Crusty Orange

The IT Job Market Sucks!!

If you haven’t already figured it out, the IT job market sucks here in the good ole US of A.


Sure, many of you will say it’s the economy, the financial crisis we’re in now with massive foreclosures, failing banks, rising gas prices, and the uncertainty of who the next president will be. That certainly does play a factor in it, but I feel there is a much bigger issue facing all of us in IT careers.


A bit of history about ole Crusty Orange.  Crusty has many years experience as a software developer. Crusty has held roles in all aspects of the software development lifecycle. He has held positions all the way from systems analyst all the way up to director.  For the past couple of years, Crusty was the lead developer for several contracts for a federal contractor working with their government client. As most government  contracts go, they are fixed price and the company with the lowest bid usually wins.  I was allowed the luxury of telecommuting (it was a 3 hour drive each way to the office) since I had to move closer to my mother due to her failing health (she passed away in November 2007).
In July 2008, the phone rang, it was my boss, the conversation went something like this:



Boss: “ Hi Crusty,  the contract is running out of money and we have had a hard time finding something to allow you to stay billable that you can work from home.”
Crusty: “I can commute into the office and pay for a hotel from Monday – Friday if necessary, as I mentioned before, my reason for telecommuting and living where I do, ending in November with my mom’s passing.”
Boss: “I didn’t know that, I forgot she had passed away.”
Crusty: “It would not be a problem for me to come in from Monday – Friday”.
Boss: “ Well, its too late, I’ve already submitted the termination paperwork to HR. You are being laid off. Please understand that you work was great, and this is in no way a reflection on your work or skills. We are going to give you 2 weeks severance to help you pay your bills.”
You are probably asking yourself why I am telling you this. Am I asking for pity? No.  Do I want you to feel sorry for me? No. The point is that the boss made a decision possibly without considering all of the options that might have been available.  Live and Learn.



After being laid off, I had some hard choices to make. There were NO computer jobs on the eastern shore of Maryland.  Zero. Zilch. Nada.  Not a single ad in the paper for a computer person in any position in over a month. All of the jobs were in the DC area which was a 3 hour commute each way.
I applied for a few jobs in DC, but they didn’t seem to want to deal with someone who lived 3 hours away or would have to relocate. They wanted someone local.  I had to move.



My wife and I decided to move down to the Tampa Florida area as there seemed to be a decent amount of job activity, I was growing tired of government contracting, and the weather is a bit nicer.  I sent our resumes before the move, but nobody wanted to talk to me about jobs until I rented/owned a house there. 
Enough history, I have a house just outside Tampa and I am still unemployed 3 months later.



Reasons why the IT Industry sucks



1. Most jobs posted on Dice, Monster, Computer Jobs, Careerbuilder, Hot Jobs, etc. are placed by recruiters. Very few are direct hires. This means that it is hard to tell exactly how many REAL jobs there are.
2. Most recruiters operate on a percentage of your first years salary, so they will aim for the highest salary for you. While this is nice, it often knocks you out of consideration due to overpricing by the recruiter. I was once submitted for a job where the recruiter told his client I was asking for 100,000 to later find out they hired someone for 40,000
3. Recruiters are often not technical people, they do not know the technology so they often have a hard time understanding their client’s needs.
4. Recruiters will tell you that they all know the client very well, and if you talk to multiple recruiters about the same job, they sometimes refer to the hiring manager by different names!! Bob, Tom, Rick, etc.
5. I have received many calls from Recruiters about how impressed they are with my resume. They like the fact that I have both Windows .NET experience and Linux experience, but yet they only tell me about one job and I never hear from them again!
6. Right now I don’t think anyone is hiring until we figure out who the next president is and what impact that might have on the economy.
7. I’m sorry to say this, but the influx of foreign workers has driven down salaries for IT worker. If you are a foreign worker, ask for what you deserve! Don’t settle for 40,000 for a 80,000 job.
8. Last but not least, recruiters sometimes double submit you for a job. This happens when 2 recruiting companies submit you for the same job. This is a kiss of death, because the hiring manager doesn’t know who should represent you.



The above list sounds like I am down on recruiters, and for a large part, I am. I feel they are mostly responsible for the IT job market as it stands today. Sometimes direct-hire companies are to blame by not stating how much they are willing to pay, they will interview everyone regardless of salary and this is sometimes a huge waste of time for both parties.



Do you think the IT job market sucks?  Why or why not?  Let’s hear your thoughts on this.