Dotcom workers flock to porn sites

Former dotcom workers are finding job security in an industry that shows little sign of slowing - online pornography.

While mainstream sites are suffering from the effects of lay-offs and hiring freezes, the world of adult online entertainment is booming.

It's thought the number of individual visitors at sex sites grew nearly 30% in about two years, from 22 million in December 1999 to nearly 28 million last February.

Meanwhile, the number of IT jobs grew during 2000 at its slowest rate since 1995, according to a Nasdaq report issued last week.

Vivid Entertainment Group, an adult entertainment company in Van Nuys, California, has expanded its online staff by 30% in the past couple of months, adding about 10 web designers, programmers and marketers.

"As the pornography industry tries to become more widely accepted, it makes sense to hire workers from other fields, including former dot-coms", vice president of internet marketing at Vivid Entertainment David Schlesinger told Computer World.

But working in the porn industry may prevent access to some jobs in the future, said Kevin Rosenberg, managing director at Californian recruiting firm BridgeGate LLC. That perception may be changing, however.

He added: "What was once a behind-the-scenes old warehouse business is now becoming a mainstream business with the advent of the web."