You cannot expect a company to train you... that's YOUR responsibility. Any of the IT guys here will tell you that you need to keep your certifications up... you NEED to stay on top of your game. It's for this reason why many companies hire foreign nationals to work in their offices locally. It's a great field to be in as long as you can afford and spend the time to keep yourself in-demand... but if you let yourself sit for too long, you become worthless.
If you don't like it... then I don't know what else to tell you, that's how life is. You'll never find a socialst / communist country that has a successful company that's willing to keep IT people employed who can't do the job. They'll either go out of business, or become subsidized.
IP: Logged
03:30 PM
Scottzilla79 Member
Posts: 2573 From: Chicago, IL Registered: Oct 2009
Were those four other folks that weren't fired also in thier 20s and probably paid at a much lower rate? No industry is different from every other industry. The basic rules of economics are still in play. Unethical employers will hire foreign nationals to work for a lower rate if they can get away with it.
IP: Logged
08:10 PM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 25247 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
Were those four other folks that weren't fired also in thier 20s and probably paid at a much lower rate? No industry is different from every other industry. The basic rules of economics are still in play. Unethical employers will hire foreign nationals to work for a lower rate if they can get away with it.
No, I was the youngest one. Let's see, I worked for my current employer now 5.5 years. The company I worked before that I was at for a year. I had been there for over a year when that happened, and it was 2 years before I left. So That was 8 years ago... meaning that I was probably around 25 at the time.
The other 3-4 guys they kept (depending on if you're counting the hardware guy), one was a guy in his mid 30s, another was a guy in his mid 40s (at the time), and another guy who I think was in his early 40s. Basically, they kept the group of us because we were the experts in our area.
When I started, I was willing to take on any projects. They would get us together and the managers used to say "Anyone want to take on this project?" and no one would raise their hand. I always did... and guess what, when layoff time came, I was still there. Of course, I ended up supporting soo much stuff that they had to contract me for 5 years after I left.
The other guys were also experts in their area... the guy in his mid 30s was an expert on billing. The guy in his mid 40s was also an expert on billing software (from another aspect), and the guy in his early 40s was an expert on the lab accessioning software (Antrim).
They did keep most of the middle managers (about 3), who all ended up moving to Dallas, Texas too. They asked me to move, but I didn't want to move there, so that's when I quit and consulted for them instead.
All the new people they hired were young people... all in their 20s with the exception of a couple of guys in their early 30s.
From an IT standpoint, I can tell you that this had more to do with the fact that the younger guys actually knew much more with respect to the newer languages. The older programmers didn't actually MAKE that much more (if at all) than what the younger programmers made. I would even say that the newer guys they hired probably could have made MORE than most of the older guys. The thing is, those older guys got into the IT industry before the big tech boom (and subsequent bust). If you were a computer programmer in the mid 80s, you didn't really make a lot of money unless you were absolutely exceptional... like a bill gates. Being a computer programmer was considered a lowly job at the time. So many of these guys sat in these jobs, doing a good job, but nothing substantial. Some of them had been there for 10 years, and were probably getting 3-4% annual raises. These new guys, the company had to pay a premium, and they were hiring them as quickly as they could get them. When I finally stopped contracting for them, they had somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 programmers, support staff, Q/A, and technical writers at the newer office in Dallas (it was actually in Addison).
So where do you learn the new skills? And how long before a programmer is obsolete? Does it all depend on jumping at the right time, to the right place? Howdoes one become an expert?
I'm not looking to disagree, just really wondering.
IP: Logged
11:04 PM
82-T/A [At Work] Member
Posts: 25247 From: Florida USA Registered: Aug 2002
So where do you learn the new skills? And how long before a programmer is obsolete? Does it all depend on jumping at the right time, to the right place? Howdoes one become an expert?
I'm not looking to disagree, just really wondering.
Well, let me preface this by saying that I am NOT an expert on life, but in IT, it's worked out pretty good for me. First and foremost, an old dude (one of the 4 guys that was kept) told me a long time ago that you should always be willing to learn anything that anyone is willing to teach you. That was SOOO true.
Gaining new skills, and as to when to leave a company kind of go hand-in-hand. If you're constantly learning at your current company, and these are skills that are either in-demand niche skills, or widely used skills, then you definitely want to stay. As long as you feel like you're being challenged, I think it's important to stay. When you start getting too "comfortable" as in... you're not really learning anywhere near as much as you typically used to in your position, then you want to start looking again. The un-written rule is that most companies, and most employees, only have equal use for eachother every 3-5 years.
This is not withstanding of course that if you go into a company, and write all their software that they're not going to want to keep you for a long time. But for your own sake, unless you've made it to the job you want to retire in, or have any particular plan to stay in for an extended period of time, you'll want to start looking as soon as you feel as though you've become TOO comfortable.
You can learn new skills through a couple of different ways. The first is by changing jobs. Learning the full scope of your job in an interview is important because it will tell you what you can expect to develop in. Even if they say "you probably won't be doing any of that, but we also use this language..." then be most certain that if you're there long enough, you'll probably be doing that, or taking it over at osme point for someone else. Not all companies are hiring for an immediate need, but often need a back-up person, or someone to fit into a new area of development that isn't so critical. These are jobs that people less qualified for the current job requirements can get. They aren't as fast-paced, but you'll still be given the opportunity and have more time to learn the skills.
In other cases, you can try to incorporate newer technologies at your own job where possible. This depends greatly on the freedom you have at your current job, and what the business model is for the company.
It's really a decision that you have to make yourself... and typically you'll know either because you're doing a hell of a lot more internet surfing than you used to, or there's not too many more major projects on the horizon for you to do, and you're primarily just doing maintenance to existing software you've developed.
All of that I've said really applies to software development, but you can still apply it to other departments. For hardware, you'll want to move to companies that are expanding and buying new hardware, building new infrastructures, or new data centers. Administration... there should be a lot of new jobs coming up at new companies as people begin to switch to all the new Microsoft products, including a mass exodus from XP to Windows 7 for the corporate environment now.
Also... it's boring, but it's a really good idea to register for a lot of those EZines like "Tech Republic" for example. If your company offers reimbursement for certificates and going to IT trade shows... you HAVE to take advantage of those too...
