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Well, moving every time you lose a job is not always a great option. When you have kids and a mortgage, it is hard to move.

Then if you have a two income family, you can't move because it would cause the other person to lose their job.

What I think totally sucks is that we are now outsourcing engineers to China, India, and Russia. Why??? Isn't a degree from an American college and experience in America worth lots of money??? If not, why not. Why are we spending so much money on a college degree and then have that job outsourced to other countries?

How do we prepare our children to get a job in the future?? What career is safe? I always thought my husband and I were safe. We both have degrees in computer science from very good colleges. Now, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go back to college if I want to get a well paying job. I don't know if we can even afford me going back to college.

I'm currently looking for a job, but I haven't worked in 8 years. It's not economically worth it for me to take a low paying job. The costs of having that job are too high: babysitters, housecleaners, more clothes, more gasoline, take out food, etc.

that's why parents are piling their college aged kids into law schools at record rates. they see what is happening with other "professional" jobs like engineering and tech, and they don't want their kids to see any part of that.

their are other good careers, many in health care services, construction management, and of course government and government funded services.

We, my wife and I, went through all the things you posted. Even though I moved 6 times in grade school, and my son stayed in the same district for all his school, I don't think there is much difference between us, (maybe I was more stable, having had to move than my son.)

I am an engineer, (did I mention that) I believe most true engineers/computer scientists will have futures here with the caviet that moving may have to take place. (It is very important to realize early that there are no safe jobs -- I went into teaching to find a safe haven at a lower salary and still got laid off.) I believe the outsourcing is in lower level areas, (answering phones) (routine programming), if you fit that category your job is less safe.

The two income family is a tough one, my wife stayed home most of the time, but did try to re-enter the work force. She was siscriminated against by her co-workers and dropped out again. Its not easy.

The level of a degree depends on the school, some American schools are not putting out great graduates and some foreign schools are putting out great students. A large degree of the global competition comes from foreign students who learn english here in our colleges.

Good luck to you, keep current and consider developing management skills to go with your engineering. Consider getting that graduate degree on the job. Work to pay off the mortgage early, consider 15 years instead of thirty. Don't purchase "all the house you can" its a bad investment nowadays. Stay in a good area if you can. I worked in Silicon Valley, and had more options than if I had selected Huntsville AL.