Can anyone suggest a skill set, particularly computer-related, that will be employable in 2000? Those of us who do not have tens of thousands to spend on solar, dried food, medicine, fuel, etc. really need to know! Are any of these three possibilities reasonable: Power Builder User, Cobol Programmer, Pi Technologies Software QA/Documentation Specialist (IT paraTechnical position).? I need something that I can get up to speed with in 6 to 9 months (obviously), keeping in mind that Ive done some Fortran and Basic programming, a bit of C++, and am reasonably proficient with Word, Excel, Access, ChemDraw, and Isis Base. Thank you in advance for any advice you may have.

-- Darryl Rideout (drideou1@san.rr.com), October 12, 1998

Answers

Um, this isn't exactly computer related, but anyway...I am going to study bookkeeping/accounting. Virtually all businesses need bookkeepers/accountants, currently there are 1.5 million accountants in the US. A lot of this work is currently done by computer programs which won't be working anymore in Year 2000, so many more will be needed. For those of us who have math skills and don't have the strength to farm, I feel it is a good option.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), October 12, 1998.

Lets see, employable use of strong math skills in the post-Y2K era... Well, you could simply plan on advertising yourself as a "Computor", someone who is good with calcuating. How many of us can even add or multiply without the help of a calculator these days? Given a world where there is no electricity and the batteries have all run dead, start getting used to applying your math skills using just pencil and paper. Then graduate to mechanical computing machines if you can find any, and slide rules for those really exotic computations. Oh, and books containing all the pre-calculated tables of things - interest rates, logarithms (sp?) - and how to estimate.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), October 12, 1998.

What do spending tens of thousands on "solar, dried food, medicine, fuel, etc." have to do with "a skill set, particularly computer-related, that will be employable in 2000?"

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), October 12, 1998.

Private security guard. Businesses will try their best to prevent looting. With no power, no alarms, no 911, etc.... Buy a few good flashlights, pistol, shotgun and a windbreaker with "Security" on the back. Get some gun training. A good guard dog would be a good addition to the above list.

-- Bill (bill@microsoft.com), October 13, 1998.