|
I
moved to the Silicon Valley twelve years ago. In my first week I
attended a press conference for John Sculley, then CEO of Apple
Computer. Apple and HP were the two largest employers in Cupertino,
one of the cities that make up the Valley. This was the first press
conference in which a CEO used the "R" word. The recession
of the 1990s had already started.
During the next five years I found one job after another with companies
that were barely staying in business. The general everyday feeling
was one of struggle and schepticism. It took five years to recover
from that recession.
It seems to me that we will be out of this recession soon enough.
In the meantime here are a few ideas for technology industry people
looking for a job:
1) The techniques taught in the book "The Rights of Passage"
by John Lucht still apply even though the book is now 15 years old.
The book recommends you use your personal network to market yourself
to potential employers. It further says that each approach to a
company should be to a qualified
manager that you have something in common with - that might be knowing
a board member or executive manager from a past job or contact.
I have found that 100 such contacts lead to 5 interviews that lead
to 1 offer.
2) The technical Special Interest Groups at the Software
Development Forum are excellent venues to spread your personal
network and to find leads to jobs. At each of the SIG meetings the
host usually will offer participants the ability to stand up and
offer jobs or ask for candidates. The SIGS are open to the public
with a minor fee.
3) The weekly Pub at the Silicon
Valley World Internet Center is an excellent event to spread
your personal network and to find leads to jobs. The Pub is free
and open to the public.
4) Popular community-based Internet sites offer free listings for
people searching for jobs. Craig's
List offers free listings. And my company, PushToTest, has offered
listings on the newsletter it sends once a month to software developers,
QA managers and IT managers at: http://www.pushtotest.com/ptt/wiki/JobListing.
These are four ideas. Many others are waiting for you to discover.
Frank Cohen is the "go
to" guy when enterprises need to test and solve problems in complex
interoperating information systems, especially Web Services. Frank
is CEO of PushToTest, a
test automation solutions business. PushToTest maintains TestMaker,
a free open-source utility for building intelligent test agents
to check Web Services for scalability, performance and functionality.
PushToTest Global Services customizes TestMaker to an enterprise's
specific needs, conducts scalability and performance tests, and
trains enterprise developers, QA analysts and IT managers on how
to use the test environment for themselves. This unique business
approach delivers inexpensive solutions, expert insight and immediate
answers.
| 
