My fear is that the bottom will fall out of the market, and the housing market will stop shoring up our economy. I guess we’ll see.

His argument seems to be that if you’re at *least* bivocational, that the cost of living is low enough that you can make it here. And that it’s a tech hotspot.

I can’t agree. I’m in a great company, but every programmer you meet out here who isn’t working with me is pretty much working in SAP for a pharm. company or is working in VB. Not what I’d call high-tech, cutting-edge stuff. Basically the apps tend to be call center, pharmaceuticals, and insurance.

Insurance, lawyers, and realty seem to be doing well. While surgeons are under the thumb of HMOs (not all that it used to be), while so many people have lost their jobs, while families are downsizing their houses and bills, while companies are closing, while the economy has been struggling, while industry dries up, the insurance and realty companies are renting, buying, and building more opulent offices. So if you’re in one of those gigs, I guess the tough times are good for you. Congrats.

Meanwile, the R.I.P. list of Indiana tech seems to continue, including MicroPoise, which was rather near to my heart, and it’s sister companies. And of course, technical labor fields like aircraft repair have gone down the tubes pretty much. But hey, we have Wal-Mart and some great restaurants and hotels. And we have the new Colt’s stadium. Does that make this a great economy?

Commercial properties have “excess capacity” these days. If you want to move a business here, you should get your pick of warehouses and storefronts. There’s a lot of “vacancy” here. That’s not what I call a positive sign, generally. There are brand new facilities being built, right across the street from like-new facilities that are empty. I don’t get that.

So if you’re employed building or selling houses, this is probably a good place to be. If you build and/or sell commercial real estate, don’t expect much. If you are a VB programmer, have a second job and a spousal income. Otherwise, my advice remains.

Now, if you want to START a high-tech business here, you are more than welcome! We could use several more of them and there are a lot of really great developers who would flock to you. There are UIUC grads, Purdue grads, and a host of others looking for something better to do than admin for PCs or SQL Server, something more interesting than VB and .Net work, something more mainstream and exciting than SAP. You will have a very eager and happy labor market here.

That’s because all of us in Indiana are so incredibly grateful just to have a job.