Hi Thane,

Assuming you can find one with an acceptable salary, etc., you only need one job. And no matter how bad the job market is, people do get hired. It's just harder than when people are in short supply.

Don't believe what you read in the papers about the job market. It will cause little but pain. Papers/TV/etc. exist to sell advertising so they (think they) have to hype the good or bad part of a story.

Don't wait till graduatation to find a job. (And it sounds like you haven't - good!)

Lots and lots of people never work in the field they get their college degree in. It doesn't mean you should change your degree at this late point if you're not finding something immediately in software.

IMO, the main thing you should be concerned with at this point is finding a position at a company that has a future, one where you can grow and prove your worth. You need to gain "real" experience - post college experience. If that means working a couple of years at a place as an underling that only pays $25k a year (and if you can live on that), but has excellent prospects for advancement, then that's something you should seriously consider. E.g. lots of science/engineering PhDs start off in research as "post-docs" - positions that might only pay $35-50k a year. It's painful for the first couple of years, but after that you can move into a "real" job and maybe a year or so later make around twice that with prospects to move higher.

My $0.02. Best of luck!

Cheers,
Scott.