$800 Billion U.S. stimulus: boon or boondogle for technology jobs?

The economic stimulus plan proposed by President Obama, endorsed by Democrats and nearing a negotiated approval holds much promise for technology stimulus. But technology spending does not necessarily translate into technology job creation or of more importance to you, the safety of your job.

The New York Times stated on Sunday that despite ongoing disagreements, it is expected that an approved $800 billion stimulus package should be on President Obama's desk for approval by week's end. 

While some provisions will be tossed out in the process, the technology spending outline published by The Economist will probably hold:  "If America’s new president has his way, a total of $37 billion will be spent on the digitisation of health records ($20 billion), a smarter power grid ($11 billion) and high-speed internet connections ($6 billion)."

And while those provisions relate directly to technology, capital spending on new buildings, schools and transportation often contain a big technology element. In fact, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a recent speech to the House of Representatives Democratic caucus said, " Fifty percent of capital spending in this country is on information technology. Less capital, less spend on information technology. No sector will be immune."

He was also predicting a reset of the economy, but in my reading the talk was generally optimistic that technology and innovation will be major factors in pulling the U.S. and world economy out of the current recession.

All well and good, but how safe is your tech job? In my opinion, not too safe if you are doing the same thing in the same old way. While government spending will increase, tech jobs associated with shakey economic segments in finance, banking, real estate and retail are at risk. The learning curve from being -- for argument's sake -- a business intelligence analyst in the finance industry to a business intelligence analyst in the health care industry will be steep. I recently wrote a blog on five tech jobs that will be created in a government stimulated economy. There will be more, but don't think your job will necessarily be safe because government money starts rolling into the economy. Time for a technology skills reset for you to align with where the stimulus dollars are flowing.