Picking up an old copy of IT Week recently I realised much of my time here is spent on stories that were probably knocking around in a not too dissimilar form about 10 years ago, at which time I was embarking on a fun-filled year out involving data-entry jobs, drinking too much and falling over in dodgy nightclubs.

At that time my esteemed colleagues were all fuller of hair and thinner of face. At least I think it was my colleagues who wrote those articles – their photos in the archive all have a curious yellow tinge that makes the entire editorial staff look jaundiced. I blame the printers, or the IT Week coffee machine. Even after barely a year and a half – yes, time flies when you're writing for IT decision-makers – I've worked through my fair share of these: outsourcing versus insourcing, or hosted versus client/server, and then there's that perennial favourite; skills shortages.

Of course, all these issues are cyclical to an extent, but on the skills front there are probably a few other long-term factors that should worry anyone looking to the future of IT. One which might have some weight is that the current trend for outsourcing could be reducing the talent-pool at home. We're going too far towards Chelsea, the argument goes – buying our way to success, without paying attention to the grass roots. And much as I'm loathe to admit it, the Man U model is probably better in the long run.

Then there has been endless debate about the why's and how's of getting more children interested in IT, and especially young women, to redress the balance in what is still a ridiculously male-dominated industry. Better technology teaching would certainly help, but how can we stimulate young minds in a way that, at present, IT just doesn’t really? He might do a lot of work for charidee, but old Bill Gates is hardly a sexy young role-model for kids, is he? Then there is software developer and model Mikey, currently seen trying to impregnate anything with a pulse on Big Brother, although he might not have the staying power required to lead the PR charge.

Whatever, current efforts at attracting kids into IT are pretty dire. Maybe we should just tell them the truth. After all, how can you compete with the dreams of walking out in front of 90,000 at Wembley? Yes kids, you will probably be shunned at school by all the cool kids if you take an interest in computer programming, but it's an interesting, fast-moving industry, you've got as good a chance as any career these days of job stability and, most importantly, the pay ain't bad.

A case in point: my mate got a call the other night as we were enjoying some after-work refreshments. Turns out there was a problem with the IT system and he was on call so off he went up the road to fix it. I had barely got served at the bar before he was back again, a couple of hundred quid in his pocket – not a bad night's work.

I'm still waiting for the phone to ring... "It's an emergency Phil! We need 300 words on hosted CRM, name your price!"