Isaac,
I left Las Vegas about two years ago because there isn't much of a market
for CF developers. Be warned that when your contract runs out, you may not
be able to find another job.
My advice to you would be to take things slow.
If you are considering relocation, there are plenty of jobs for a developer
of your caliber that won't require a pay cut. For example, in Pennsylvania,
where I live, there are several pharmaceutical companies that are currently
hiring for CF positions.
-- Mike Wolfe
-Original Message-
From: S. Isaac Dealey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 7:35 PM
To: CF-Jobs-Talk
Subject: advice wanted regarding short notice
Hi,
I have several recruiters who are supposed to contact me in the
upcoming week. No offers, just several leads; 2 in Las Vegas, 2 in Ann
Arbor MI (I have family there), one in Cleveland and 2 more in the DC
Metro area. I've been focusing my efforts primarily on finding
something in the DC Metro area with several challenges, including the
fact that I don't have a degree and the fact that since it turned out
I had to take a pay-cut to accept my last job, I'm still flat broke 5
months later and can't afford to pay up-front to move the 2 hours
north to the DC area.
Today I received a call from a recruiter with a job in northern
Virginia (DC Metro). Asside from mentioning being impressed with my
very niche resume, he described being in a real hurry to fill this
job because the previous programmer told them yesterday without
warning that he wouldn't be in the office on Monday because he'd
accepted another job. I'm to check in to a hotel tomorrow
afternoon/evening on their account so that I can interview with the
client (Department of the Interior) on Monday. If I'm approved and
accept the offer Monday, I would be on a 6 week contract at $45/hr
starting Tuesday and they would pay all my hotel costs. The recruiter
says that the project is expecting to be refunded soon (I assume 6
weeks) and he expects they would likely make me a permanent employee
in the next month or two roughly coinciding with the funding, at which
point there would be salary negotiation.
Here's my list of my concerns:
PRO:
1) government client, not requiring a degree and not requiring a
security clearance (I'm not opposed to getting one, but it'll be nice
if I don't have to put up with the hassle)
2) assuming the recruiter is being honest, it seems like this might be
an easier way to overcome the issue of convincing a company in DC that
I'm not only good enough to not need a degree at $80k but that it's
worthwhile to advance me cash for relocation.
3) great rate -- I wonder about this tho because one of the jobs in
Vegas is a 12 month contract where the cost of living is significantly
lower and they're offering the same rate, so I wonder if I'm not
getting $50 just because they're being cheap (although they are paying
for the hotel if I accept the job).
CON:
1) It seems not unlikely that there may be problems with the job --
the previous programmer leaving suddenly isn't confidence inspiring,
although it's not proof of anything
2) If I decide to accept the job tomorrow, I have to pass up the
opportunity to interview with and possibly consider several other
offers in the next week or two (they'd want me to start Tuesday, so I
wouldn't even be coming home between the interview and the job).
3) If the project isn't refunded, even at $45/hr I may be in serious
financial distress after taking the next month to move us the two
hours north.
4) The recruiter described my skills as being very niche. What
bothers me mostly is that he said most of their government clients
have been hiring .NET developers instead and seemed to imply (if not
outright say) that ColdFusion is a dead/dying technology. I'm
wondering if I should just blow this off as simple ignorance on the
part of the recruiter or if I should take this as a bad omen.
I have a phone interview with one of the companies in Vegas at 5pm
tomorrow that will need to be taken from the hotel room. I'm also not
sure how many other contacts I'll have to postpone until Tuesday at
the earliest because I'll be unavailable tomorrow.
I'm interested in hearing others thoughts on this. I'm having some
buyers remorse about agreeing to the interview because I'm concerned
that accepting the job may be another big mistake (like the last job I
accepted), or that even if I don't accept the job that postponing
contact with other recruiters until Tuesday may be problematic.
Thanks,
s. isaac dealey 434.293.6201
new epoch : isn't it time for a change?
add features without fixtures with
the onTap open source framework
http://www.fusiontap.com
http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm
~|
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