Editor's Note: The Tech Job Front: India, eBay, And You

Since our cover story last week on the growth of the tech sector in India, readers have sent lots of letters. Some liked our coverage, some said things will never change there because of a political system that will always separate the privileged and underprivileged, and some were furious about the impact India's tech sector has had on U.S. jobs.

But amid all that fury, there have been some positive signs on the job front. Editor-at-large Eric Chabrow reports that the United States had respectable IT job growth in 2005 (see You Call Yourself A Manager? Well, Your Not Alone). The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that IT unemployment dropped to 2.9% in 2005 and that 3.5 million IT workers were employed. That's great news.

Apparently, those rosy figures don't include a recent aerospace engineering graduate in California who posted a job request on eBay after months of looking for jobs the traditional way. (I'm not making this up--see Rocket Scientist Seeks Job Via eBay.)

The move seems a tad desperate, but there have been stranger things up for bid. I suppose an eBay listing isn't that different from posting a resumé on a job board. But on a job board, your resumé resides near another would-be rocket scientist instead of, say, a 6-year-old piece of toast with the image of Ozzy Osbourne burned into it.

This is the time of year we seek a reality check on the job market, specifically on salaries of business-technology managers, executives, and staffers. We'd love your feedback in our confidential survey; please go to informationweek.com/salary.

We'd also like to know what are the strangest things you've ever seen on eBay. We promise we won't assume you actually put a bid on them.

Stephanie Stahl, Editor-in-chief
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