It's often hard to get companies to fess-up to the fact that the order book is drying up and growth has leveled off -- but that's the impression I'm getting from many of those in the local industry.

Of course it's only to be expected after the boom-times of the late '90s -- every good party produces a hangover the next morning.

Unfortunately, it appears that those halcyon days when being able to spell Net was all the qualification you needed to become a "leading Internet consultant" or web-designer are well and truly over.

As well as the leveling off of growth which has been seen by all sectors of the economy, the Internet sector is probably being hit by the awful 'S' word -- saturation!

Whereas, just a few years ago, businesses who had a website were few and far between, it's now almost impossible to find any which don't have their own little piece space out there somewhere.

Are local Net businesses prepared for the future?

Clearly there is going to be some attrition within the ranks of the web-design and consulting companies as jobs become fewer and further between.

Once you've been through your client list a couple of times and tried to convince them that it's time to give their site a facelift -- what do you do next?

We've already seen some layoffs in the local industry and I'd say it's time to get ready for more.

Of course the savvy operators will have tied many of their clients into annual (or longer) maintenance contracts that will provide a trickle of revenue to keep the wheels spinning while efforts are made to secure some of those more lucrative new contracts -- but I think the gravy-train of two years ago has been well and truly derailed.

Readers Say (updated hourly) can't find employees!... - Rob work in nz... - bede We're discovering something... - Dominic Have Your Say

Does this mean that Web design and Internet consulting (whatever that is) are no longer good career choices?

Well, I went to Monster.co.nz and searched for all full-time, contract or project-based jobs under the Internet category and got this result

Looks grim eh?

Ah.. but wait, Monster.co.nz is probably not the best place to go looking for Net-related jobs.

A check for jobs containing "Internet" over at Job Universe produced 110 jobs; and searching for "web design" produced 25 matches.

So what about you?

Have you been laid off? Had a reduction in working hours forced upon you? Had a wage-cut?

It's time for a health-check on the employment scene.

If you've got a story to tell about your employment (or the lack of it) within the Net industry, send your comments and be sure and mark them "for publication" if you want them posted here.

If you'd rather remain anonymous then select "anonymous tipoffs" and leave out your name and email address.

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