All:
As promised, a followup to my most recent job search.
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The job:
I signed with Hewlett-Packard (Philadelphia, PA) yesterday. Job starts on June 18th (Monday).
The position is a corporate trainer/instructor. Classes that I will initially teach would include: Core
Java /
EJB / XML / UML /
Servlets. Position involves 50% teaching / 25% training / 25% project work.
Pay rate is over US$90K/yr (with the bonuses). Company car. 100% PhD tuition at University of Pennsylvania. Can live anywhere in USA. US$5K signon bonus. Standard HP benefit package. 3 weeks vacation to start.
Home base will be Philadelphia, PA. but I will continue to live in Denver, CO until things settle down. Office is across the street from the Philly airport (not downtown, yippeee!!!)
Position involves HP internal and external clients all over the world. Requires 4 to 6 weeks out-of-town travel at a time. Current clients involve Australia and Italian HP sites as well as several USA sites.
I am to attend 3 months of intensive Java training then another 2 or 3 months of "train the trainer" training where I go out in the field with a mentor/etc.
Overall, I am extremely excited with the position. I am single, and definitely want to see the world before I get hitched. No one wants to do this much traveling - so positions are extremely hard to fill, says manager. Reason for all the perks.
I am also excited about all the training opportunites the company provides. The entire team is out at the Java One conference this week - reason I can't start for another week an a half (no one is in the office).
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About me:
For those of you new to the JavaRanch, here is my story.
I am a former tractor-trailer owner-operator with Mayflower/North American Van Lines. Did this for 5 years, decided to leave and hit up school in Jan 1990. After 2 undergrad and 1 grad degree decided to hit up market again.
Hit up job market in Jan 1999 - signed with Lucent (via on-campus recruiting) in May 1999. Laid off from Lucent in Oct 1999.
Took a year off to work on PhD and fly fish.
Relocated from Philly, PA to Denver, CO in Jan 2001. Was laid off from American Management Systems after only 12 weeks.
Hit up job market April 1st until June 4th (8 weeks). Signed with HP yesterday afternoon.
Resume can be viewed (either text or MS-Word) at:
http://members.aol.com/jpcoxey Just click on which resume format you wish to view. Sorry about the AOL advertisements - can't help it - it's a free site.
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How did the job search progress:
1st two weeks - I did pretty much nothing.
2nd two weeks - Posted resume to
www.dice.com and
www.javajobs.com Had mediocre responses - mostly headhunters.
Last 4 weeks - Got aggressive with job search. Started firing about 10 resume's a week to various companies on the various job boards. Spent $75 and subscribed to
www.worktree.com - did not do the resume blaster - but did find the meta-search engine quite usefull.
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Interviews/Responses:
Company #1:
Penn State University (PSU) - Applied Research Laboratory - StateCollege, PA
They do research for US-Navy. About 75% C/C++ and 25% Java Swing. Nothing with EJB/XML at this point in time. Would work with both PhD professors and college students. Building still has WW2 decor on inside. Regarding pay - they choked when I said US$70K/yr. Offered (verbally) US$50K/yr. I am still waiting for written offer.
BTW/ They expected me to pay the $4 per day parking rate at PSU -without any reimbursement. Sorry guys - you loose.
Comapny #2:
Raytheon Corporation - Denver, CO
Major US Defense Contractor. Met at job-fair here in town. Made formal offer of US$65K/yr. 100% C/C++ no Java work.
Would be supporting/developing sattellite ground stations for defense satellites. They do not develop TV / Commercial satellite groud stations.
Company #3:
Synchronoss Technologies - Bethlehem (Philly), PA
100% Java/XML/EJB shop. About a 75 person dot com spinoff from a 1000+ person outfit.
Company develops Telecommunications - Customer Care Package software. Software is in the development stages - expect major release(s) this summer July/Aug timeframe.
Still waiting to hear back from them. Sounds like a neat outfit - would be my 1st choice after the HP offer.
Company #4:
Hewlett-Packard
Signed with them on June 5th.
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Overall impressions of the job market:
Java is definitely not dead. Neither is C/C++
What does seem to be dead right now is the H1B program, and these 18 month HTML tech schools. I had two companies (during on-site interviews) go on major tirades about the H1B program. The H1B program definitely needs cleaned up - and some verification processes implemented on both the candidate side as well as the company side.
Market is very spotty. Hot in some areas and cold in others. The East coast markets are doing extremely well. Also, the defense sector seems to be screaming - but is mostly C/C++ type work.
Denver is totally dead - compared to last year. Again, this is from my own experiences. Your mileage may vary.
Job market is definitely slower than last Oct/Nov. But, is picking up. Been getting more and more phone calls lately. But none of this 20 phone calls per day that I experienced last year.
Market reminds me of 1995 time frame - where YOU have to be the one to initiate the contact. Again, I found recruiters to be utterly worthless. Not one lead from any recruiters this time.
Other companies that I spoke with - and thoought would generate a lead:
Sprint-PCS (Nashville, TN)
Sprint-PCS (KansasCity, MO)
General Electric (Gaithersburg, MD)
Kyrus Corp (???, TN)
Tiger Software (San Diego, CA)
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Summary:
I hope this post helps clear up some questions regarding the current US job market.
If you have done your homework and preparation (education) - the Java/C/C++ jobs are out there.
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Follow-Up:
If you have questions/comments - please post here. Also, would be glad to hear of any other success stories out there.
John Coxey
(jpcoxey@aol.com)
[This message has been edited by John Coxey (edited June 07, 2001).]
