Computer Industry Related Jobs? (Chicago, Rockford: insurance, mortgages, loans)

[paramour]

Greetings,

I am already in the great state of Illinois for grad school, and my husband hopes to move up here w/ the kiddo sometime in the latter half of next year. Our primary search at this time is employment for him, since we do not want to start housing hunts until we figure out where he's "stuck" at. That's going to be a pain in the arse, as is.

He works with "computer schtuff"--yes, I am well aware that is a fairly general description, yet he has done quite a bit w/in this area, so he could *possibly* be somewhat flexible in the position itself. He is most interested, however, in positions involving SQL, especially DBA's, followed by software engineer/developer, etc.

He does not want to work IN Chicago if at all possible, but unfortunately most of the positions (i.e., well-paying ones) that he's found are located there. We've been advised Rockford as a slim possibility, followed by Schaumburg & Naperville, then Downers Grove, and, of course, Chicago. Downers Grove is probably closer to Chicago than he wants. Anyone have any suggestions for additional locales w/ a plethora of job opportunities in this particular field (between Rockford & Chicago but preferrably further west from Chicago)?

Thanks, we'd appreciate any information!

[HOWELL_STREET]

Motorola with its headquarters in Schaumburg would be a possibility for your husband. But also keep in mind that the 'Big M' is also skittish with its own current financial situation.

Also, Motorola, tends to revolve its employees a lot. By revolution, I mean if you are 'good' then you can expect - - in about two years into the future - - to either get transferred to another dept. or to another Chicago area division. IF you are not so good, then Motorola will show you the front door.
In the past, Motorola has been able to do this since in the Arlington Heights Division alone, in the past, has had as much as 1,000 college (highly inteligent) applicants PER DAY. Who knows what it is today(?)

Once I knew a man who had his PHd - - and was hired by Motorola as a resistor lead bender in a factory 'Pre - Lims' department. At the time, he was unemployed and accepted the position to put food on his table for his family.

Carter Glass

[racerx68]

I work in that field myself and find this market to be terrible. Motorolla has layed off dozens of people I know who were programmers. I guess a lot depends on how many years exp. he has with programming in general.
A new grad student could find it hard in this market. I see adds for software developers that want, VB.Net, C#, C++, MySql, SQL, Oracle, SAP, SAS blah blah blah,...the list goes on and on. I just don't see how someone can be an expert in all those areas. Yet some of these jobs pay in the 40's only.
A lot of companies have recently sent there coding jobs to India. Half the consulting companies downtown only do network, security, data center setup kinda stuff. Years ago coding seemed like a secure career, sure doesn't look like it now. Having said that I would look at companies that do write most of their code in house. Allstate Insurance is local to this area and they always seem to have software dev. openings.

[embracethedance]

There are many companies with IT opportunities in the northern suburbs...places like Northbrook and Deerfield so you might try searching there.

[Juice13610]

If you think the market is terrible for programmers, try getting in to IT! 10 programming jobs for every 1 IT job.

[Lovegun]

I am in my 20's and have 4 years IT experience(mainly helpdesk) no college education. I see a lot of helpdesk jobs on craigslist and careerbuilder but they are not what i'm making now... around 35K. I'm afraid to move to Chicago for this reason. Paycut..

[CityKidWithAgDegree]

wow! bad down there too! I am in minneapolis, and my COBOL was off shored to India. It's hard to compete with somone whose making less than a convenience store clerk here in the US. I have taken classes in networking, but I wouldnt put much stock in this either, 40s to 50s. The only ones that thinks the IT fields are still great are the brain dead politicians who gave all our jobs away! And then they wonder why people are defaulting on their mortgages and loans!

[paramour]

Thanks for the information, everyone! I shall pass it along--and if anyone else has anything to add, please feel free to share.

He's by no means a recent grad, got plenty of years experience (15-20), yet the job market still sucks--and he's too damned picky to boot. He was offered some extremely well paying positions a few years back when we were not prepared to relocate, and now that we're looking, of course, things seem a bit less promising. As racerx mentioned, it doesn't help that many of these people want their employees to be fluent in umpteen different scripts/languages before they consider paying you a few pennies in return.

We're unfortunately sort of used to it though. On the upside, however, there are at least *some* positions in this area. Until the past year or so, he ended up working contracted/self-employment type positions, commuting out-of-state for a number of years because there wasn't crap where we live(d). He's got some time yet though, and a few connections, so *hopefully* everything will eventually work out where we'll no longer have to maintain two residences. 'Tis a serious pain in the arse. :\

Cheers!