Dang, I must really suck then. I was laid off 5 months ago and still looking. I’m in IT. Oh wait, I’m over 40 (not a millennial) nor an H1-B. Middle aged white men need not apply.
Start early. Very early...
For later
In my case, it’s not so much starting something, but trying to re-enter - I’m getting referrals/interviews, but few results.
What I have landed has been sparse project work. Mostly software reinstall/data recovery, with some light design work.
What I have landed in the not so recent past (2004-08) was a UNIX-heavy, yet entry-level role. Grew from basic form filling to process automation, programming, and (very) light information security work.
What I’ve not managed to land is anything beyond the former. In the case of high call volume support work, they were concerned about being “chewed out”. In the case of more technical work, it was due to some deficiency (no formal exposure to Active Directory) or regional issue (such as finding suitable work that isn’t bound by clearance/IAT 8570).
As a result, I seem to be in an uncanny valley - too much for high volume support desk work and not enough to land more technical work, while being in a DoD-heavy region.
This is a plague that depresses salaries that should be reserved for American citizens ONLY.
Bump for later...I know a friend who wants to get back in computers. He was jailed for a year and now he is just on welfare. He hates it and wants to get a job to be a productive citizen. (Unlike most of the people where he lives).
I can’t say I agree with the hype about tech jobs. The challenges of finding one, even if you’re experienced, are crazy. Most software work is commodity work. You shouldn’t have to work miracles by the seat of your pants at some day-long interview in order to land a job debugging 30 year old CRUD applications at a bank, and hiring committees should be satisfied picking the “best” out of 4-5 people. It doesn’t have to be 100 people. It’s not like they’re Jimmy Page trying to replace the late John Bonham.
Yeah, it can also open up a whole slew of top secret government files.
In case any of you are visiting The Swamp on the 26th:
https://twitter.com/4us_workers/status/876991478136020993
Mr. Conlon has obviously never hear of H-1Bs or offshoring.