[TriLUG] North Carolina Market

[Chris Hedemark]

On Monday, April 21, 2003, at 03:14 PM, john wrote:

> What is the feel for the market in the RTP (and surrounding areas) 
> currently?

What is the feel for having your fingernails pulled out by a 
parkinson's patient with rusty pliers?

I spent a year and a half looking for full time gainful employment.  
Had some fun consulting opportunities but nothing I could count on 
long-term. Ended up moving north to a larger job market which has been 
marginally better (I'm gainfully employed in Philadelphia now but it is 
a week to week thing).

North Carolina is a wonderful place to live but RTP is a very small job 
market with very little industry diversity and thus doesn't hold up 
well to market swings.  Unfortunately this swing has been stuck in a 
bad position for a couple of years now.

> Are there any jobs open, or is this market just horrible at this time? 
>  It seems like it would be bleak, but I am just not there to have a 
> feel for it.

Horrible.

You're experience level is only slightly higher than mine it sounds 
like.   I ran into the problem a lot where managers now want someone 
with like 12 years of experience to take $45,000 a year (yeah, right) 
working 60+ hours a week.  Oh, yeah, and you're competing with 
literally HUNDREDS of similarly qualified applicants for one position.  
Furthermore, there are a lot of companies that are engaged in the slimy 
tactic of fishing (they are interviewing for positions that they don't 
have any real budget to fill, just to get names of good people for when 
the market gets better).

> I am currently a member of the CLUG (Cleveland Linux Users Group), and 
> look forward to attending meetings with you all (in NC) sometime in my 
> future.  I found you guys on: 
> http://www.linuxhq.com/users/groups/usa/northcarolina.html

I think that you will be very pleased with TriLUG if you still end up 
moving down.  It's a great group of guys to lament unemployment with.

My advice?  Look at bigger/older cities.  They are absorbing the market 
conditions better.  Philadelphia, like I said, is doing marginally 
better.  I'm hearing good reports out of Boston.

--
War is Terrorism with a Bigger Budget