Define the "Reality check" you're talking about? When the dotcom burst happened, I got a big fat pay raise to guarantee I'd stick around at the firm I was at.

Define the "Reality check" you're talking about? When the dotcom burst happened, I got a big fat pay raise to guarantee I'd stick around at the firm I was at. [Edit: I realize this wasn't terribly clear. Those of us who knew what we were doing at the burst generally didn't hit hard times; but the developers who were in the industry because they saw it as an easy paycheck are the ones who got hurt. In that way, the burst was good for our industry - it helped separate the wheat from the chaff.]