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Posted by: L8Apex Apr 30 2003, 01:12 PM

Finally, after 1 year of sitting around doing nothing, I get a job. That means I have money to spend on toys.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Apr 30 2003, 01:42 PM

Let me guess:

Frey Racing or Leman karting ?? Or uncles food places ??


B

Posted by: vortrex Apr 30 2003, 05:35 PM

cool. I get my first paycheck in about 16 months on friday. yeehaaw.

Posted by: ChrisReale Apr 30 2003, 06:16 PM

Are you in Philidelphia? How has it been so far? got a mullet yet?

Posted by: Mike T Apr 30 2003, 06:46 PM

Cool, Congrats L8Apex. That's gotta feel pretty good.

I've been out of work since October of last year. Sucks. Waiting for the phone to ring after interviews sucks more...

Mike T.

Posted by: djm914-6 Apr 30 2003, 07:03 PM

Employment is contagious (sp? that can't be right). I been back to work for just over a week after a long stint of umemployment too. Actually, my DET benifits ran out the week I got the new job, what timing.

Congrats, L8!

Posted by: Brad Roberts Apr 30 2003, 07:22 PM

I may officially start getting paid in 2 weeks.

Wife will be happy.


B

Posted by: L8Apex Apr 30 2003, 07:24 PM

nah, I'm a part time test engineer at www.AVermedia.com doing beta testing on their TV cards. Sounds like fun when I went for the interview. Monday I start doing some part time work. hopefully leading to full time.

Brad, yes I did try to get a job at Frey. I failed.

Posted by: mskala Apr 30 2003, 08:29 PM

Hey, it's good that some people are starting to get re-employed. I
haven't been out as long as many (5 mo) but I hope things are
turning around for technical people. But actually I just had a friend
get hit friday.
Mark S.
'70 914-6

Posted by: jkeyzer Apr 30 2003, 09:00 PM

I've been unemployed for 2 weeks now. First time I've been laid off... San Diego has had its fair share of layoffs too.

And to think I am actually debating a move up to Silicon Valley... Am I nuts or what?

PS. If anyone needs an RF design engineer hit me up.

Posted by: Gint Apr 30 2003, 09:27 PM

My congrats and/or condolences to you all. I watch a group get laid off every 6 months and wonder when my turn is comin. I have to be really careful surfin the 914/porn BBS.

Posted by: kafermeister Apr 30 2003, 09:45 PM

I'd have to say that I feel for those who have found themselves looking for work. I was only out of work for about 6 months back in 2001 and part of 2002 and it rocked my world.

Once I did go back to work, there was a decrease in salary of over 30%. I'm sure others will find themselves where I've been.

To quote a Canadian prophet "Remember. I'm pullin for ya. We're all in this together." - RedGreen

Rick

Posted by: Brad Roberts Apr 30 2003, 09:48 PM

I chose to sacrifice for a year + to move forward later on. It will pay off.


B

Posted by: anthony Apr 30 2003, 10:14 PM

Jkeyzer, you'd probably be crazy to move to Silicon Valley and look for a job right now. If you want a job there, get a local PO Box and voice mail for applying for jobs. My understanding is that non-local candidates aren't even getting a look unless they have highly specialized skills.

My advice to the newly unemployed is that it's worse out there than you think especially if you are a techie. If your budget can't take a 6 to 18 month layoff then start your 8 hour a day job search ASAP, take the first job you get offered even if it's a temp/part-time job outside of your field as long it pays the bills, and be prepared for a large pay cut (up to 50%).

I was laid off from Lucent Technologies in November. I've been looking since. I think I just got a break and a friend and former co-worker will hire me starting July 1st. (Keep your fingers crossed, guys!)

In the meantime if anyone knows about a Windows NT/2000/XP sys admin, helpdesk guru, or junior Solaris admin I'm your man. Drop me a line.

Posted by: L8Apex May 1 2003, 12:57 AM

yes, I feel very lucky. Since I'm still a young guy, (22), I live at home and my parents are cool enough to keep me alive. I just owe them big time. I want to work mainly to gain experience in the field before I graduate next year. My dad has a lot of friends and old co-workers looking for jobs. One of his friends was a engineering program manager, making $150K +, now working as a manager at Denny's so he can support the family. (good package, but working just in case of anything bad that can happen).

Good luck to the people looking for work. I'll ask my dad if there are any openings at his place for a tech guy or something.

Posted by: jkeyzer May 1 2003, 01:17 AM

Those are scary thoughts anthony. I have only been searching for a short time but as yet have not turned up any leads in the bay area. I hope that is not representative of the next couple months. Maybe it's time to think about going back to school? Yeah, right.

My work is fairly specialized but San Diego or LA is the place to be for it. Unfortunately other factors are making me consider the move, *IF* I can find a job.

Jeff

Posted by: Brad Roberts May 1 2003, 01:28 AM

Jeff,

You do wireless type work correct ?

The only people I know getting jobs up here are the ones that know somebody already working somewhere. One of those "not what you know, but who you know" type of things. Basically exactly what is happening with Anthony (job thru friend)

B

Posted by: rhodyguy May 1 2003, 06:13 AM

sorry your guys misfortune has brightened my day. lost my job last week. the wife already says i'm much calmer. if we all have so much "free" time how come our cars aren't running. got carried away. while doing the brakes and sway bars. looked at the parts and said to myself, "won't get back to these for a while", so out comes the marhyde, self etching primer, black paint. backing plates, drop links, muffler support bar,etc. looks great but who's going to see it?

kevin

Posted by: SirAndy May 1 2003, 11:40 AM

at least you guys had some free time on your hands while you were not making any money.
i have my own company and i work my ass off while i don't make any money.
why the hell do i keep up with that ?!?

Andy

Posted by: Steve Thacker May 1 2003, 11:43 AM

I sat year before last, 8 loooonng months! I thought I was going to go batty. I was a systems consultant for a company based out of Charlotte. They walk in to the client site one day and bang , bang , bang we all bit the bullet (project stalled-cash funds). I have been working steady for a year now (no mo consulting). I have 200 mail and Domino web servers to maintain, so I think things are going to stay busy.

The best of luck to all who are still looking! Things are picking up dispite the media's doom and gloom (that just sells newspapers) forecast.

Posted by: vortrex May 1 2003, 12:14 PM

"Are you in Philidelphia? How has it been so far? got a mullet yet?"

been here for 3 weeks. it's not horrible, at least I have a paycheck. it's amazing how much I appreciate SF though now.

yeah I got a nice mullet growing in and will buy some gold medallions/chains on friday after I get the first check. my tiny house in SF did sell for $56k over the asking price yesterday, that made my move slightly more tolerable. I did buy a new car last weekend, a 201HP '03 VW GTi VR6 6 speed. pretty fun to drive after being in a SUV for the past 2 years!!!


"PS. If anyone needs an RF design engineer hit me up"

check out comcast. that's where I am at now. they seem to have a lot of openings.

Posted by: jkeyzer May 1 2003, 12:19 PM

Brad - Yeah, I do wireless circuit design. Many companies are looking for those senior guys with 10 years experience. I am pretty fresh out of school, got my MSEE only 10 months ago. The recent grad thing can work for or against you depending on who's looking.

Edit..Thanks vortex, I'll check comcast out.

Posted by: need4speed May 1 2003, 12:40 PM

I do computer support (basically, I fix problems that programmers don't have the time/patience to fix). I was laid off from my job of 10 years last October, and really lucked out and got a new job in a month, though I'm a temp and I took a 30% pay cut (too bad my mortgage didn't drop 30% too), and don't have benefits, I'm getting by, barely.

The thing that sucks is that I still consider myself unemployed, because the compensation is barely subsistence compared to what I was making. But I don't count in the unemployment statistics. I wonder how many other people are in this situation.
It's really bad out there - but it looks "not so bad" on paper.

So if anyone knows of a position for WinNT/2k, Solaris, AIX, Linux, Macintosh admin with experience in Oracle, and Backup Software, email me.

Heh, I run into other technies in town. Inevitably, I start to feel them out as to whether their companies are hiring, and I hit them up for a job. And they end up hitting me up for work. Now that's bad. . .

Posted by: Mueller May 1 2003, 01:14 PM

I had to take a 20% cut in pay a few weeks ago...OUCH...it is not like I made all that much to begin with

At the company my wife works at, there are rumors of across the board pay reductions as well.....

oh, and for my side business of making and selling the needle bearing kits: I've had to lay out ~$3,000.00 of my own money and I have yet to make a profit.....takes a lot of balls and money to do your business.....both are shrinking until I make more sales

Posted by: ThinAir914 May 1 2003, 10:19 PM

Every time I hear of someone going back to work and think it's getting better, I hear lots of other tales about the ones that just got wacked. It's discouraging.

I was laid off at the end of October last year and managed to land a new gig after 3 months. I learned real fast that you don't really have ANY extra time - every moment gets filled with something related to finding something new. No 914 stuff got done while I was laid off and not much house improvement stuff either.

The networking thing really is the key. The employment counselling folks here said that 80% of folks find their new job that way. They said to look at it as time management - since 80% of people find their employment through networking, spend 80% of your energy on that.

In my case it was indeed networking that got me the new job, but in a wierd way. I had lunch with a friend a couple of days after I got laid off to find out how he went about setting himself up as a "for real" computer consultant. He mentioned a local network place that I might want to check. He didn't know the people, but he was just telling me of places he'd noticed where I might check.

A couple of days I stopped by this place with my resume to find out about employment or subcontractor posibilities. They don't have anything, but the owner likes my resume and says he's glad to see someone who has some experience instead of someone who managed to get their MCSE but doesn't know anything. Looking at my resume he figures out that a good friend of his lives at the top of my street. I know the same guy from the place I used to work (he was there about a year) and I wave to him whenever I see him outside as I go by.

Nothing happens for over a month & then I get a call from the owner saying that one of his clients is about to lose his 1-man IT staff and am I interested? It takes another 6 weeks before I finally get the interview and a job offer. I end up with about a 20% pay cut, but I'm much happier in the new job and feel like I'm actually making a difference for the folks I support. I was just about out of possibilities when this came through. For sure I learned that you tell everyone who will listen that you are looking and what you are looking for.

One thing that also helped me is that there is a federal program called Workforce Investment Act that helps people who have been laid off to get training to help them qualify for new work. In my case I did computer support, but had no certifications to back it up. I was able to attend 6 classes toward getting my MCSE. I haven't taken the tests yet, but if I pass them all the first time my total cost for education & testing will be $350.

So to end this long tale - keep your chin up and keep working at it even when it doesn't feel like it's gonna go anywhere. You can never tell which contact is gonna come back and be the one that pays off.

Oh yeah - my gift to myself for getting re-employed was to buy the 73 2.0L 914 in Seattle that I saw here on the classifieds!

Posted by: anthony May 2 2003, 01:25 AM

Ernie, who administers the Workforce Investment Act?

Posted by: ThinAir914 May 2 2003, 08:20 AM

Here in Arizona it is done by the counties so I assume that's the way the Feds set it up. We have a thing for Coconino County called the Coconino Career Center, but down in Phoenix (Maricopa County) they have their own name for it. I'm sure that if you call your county government and ask about WIA by name they'll be able to put you in touch with the right folks.

A couple of years ago by brother-in-law got laid off and he qualified for a different program that was for folks where the job went away because the company was shipping jobs to other countries. I don't remember the name of the program, but they paid for 2 years of college so he could get his degree. It will be worth asking about. It was also a federal program.

Posted by: need4speed May 2 2003, 09:35 AM

That program sounds like a good deal. I suppose I don't qualify for it though.

I got Novell certified back in 92, when Novell had so much momentum, and Microsoft looked like they were about to topple. Then the tables turned, and right now, my ECNE certificate isn't worth nearly as muuch as used toilet paper.
Since then I've taken a few Microsoft classes just to stay current - but I never got certified, because I dealt with cert weenies all the time that didn't know jack. And MCSE's are a dime a dozen. And I still believe that Microsoft is on it's way out. (and someday, VW will start producing aircooled rear-engined cars again).

But now I'm thinking it would be nice to have a Cisco or Oracle ticket.

My brother in law in Illinois has pretty much made a career of chasing the Lotus Notes carrot. Not many people use Lotus Notes anymore, but the ones who do - NEED certified guys.

Posted by: Jeff Krieger May 2 2003, 09:55 AM

Let us pray ...

Posted by: Steve Thacker May 2 2003, 12:06 PM

Need4speed,...
Sounds like you took the track I did. Spent a ton of money getting a MCNE and then it wasn't worth squat. Plus there was a bunch of paper CNEs out there driving the price down.

I have to slightly disagree on the Lotus Notes thing. Domino is still the number one mail, web and database product out there. I've done them all Groupwise, Pegasus, Sendmail, Exchange and this is the Cadillac. After 10 years of doing this, it still puts the food on the table. I would have never made the money I do now, being just another network engineer. To each his own,...but your brother-in-law is still in a good spot if he is a Notes developer. If he is like me a admin, it is a bit tougher to land something.

Posted by: anthony May 23 2003, 07:42 PM

These days it's looking like you can't rely on any single certification. Personally I think certification might improve your attractiveness by maybe 10%. The years of experience is what really counts. Certification is also good to round out your skills. For example if you are a Windows admin, doing a Sun Solaris or Cisco certification might help you land that next job or move up in your current company. I used certification to break into the field six years ago. I had lots of self taught knowledge but formalized by taking the NT4 MCSE classes at a local community college. It took a while but it was way cheaper than the boot camp style courses.

Good news! I've finally landed a job after 7 months. Actually I might have landed two jobs. The first job is a well paying 20 hour a week gig in Marin. The second job is being the IT director for a private school in Berkeley. I haven't gotten an offer yet, but I interviewed well, we've talked money, and they are checking references. I assume they wouldn't be doing this if an offer wasn't forthcoming.

Posted by: Jeffs9146 May 23 2003, 07:53 PM

I have a friend who is always looking for RF engineers! He is the Director of Network Opperations for Singular Wireless. Send me your info and I will forward it on!

Jeff

Posted by: Elliot Cannon May 23 2003, 11:46 PM

I retire in 2 years 361 days and hope to be unemployed forever.
Elliot

Posted by: Mr.C May 24 2003, 12:02 AM

I don't feel so bad now knowing that I am not the only one out

there looking for work. I went through the workforce

investment act after getting laid off. Got the degree and

almost 20 grand later I still couldn't find any work in this area.

It gets better too. I finally got desperate and decided to hit up

the temp agencies and use them like they use you. The lady

asked me "So how much do you want?" I said I'm open to all

offers, you tell me. After going back and forth like that a few

times I finally said "Man I feel like your trying to sell me a car or

something." "Ok I'm married and have three kids you tell me

what I should make?" She offered minimum wage. Pissed me

off so I told her I didn't want to waste my time. Needless to

say I never got a call.

Went to Comcast everything was going good until the part

about my driving record. Damn 914! So here I sit hoping the

gas company gives me a call now that I am in their pool. Oh

and I was encouraged to find out that Tulare county is number

1 in the nation.......UNEMPLOYMENT 17%

Posted by: ! May 24 2003, 08:30 AM

I've had the same job for 15 years....I STILL have dreams of getting laid off or fired.....scares the crap out of me....

I know how ya feel.

Posted by: Scott Carlberg May 25 2003, 12:10 AM

Brad, Andy, whoever else...


Maybe you guys should start an Employment division of the Classifieds
department, huh??