With the economy in the doldrums, Amazon.com and others have argued that cloud computing makes sense for companies with constrained budgets -- allowing them to shift IT projects onto remote servers and access them via the web without paying for expensive infrastructure. But what does the accelerating shift to cloud computing mean for IT jobs? GigaOm asks that question and concludes that today's IT workers may be shut out of the new wave of jobs managing cloud systems.

GigaOm writes that the cost-savings of cloud computing are "impossible to deny" and says those savings may help companies stay afloat and create new jobs around cloud software and platforms. But the blog says that IT workers who are losing jobs in the recession may have a hard time transitioning to the cloud model:

Today’s laid-off systems administrators, however, are not likely landing these newly formed IT 2.0 jobs. They have been too busy applying duct tape and Band-Aids to existing infrastructures to stay on top of the cutting edge. Nearly a year and a half ago, already, I heard a FedEx Corporate Services IT executive bemoan how ill-equipped his team was to deal with the division’s increasingly fabric-like infrastructure. He was neither the first nor the last to express that sentiment.

Save for the folks who stay on to be trained in the new computing model, most of the application silo crowd seem destined to be seeking employment in new areas. Even as IT hiring ultimately picks up again to grow and evolve these next-generation data centers, it appears any new jobs will be for the young.

The blog notes that Google, IBM, Yahoo and Amazon have all been working with universities to foster programs to spur a new generation of web-scale developers.

What do you think? Will cloud computing create a meaningful number of jobs and who will get them?

[Flickr photo via kevindooley]