There are ways to ride out the crashes both in and out of the industry. When the 2001 dot-com crash hit, I voluntarily left my job as a *nix systems administra

There are ways to ride out the crashes both in and out of the industry. When the 2001 dot-com crash hit, I voluntarily left my job as a *nix systems administrator at AOL before the walls fell in. I went back to school to finish my Bachelor's and joined college Army ROTC. I joined ROTC for several reasons: it was a new career for me, one that would develop my leadership and prepare me for bigger things. Being in ROTC also gave me the structure that I needed to succeed in school and finish my degree quickly. It also gave me a small stipend that helped me buy food. After graduation, the tech industry improved and I wanted to get back into it. I served in the Army Reserve (and still do!) on the weekends while I worked as an engineering manager during the week. The Army had been key to maturing as an employee and as a leader and I found it easy to join the ranks of middle management post-college. I rode out the second "crash", the recession of 2008, at Rackspace. A managed hosting/technology company like RAX is a great place to be when times get tough. When big businesses need to cut back, they trim IT staff and outsource their infrastructure to a place like Rackspace. We stayed very busy and profitable during the recession. When things improved six years later, I bailed and went to work for a Rackspace customer and that's where I've been ever since.