I was also in Minneapolis.... I didn't work for a dot-com, just the USPS data center in the area, and then for a medical device company.
About the only effect of the bust I saw was that the job market went south with all the temporarily embarrassed "software engineers" seeking positions like mine (I was/am a system admin and developer among many other things).
Kept the job until the market improved somewhat, cashed in my 401k at the time (dumb) to put a down payment on a house just before the 2008 bust. Then I went to work for a University for 10 years.
The major impact of the various busts on me has been a lack of mobility (both career wise and ability to move to a new house). Other than that, not much.
I credit this to my choice of jobs (building a career) and focus in the industry, plus the fact that I've lived the role since college. I didn't become an IT guy because it was a way to get and keep good jobs... I was already one college, and I've been lucky that what I am happens to pay well.
About the only effect of the bust I saw was that the job market went south with all the temporarily embarrassed "software engineers" seeking positions like mine (I was/am a system admin and developer among many other things).
Kept the job until the market improved somewhat, cashed in my 401k at the time (dumb) to put a down payment on a house just before the 2008 bust. Then I went to work for a University for 10 years.
The major impact of the various busts on me has been a lack of mobility (both career wise and ability to move to a new house). Other than that, not much.
I credit this to my choice of jobs (building a career) and focus in the industry, plus the fact that I've lived the role since college. I didn't become an IT guy because it was a way to get and keep good jobs... I was already one college, and I've been lucky that what I am happens to pay well.