Web Development Jobs - NYC, Spring 2001

[mike_w]

The job market here in New York City is awful right now. Scary times, a little personal background -

1 year ago -
Job hunting, sent resumes out to 20 companies, scored 19 interviews and eventually, offers from 18 of those companies. Changed my phone number to avoid recruiter calls.

January 2001 -
Company I worked for folded.

January 2001 - present -
Worked 2 freelance gigs to get by. Lost track of how many resumes I sent out. No interviews, nothing. Started calling up everyone I had ever worked with or for.

Finally this week I got a fulltime gig, for alot less money than I used to make, and I'm happy to have it. An old friend of mine was doing the hiring and he showed me some of the other resumes he had received. There was alot of them, and about half of them were grossly over-qualified.

Less money, but it's a cool job, lots of XML/XSL development, which is something I've been meaning to learn.

Lesson learned - never get too cocky or take anything for granted.

[dank]

Yeah, wallowing in anonymity and mediocrity is much better.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

Dan

[sheila]

Yowsa. Sorry to hear about that, mike. I'm just thinking of venturing out into the job market, myself. I've been a high school teacher for 18 years, but am just finishing up my thesis for my master's degree in applied mathematics, and want to go into industry. (Leaving the classroom behind.) I sure hope I don't have too much trouble landing a new job. I have about three months to job hunt until I will start to get worried, I guess. I'm in the Los Angeles area.

[Deb]

http://salon.com/tech/feature/2001/03/13/geek_layoffs/index2.html was an enlightening article on the subject....

It's a catch-22 for companies such as FutureQuest though.[nbsp][nbsp]We'd love to have the privilege of hiring some of these out-of-work techs however the income standards are frightening for smaller companies![nbsp][nbsp]On a positive note (for those in the job market), I can say we do not have techs pounding down the doors begging for a job.... most are still holding strong to their high salary requirements which leads me to believe there is still a strong market out there (hard for us...still good for them).[nbsp][nbsp]One has to look longer and harder often times (unless going through the temp services) and I understand it may be quite depressing but I think there is still a whole lot that needs to be done, and as such a whole lot of companies still looking for someone to do it all.[nbsp][nbsp]

This could easily become a depressing thread for both sides of the fence.[nbsp][nbsp]As a company we may be seen as the type who would "insult" the tech as we cannot yet afford the high salaries.[nbsp][nbsp]This leaves those of us with the heart and willingness to work toward the goal, working harder and longer since there are less of us to go around.[nbsp][nbsp]There are quite a few of us little guys in the same boat.[nbsp][nbsp]But hey !! We get to work from home :P

Deb
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[nbsp]Annual Salary divided by $19.95[nbsp]

[barbarian]

Hey people! I just got laid off today! They wacked 40 people out of 200+ people in our NYC office. The funny thing is that only last month the CEO told us how great the company was doing during the corporate-wide meeting, complete with those flashy powerpoint presentation. Yeah right!

When I came in this morning, the whole place was in chaos. People putting their personal belongings into boxes. Some could not hold their tears, while the HR people watching them like a cop to make sure they didn't do anything. And then each one them, including myself, was escorted to the elevator. I thought the whole thing was very humiliating.

But I've decided not to hold a grudge against them. Feeling like a victim will take the power away from me to deal with the situation. So I've moved on! I sent out my resumes to a few places, talked to a few people, and had a good lunch with my best friend. I asked a girl out on a date for next week and made a plan for the weekend with other friends. Life goes on...

I'm also thinking of upgrading my skills, maybe learning ASP, which I think is more marketable these days compared to PHP. What do you guys think?

[sheila]

Hey, barbarian, sorry to hear the news. You'd think they could've saved the pink slips until the end of the day on a Friday, doncha think?

But you seem to have a great attitude about it. All right for you!

Sorry to say, but my perception is that ASP is more marketable than PHP. (I'm sorry to say that, because ASP is the spawn of the evil empire ruled by BG ;)[nbsp][nbsp].)

And getting resumes out on the same day. Wow. Definitely a good time to upgrade skills, whatever you decide on, ASP or other stuff.