The language of job ads can make any role, no matter how mundane, sound like a nine-to-five day full of non-stop excitement. But for those looking for a position outside the normal routine, ads promising to "redefine job roles", offering a chance to "build a young, dynamic team", assuring you that "enthusiasm and the ability to work under pressure" could land you in the thick of a new company launch, could hardly be more tempting.

And it is the new dot.com companies that often seem to promise the most. Small company, big prospects is the subtext, and plenty of workers have been persuaded to take the risk of working for an internet start-up. And it can be risky. Only those marooned on a desert island could have missed coverage of the collapse of boo.com, and reports this week on dot.com funding have also cast a shadow over the industry. Venture capitalists, once so eager to toss money into the dot.com well, have retreated with their bags of cash, stung by the death of boo and the plummeting prices of internet shares. Now that every twentysomething with half an idea dreams of e-millions, investors have twigged that some ventures are more upstart than start-up.

So is it time to get out? Not so fast. The dot.com industry is still young, and reports of its death are rather premature. Job losses do happen - just last week 226 staff were laid off when Somerfield's online shopping site 24-7 closed its virtual doors - but in the same week, clothing giant C&A announced the end of its stores and 4,800 jobs. When boo.com finally shut up shop, there were headhunters waiting in the pub to console the newly unemployed with champagne and career opportunities.

Lucy Simmons, 24, has been working in customer support for a business-to-business (B2B) financial site for six months and is unperturbed by the scare stories: "I don't think job security exists in any sector any more, so it's no more risky to go into this than any other job. I don't know if it's a good long-term career choice, but it suits me fine at the moment."

While the rate of investment in internet start-ups may be slowing, there's still an awful lot of money sloshing around out there. A report from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers last week confirmed that investment in European internet companies rose last year by an astonishing 70%, of which the UK won a third. Over three-quarters of these investments went on younger start-up companies. But Robert Conway, PwC's global technology industry group leader, cautioned at the time that "venture capitalists will become far more selective. Start-ups will find it difficult to raise finance without good ideas and great management."

Working for a dot.com, especially one that's barely up and running, requires a certain amount of trust. Yes, the boss has a great idea and a whole lot of enthusiasm, but he or she might be new to management and could have less experience than those they are now employing to make the coffee.

Share options in the firm might make you a fortune if the company soars, but you could just as easily end up with nothing if it goes under before any profits materialise (as boo.com's unlucky employees discovered - some did not even receive their wages). Salaries and perks could well be at the skimpier end of the scale: Anders Bergtoft, managing director of ShopSmart.com, which took over boo's Stockholm offices, recently warned employees to expect "buses, beer and burgers", rather than the Concorde, champagne and caviar their predecessors reputedly enjoyed.

Simmons confirms this: "Pay is probably less good than in other sectors. Depending on when you join the company, you might not get shares or options, so the idea that everyone who works for dot.com companies will become millionaires is a bit of a myth. And people do seem to think that the work is more glamorous than it actually is. I work long hours just like my friends."

The first flurry of excitement about internet shares has died down, and workers should approach a job at an internet start-up with a degree of scepticism. One estimate from Merrill Lynch predicted that three-quarters of European internet companies would disappear in the next few years. For the wary, a job with a B2B site, rather than the riskier retail sites, is probably a safer bet, relying less on the whims of the consumer.

But who really wants a job with a lifetime guarantee? Simmons, for the moment, is enjoying the uncertainty: "I wasn't actually looking for a job at a dot.com, but when I was offered it I was tempted because it was something new and different. And I'm still young enough to get a different job if it doesn't work out."