IN THE TOUGH ECONOMIC CLIMATE ALL OVER, it’s easy to forget a segment of the population that’s been especially buffeted about over the last few years—namely, the technology-worker crowd. While many industries and functions have been hit—some pretty severely—by the general downturn, it’s hard to think of a group that has experienced a more dramatic shift in status than technology-focused employees. From the state of being fought over, lavishly recruited, re-recruited, and generally pampered by well-funded and attractive employers, to the current state of being (very likely) unemployed, underemployed, or tenuously employed at a company that’s already experienced a wave or two of downsizing—that’s quite a wild ride over just a couple of years. And tech people are feeling the strain.

Yes, having a job in this economy is some consolation, but the stress of going from being the hottest thing on the block to being a member of a stone-cold job market is still a heavy load to bear. Very smart and accomplished engineers and IT people I know are in shock to find that their skills are nowhere near as sought after as they’d been for the five years leading up to the tech crash. When you’re so in-demand for so long, it’s only natural to come to feel that what employers crave is not your technical expertise specifically—it’s just your overall wonderfulness, and so when you’re not so marketable anymore, it can really lead to confusion and distress.

Here are some ideas to help technology people cope with the new reality. First off, remember that our industry has always been cyclical. Yes, there was a lot of talk about the internet changing economic patterns forever, but clearly that hasn’t happened, and what we experienced during the bubble was the highest, fastest ride in the history of our industry. So any drop from such a dizzy height is going to feel like the end of the world. It’s not. Your skills and training will be back in demand, in a slowly growing job market, again. Employers are being extremely cautious about increasing their staffs. This does not make you less brilliant, accomplished, or marketable than you were in the boom times. It just means that there are fewer spots available, and you’ll have to be flexible.

Lots of people from the startup world are finding safe haven in traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. While the pace is slower and the rewards are less dramatic, some of these refugees say that the downtime is valuable for healing their battered egos. After all, traditional businesses tend to operate less on the cutting edge of new technology and business processes than many fast-growth tech firms have done. So any innovation (something you implement at your new employer that may seem like a terribly obvious process improvement to you) may be very welcome and even mark you as a standout employee. In times like these, that emotional reassurance is worth a lot! So your company isn’t on the cover of any tech-entrepreneur magazines. That’s okay. You’re helping them do their business better, and that’s what the business world has been about for the last hundred years or so.

If you’re suffering from the loss of the perks (great benefits, great snacks, lots of autonomy, great financial rewards) of the bubble era, remember that, unless you entered the workforce after 1996 or so, today’s pace and business conditions are a lot more typical than what our parents or even older siblings ever experienced. If your stock options are pretty much useful only for lining a birdcage and your principal take-away is the launch-party Polartec jacket from your last startup, at least be grateful for the learning and the contacts that your fast-times experience helped you to gain. Lots of people work for thirty years in the business world without access to the kinds of experience that we picked up in the short-lived Digital Economy. So let’s celebrate that!

People who are older than me talk about past downturns and the fear, every time, that technology was an industry that had seen its best days. So far, that was never even remotely true. If you’re thinking about a startup now, you may find that it’s a better environment today for getting funding (and lower-priced employees) than any time in the last twenty years. If you’re an employee looking for flexibility—say, some free time each week to work on your professional development or your favorite hobby—you may likewise find that employers are unusually open to flexible (=they save money) arrangements. There are all kinds of silver linings in this economy. And as for the loss of the trappings—great titles, plush offices, and so on —remember that those were being distributed so widely during the boom that it could be said “Everyone is a VP.” In this market, you get to really prove what you’ve got. Might not be as good as retiring at age thirty-five, but there’s something to be said for the old adage “that which doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” Don’t you feel stronger already?

Send your job and career advice questions to Liz Ryan at liz@corp.siliconindia.com.

Liz Ryan is a human resources executive and advisor with over twenty years leading HR organizations in high-growth companies, including Recycled Paper Products and U.S. Robotics, becoming USR’s first female VP in 1990. She left USR to form Liz Ryan Consulting and has been an active consultant with Fortune 500 companies in HR strategies. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in marketing from Loyola University and has an M.S. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University.