On Mon, Nov 14, 2016 at 06:10:45AM -0800, Michael C. Robinson wrote: > I have a major problem, I'm a college grad in > computer science with 0 years of experience.
Portland (and software hubs in general) may be the wrong place to look, since so many young people come here looking for software and Linux work. Given the values you've expressed in the past, you might be happier somewhere in the Midwest, at a non-software- focused company (where YOU would be the expert!). Look where others fear to go. An example that comes to mind is Rockwell-Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A friend grew up there, moved to the Bay area and married a New-York-born physicist, who has predictable political views. Her husband and her family do NOT agree politically. He would die before living in Iowa. That may also hold for most Linux professionals, so there is likely to be a shortage "out there". I don't know whether Rockwell-Collins in particular has openings, but there must be hundreds of companies like them who cannot attract enough Linux programmers. Learn something about embedded systems; most hardware (such as manufacturing machinery) is computerized now. Buy an Arduino and attend a dorkbots meeting or two. If you interview at a hardware company, something hand- sized that does something interesting (preferably a sensor of some sort) could move you to the top of the candidate list. Hardware engineers love to handle objects. Post-911, food processing plants have become highly secure facilities, with lots of software surveillance and process monitoring. More software jobs enabling blue-collar jobs. While there may be fewer total software jobs in "fly-over country", what matters to you is the ratio of jobs to willing and qualified job seekers. You can still connect to the global open source community from software-light areas. In a few years, you may be teaching and mentoring other young Linux hopefuls in your chosen new community. I look forward to that. Given my differing personal values, it is politically disadvantageous to suggest this to you. The exodus of liberal professionals from borderline red states to already-blue states is partly responsible for recent election results; fewer blue votes "out there" means red wins more of those states, whereas a few extra blue (or red!) votes in the Portland area changes nothing. OTOH, I also believe unemployment and desperation contributed to the inferior choice of candidates on the ballot in 2016. We are all scared for the future. If you as a software engineer can help create jobs in a midwestern community, that helps us all, and we may make less fearful and more rational choices in 2020. Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected] _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
