I finally managed to get into ddj.com and read the bloody thing. I was not impressed.

It wasn't about whether or not there was a scarcity of tech workers. It was about all the political crap which gets wrapped around that "issue", e.g. whether or not the US should allow more foreign workers.

Look:

• Yes, most employers are idiots who write nonsensical job descriptions, and then bitch and moan when they can't get applicants.
• Yes, most employers are feeble in their failure to exploit the talents of their existing employees through training and other career development programs.
• No, the fact that there are currently lots of open IT positions does not mean you should go to college and major in an IT field; it does not mean those jobs will be waiting for you when you graduate.
• None of these things really has to do with the scarcity (or lack there of) of high-tech workers.

And, frankly, connect-the-dots prognostication is silly. What no one wants to admit is that we've managed to create an environment (the net) in which the basics of operating a retail establishment (a store) require personal characteristics (facility with abstract thought) of the store workers (geeks) which only a comparatively small percentage of people have.

It would be one thing if ecommerce sites were like brick&mortar stores. Once you put up your KornerMart, it stays built, and you can pay all your architects, construction workers, HVAC experts, etc. and send them home. It would be one thing if new-media sites were like radio stations. Once you raise your KLUE transmitter and plug it in, you can send away the engineers who put up the tower. You can staff your KornerMart, your KLUE station with non-geeks and have your business run.

But an ecommerce site, a new-media site is constantly being reinvented. What's now is passe, so "five minutes ago". The envelop must constantly be pushed.

So long as that is true, you can expect the market demand for geeks to be rapacious. We are the only people who can run their store fronts in cyberspace, the only people who can keep the store open 24/7. They can't do without us, and as they try to expand, they will only need more and more of us.
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Any technology indistinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.