Job Searching
Posted on 06 November 2009
I hate looking for work. I know everyone does, even at the best of times.
But times like these, when local jobs have polarized into high paying jobs or low paying jobs and nothing in between, and the local government (who counts for a large percentage of local jobs) has cut down its budget for external contracts to almost nothing, looking for work now feels less like looking for a good fit and more like I’m the victim of a mean-spirited game of “Pig In The Middle”. I’m sure I’m not the only one, either.
I’m starting to feel like I specialized in all the wrong things. Windows instead of linux or Mac. ColdFusion instead of PHP or Java. Network administration instead of database administration. Technical college instead of a computer sciences degree. Programming instead of design. That, and I was born in the wrong country.
Frustration abounds, and I’ve been essentially out of paid work since July, which kills any relocation budget I might have had.
If anyone reading this has any overflow work or say a lead on a ColdFusion telecommute job or contract position, I’m all over it. Otherwise, thanks for reading anyway and I’ll post my progress.
I know the feeling! I have only billed just over 100 hours since March. Local jobs here have disappeared as well unless you want to code Java or .NET all day. Sorry, not me!
Im now at the point where Im going to have to take a job out of town away from my family just to keep the bills paid.
Good luck with your search, hopefully something will pan out sooner than later.
I would say I’m glad I’m not the only one, but that would just be mean – and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Thanks for the encouragement. Hope things are looking up next year for us all.
I wish I didn’t have to read this as it definitely hurts to hear fellow ColdFusion developers suffering. Have you looked in to TEKSystems (or similar) to use their clients for the time being?
I am curious to find out what other programming languages you may know aside from CFML. It is of my personal belief that if you can grasp the core concepts of object-oriented programming, there merely remains a small learning curve for familiarizing yourself with a new programming language’s syntax and libraries. Once that is accomplished, the rest becomes second nature.
Honestly, though, try, try, try to focus on the positive side of having downtime. You now have an opportunity to learn a new skill, programming language, or technique (ColdSpring anyone?) to complement your current knowledge. According to your “About” page you say you got in to programming by reverse engineering Java code. That is no simple task. It takes a certain type of mind and way of thinking that very few people possess.
If you do decide to learn something new, here are a few of my all time favorites not in any particular order:
Groovy
Grails
Java
Flex 4/ActionScript 3/AIR
XSLT
XML
UML (or “mind mapping” with XMind (or similar) if you want to crawl before you walk)
And last but not least, be sure you do any and all of this on a Mac!
Technology is not going anywhere anytime soon. Just make sure you stay current and, if time permits, contribute to the community any way you can. Good luck and stay positive!