Yeah, yeah.  I know that every industry expert around has their list of predictions for the next year but I’m no industry expert.  Not sure if that comes out to a compliment or not.  Anyway, here is what I think will happen to those of us in the trenches. 

First, no matter what the trends or what the experts say, things will go on for most of us just like last year.  You will be underappreciated, over worked, and underpaid.  You have to like the consistency.   

Second, people will continue to talk about cloud computing like it is the second coming of Grace Hopper.  Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t, but with all the hype, we will never know.   

Third, I will have my third article published in System iNews in March 2011.  This isn’t really a prediction as I have to hand it in by next Tuesday.  It will be about Program Complexity. 

Fourth, most of the people who are on 5.4 or below will remain on 5.4 or below.   

Fifth, the CEO or CFO of the companies that are on 5.4 or below will begin to think ‘I bet we could run this whole thing on Windows’.   

Sixth, the i Manifest movement will continue to grow and gather supporters in an effort to encourage IBM to more effectively market the i as the machine of the future.

Seventh, IBM will continue to market the i in an ineffective and pathetic manner, because fully supporting the i runs contrary to their basic business plan of selling services and big iron. 

Eighth, more companies will decide they need to move to SAP or Oracle and off of more sensible ERP systems, thus bringing us closer to the predicted collapse of civilization as we know it (May 28, 2019). 

Ninth, people will continue to say that us i types are behind the times and technically obsolete.

And Tenth, when most of us ask for the time and resources to upgrade our knowledge base we will be told there is no money in the budget for it and no time to do it anyway given the current project load.

Good luck in 2011.