[NTLUG:Discuss] Local Job availability (was Re: OT (waaay OT): BitTorrent and TV shows

[JR Newsletters]

Kevin Brannen wrote:

> Depends on what a person is looking for.  Last time I had to look, 
> about 18-24 months ago, it was abysmal.  My current contract is about 
> to come to an end and I can tell you that yes, things are much better; 
> however, "completely recovered" seems a bit too far from what I've 
> seen.  Well on the way to recovery seems reasonable to me. :-)  Also, 
> from what I read, they say DFW had unemployment slightly over the 
> national average.  I personally think that was because of all the 
> telecom companies we had here.  Therefore, recovery will be a bit 
> slower here in DFW too, or so logic would normally dictate.

As far as I am concerned DFW is still dismal.  Perhaps I don't count as 
being in the IT sector since I'm an Embedded Hardware/Software Engineer, 
but I can tell you that I was out of work for 10 months, and I've been 
here in Iowa for the past 10 months on contract while my family stayed 
home.  My contract will be ending in 2 weeks, and I've been looking for 
the past month.  I've been wanting to come back home to Dallas, but 
there has been no openings for my specialty.....It appears my next 
contract will be on the West Coast, Midwest, or the New York/New 
Jersey....seems to be plenty of jobs there.  BTW, I have seen a few 
openings in the DFW area (I can count the number on one hand) in the 
past 10 months...paying 30% of the rate everywhere else there has been 
an opening (a rate that would cause us to go into bankruptcy down 
there...or at least live fulltime in a used RV).

So my question still stands.  When do I get to come home to my family?  
I'm not asking for any tech bubble either, but when will the US start 
caring about Technology again?  When Bush finally leaves office since he 
obviously doesn't care?