For instance, in a class on telework, a woman asked whether a company's decision to allow teleworking also makes it more comfortable with using remote workers and offshoring. "We are just afraid of that," she said.

In interviews, several people who had attended Giovanetto's class offered a range of views about current trends.

Paul Poppell, who manages enterprise operations and is also an MVS mainframe programmer, said automation is more of a threat than offshoring.

"Every enhancement from IBM has reduced the skill set of my particularly specialty," Poppell said. "There has not been an enhancement out of that product set that has increased the complexity or the skill set required to install that operating system." He works at an educational institution he didn't want identified.

Although Poppell said he believes IT jobs may be increasing overall, the skill sets are shifting, and not to the benefit of MVS programmers. "Unfortunately, it's one of those things like making horse collars -- the good ones are going to do well; the bad ones are going to fall off the face of the Earth," he said.