Job Market in Boston/Silicon Valley?

[Priya Ram]

Hi everyone,
How is the Java job market in Boston/Silicon Valley? I know it is very bad in the DC area. I am not getting any useful responses even after sending 100's of resumes. Many jobs here require citizenship/clearance.
Thanks.

[William Barnes]

Here is a site that lists jobs in the Boston area. The area seems to be depressed, like everywhere else.
Boston Techies

[This message has been edited by christopher foran (edited December 03, 2001).]

[Mark Herschberg]

I've found the Boston market to be ok. It's a little slower than normal, but not bad. That means if you don't have a CS degree or much experience, it's not easy. But if you have those two things, you should be able to find some jobs, at least get some interviews.
Remember that 1996-2000 were not "normal" years and should not be the metric by which to measure the marketplace.

--Mark

[Thomas Whalen]

i don't mean to be sour grapes and all, but how does one go about sending hundreds of resumes? are you using a service for this? if not, then how do you have the time to do such a thing? are you sleeping? even contacting people in person? networking? it's just that sometimes i think that people are exaggerating a tad bit.

[John Coxey]

All:
Just following this thread. Was wondering if anyone had any luck with these "resume blaster" services. Anyone have success in using services such as these?
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With regards to sending 100s of resumes. My advice is to send out 10-20 resumes w/cover letters per week. I don't have time to create an original cover letter - but I do try to address the cover letter to a specific person - and also include (in the cover-letter text) the newspaper/website where I saw the advertisement.
I save the individualization part for the post-interview thank-you letter. Reason being that I am just too lazy to do research on companies until I get that initial phone call.
Going back to sending only 10 to 20 resume's a week. I make followup phone calls a week after I send them out, and I indicate this on the cover letter that I WILL be calling YOU. I do this as opposed to "Look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience."
If the company complains about me being too aggressive - then I reply - "I thought you wanted someone who was a self-starter and who was willing to take the initiative - in other words, I thought you were looking for a winner - weren't you?"
If you send out more than 10-20 resume's per week - you will be too busy making phone calls and not sending out the next batch of resumes.
After about 3 or 4 weeks - you are generallt swamped. It eventaully gets to the point that you concentrate only on good/solid leads and you work them until one or more pan out into a job offer.
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Well, it's another Friday. Gotta run.
John Coxey
([e-mail])
[This message has been edited by John Coxey (edited December 07, 2001).]

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by Priya Ram:
Hi everyone,
How is the Java job market in Boston/Silicon Valley? I know it is very bad in the DC area. I am not getting any useful responses even after sending 100's of resumes. Many jobs here require citizenship/clearance.
Thanks.

It is not very bad in the DC area. It may be bad if you are not a citizen, but otherwise the market here seems pretty strong.

[Priya Ram]

Thank you all for your replies. I agree with Jason that most of the jobs in the DC area are govt. contracts and so they require citizenship. I am an H1B. Even networking doesn't help because of the visa status. I landed on a job but the company went on a hiring freeze before I could start. They said they might open it up in 01/02. If that doesn't come around I think I don't have any other option but to go back to India. Its already 3 months since I earned a penny. If anyone knows about the job market situation in south India please reply.
For those of you interested, my skills are java/j2ee/xml/corba/oracle. Overall exp. is 5 yrs (that includes 3+ yrs in the US). Also I am an SCJP.
[This message has been edited by Priya Ram (edited December 07, 2001).]