So can anyone give me a little insight as to how the IT job climate is in the Bay Area. I used to live on the penninsula during the 90's and I was wondering if things are starting to return to normal.

What do you consider "normal"? From what I hear, many people are lucky to still have jobs. Most companies are operating on "skeleton" crews and offering reduced benefits, since very few companies are in the "attract and hire the best engineers" mode. Most are in the "We have to limit expenses to make our shareholders happy, so we're reducing your perks and benefits. If you don't like it, there's the door" mode.

If you own a residence in Folsom, stay there; you'll never be able to sell it and buy something equivalent on the Peninsula.

I wasn't in IT, but I was a project mgr working with a lot of IT folks from SF to San Jose. Seems every freekin' week (yes, exaggeration...) one of my "IT guys/gals" would get let go...

I left the Bay Area in April 2003 because of the job scene...I was laid off a total of about 5 times in 3 years. It's brutal out there still. I can rattle off a ton of my friends who've been laid off and unable to find IT work for months (or nearly a year) at a time.

Good luck!

I was laid off from several dotcom's..
Ended up getting into Corrosion.. Far cry from IT..