“The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty; it’s twice as big as it needs to be.”

Apparently this is one of the favorite quotes making its way around geek circles these days. And apparently, geeks, with their unique perspective, are on the move — unafraid to leave one job for another, even in this uncertain economy.

The reason? Technology.

Maybe they’re on to something. Josh Fruhlinger at IT World believes they are.

“In today’s economy,” Fruhlinger writes, “you’d think that everyone would hold on to whatever jobs they have as tightly as possible. But techies, as always, are something of a different breed.”

Fruhlinger says techies are switching jobs to get away from technology they don’t like or to go to companies with technology they do like.

The availability of technology and the ability of employees to master it is a factor in many of today’s hiring decisions, both for the jobseeker and the prospective employer.

According to a report at TheMatureMarket.com, it hasn’t taken long for even older jobseekers to latch on to the necessity of being techno-savvy.  They’re making sure hiring agents know they can combine old-school with new-tech.  The result is that retirement-age workers are promoting their longevity with new techno-skills while with working with companies to fashion semi-retirement plans, diluting the brain drain.

Says the report:

Baby Boomers, who represent one third of the U.S. population, are coming to the realization that traditional retirement may not be something they want and/or can afford. At the same time, Corporate America is coming to grips with the impending talent and institutional memory drain that will occur if large numbers of Boomers retire. 

Everyone’s learning.  Apparently geekiness knows no age limits.

Then again, there are still companies that are slow to catch on to the promise technology holds to bring out the geek in all of us.

Steve Boese, at his HR technology blog, laments the fact that some companies still put up blockades to keep their employees chained to “company-issue” work products and resources, for fear they might go to YouTube or check something out on Facebook. 

Says Steve:

In today’s downsized, pressure-packed, do more with less world, we are asking our employees to be more productive and innovative, but in many cases not equipping them with the freedom to use all the tools in the workbench. Rolling out ‘company-issue’ PC and clamping down on worker’s online resources might have made sense 10 years ago, but that time is long gone.

It’s enough to make a geek freak.

The truth is, companies should want and expect resourceful employees to be able to use and understand the ever-changing tehnological resources at hand — and companies should make them more accessible, not less.  The end result is a happier and more productive work force and a more profitable company.

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