Editor's Note: The Insights column for July included a request for analysis of the June 2000 "An Implant nightmare" column, and a bit of flame bait designed to tease old pro readers out of the woodwork. Following are the best responses we received.

It was no dream

In the ending of the [Implant nightmare] story, you might have implied that when you woke up in bed next to your wife, it was just another dream downloaded to your brain by the software. It was another dream that you cannot afford because it violates the contract you agreed to. In another few minutes you will receive a gentle wake-up call that was also downloaded, then you will be back to the programming. Most of us work under some kind of contract. In addition, there really are things that are capable of downloading themselves into some of our brains. The media can do this, not only through advertising, but through the content of its presentations. The media can plant dreams of something we think we want but can't afford. National news presentations are just as influential. They are biased by the philosophies of the people who make the news, those who report it, and others who pay their salaries (or contribute to their campaigns).--PETERJ1988@aol.com

This IT-seeker far from lazy

I read with interest and irritation your article attacking IT job seekers as lazy and whiny. Apparently you were in the job market at least once, because you correctly grasped that the academic job market is hopeless. Have you looked for a job since?

After looking for a job for over 18 months, I am the proud recipient of two lovely rejection letters (not for IT jobs), and a couple of postcards. I have not had one interview. I have a master's in administration, an MCSE, and over 10 years of experience in public-policy research.

Well, I take that back. I did have one interview for an entry-level tech support job. I was bombarded with Office 97 tests at one of these temp agencies, then sent to an interview.

In the old days, when you passed the test at a temp agency, they sent you on assignment, right? Nowadays, they are just recruiters like everybody else. So this interviewer made me park at the back and go in the service entrance. I was given more tests and a silly interview, then was sent packing--out the back door. That was my one interview. Since then I have searched for IT job leads in the newspapers, from recruiters, at job fairs, temp agencies, and of course, on the Internet, including every dot-com ever thought up.

I find the IT industry rife with false promises and outright fraud and abuse. I had an easier time getting my first waitressing job 31 summers ago, with only a high-school education. Now with college, a master's degree, a major IT certification, and over a decade of government experience, I'm virtually unemployable.

I embarked on this effort because I was dead-ended and underemployed, though overpaid, with the government. Now I am dead-ended, underpaid, and underemployed in the IT industry.

Many people would ask me about leaving their own dead-end jobs in the government or in corporate clone-land and changing careers for the high-paying, exciting IT industry. I tell them, don't! Keep your day job, accept your mediocrity, play with your children, get your gold watch, and then go play golf. Too bad I didn't listen to my own advice.--(name and e-mail withheld by request)

To start a discussion or ask a question, e-mail james@computeruser.com. Letters may be edited for style, length, or content.