"Dirty IT Job No. 3: Sexy Games Producer. You spend all day staring at pictures of naked women and talking dirty in three languages. Sounds like dream job, right? Not exactly, says Patryk Bukowiecki, a game producer and manager who worked for a maker of "sexy" J2ME mobile games in the late 2000s. There he produced games like Lessons of Passion Blackjack, in which game players engaged in simulated sex talk with scantily clad models.

"Blizzard sent over a press release announcing that approximately 600 employees will be let go on a global scale. The company determined this was necessary after conducting a review of its business based on current organizational needs. Approximately 90-percent of the affected employees will come from departments not related to game development."

"Interestingly, when broken down by industry, more male LinkedIn network in traditionally female fields, such as the cosmetics industry. But in tobacco and ranching industries, which are normally considered male-dominated, women are the predominant networkers. Why? LinkedIn suggested the "minority sex has to network harder than the dominant sex to break into those industries."

"Late last week Intel CEO Paul Otellini was named to President Barack Obama's jobs council.  This week he went to work announcing that he would be creating a bunch of jobs.

"Activision will be making some changes as the company announced its numbers. Despite profits being up, the company will be realigning some things, which will result in a loss of about 500 jobs as the company makes some changes, with a heavy emphasis going forward on their electronic delivery and subscription-based services."

"Mercury News reports that Google announced this week that it would hire at least 6,000 workers in 2011. If it hits that number, 2011 will be the second biggest year for new hires in the history of Google. The company also says that about 2,000 of those new hires will be in and around its Bay Area HQ in California."

One of these guy could be your new boss in 2011.

"According to a new study by CareerCast.com, software engineers have the best jobs of 2011 in the United States, based on factors such as income, working environment, stress, physical demands and job outlook, using Labor Department and Census data. Mid-level software engineers make between $87,000 and $132,000 a year, putting them in the top 25% of the 200 professions studied by income.

Elliot Noss, chief executive of domain-name provider Tucows, has spent the past five years training to become a better leader. How? By playing World of Warcraft for six to seven hours a week.

"A Chinese IT outsourcing company that has started hiring new U.S. computer science graduates to work in Shanghai requires prospective job candidates to demonstrate an IQ of 125 or above on a test it administers to sort out job applicants.

In doing so, Bleum Inc. is following a hiring practice it applies to college recruits in China. But a new Chinese college graduate must score an IQ of 140 on the company's test.

An IQ test is the first screen for any U.S. or Chinese applicant.

"Computerworld - It's not easy to stay positive in the Great Recession, protracted recovery or whatever phrase du jour is used to describe the current global economy. That's why the mood in the IT department at The Sedona Group in Moline, Ill., stands out like a ray of sunshine on a dreary day.