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I just graduated from college with a degree in Computer Science and I'm having a ridiculously hard time finding a job in the Hartford area. I've even expanded to Springfield, MA ... and still nothing. That is, no replies.
Does anyone know what the job market is like for entry level software developers in the Hartford area right now? I've gotten a lot of advice on my resume and I'm out of ideas as to what to do. Dice.com, Indeed.com, my school's career links...every company I apply to doesn't show an interest. This has been happening for about 3 months now.
I've begun to understand that the Hartford area is really big into insurance companies..I've applied to them too. And I know the economy's not doing well...but I really don't understand the complete silence. I had over a 3.0 GPA and I'm coming from a well-received technical school. I had no internships and co-ops during college, but I stayed at my school every summer to work on various faculty research projects. I determined I don't like academia, and I really don't want to be in school anymore right now.
I've even started considering switching career tracks ... taking an A+ certification, CCNA ... even maybe taking actuarial exams.
So...I don't know. I thought posting here might give me some clues.
Any sort of insight would be immensely appreciated.
As you just noted, Hartford is dominated by financial and insurance companies. Well, that is probably one of the most hurting "white collar" industries in this downturn. I do not live in that area, but the boss's daughter at the company I used to work for works for Travelers up there in IT and she has mentioned how she's barely survived various layoffs there.
If you're willing to relocate and don't want to go too far, you should probably try either the Boston area or further downstate CT like Fairfield County or the adjacent parts of NY State if not New York City. You may have a better chance of cracking at IT job there, though housing will likely cost more in all these areas. Good luck!
Does your school offer any services for finding a job? Getting your first job is always the hardest. you need the experience to get employers to notice you. Many recent grads are not use to this since jobs were plentiful for the last several years. That has changed so you now need to work harder to find that first job. I do suggest that you do not give up on your career so quickly. Expand your geographic area for looking and consider relocation if necessary. Even if you relocate for a couple of years to get some experience, you can come back to CT later and find something when the economy improves. The key is to be flexible. Good luck, Jay
During the Y2K boondoggle, most of the Hartford corporations imported Indian IT specialists...from what I understand, once that door was opened to this day they source much of their IT talent from said country.
Many of the "upscale" apartments in Manchester such as Aspen woods is very largely populated by said folks who are here for a few years on a work visa. For some reason, I've gotten into some kind of referral network in their culture and every time they move from an apartment, I get the call to have their apartment "spruced up" so they don't lose their deposit. (They'll spend $300.00 with me doing carpet cleaning, wall patching etc vs losing $1000.00 with the leasing company.)
So that's where I have gained that information - simply by talking to the folks heading back home to India.
That may be some of why you are not finding open doors.
It just took me 6 months to find an entry-level job since graduating in December 08 with a degree in Graphic Design. There is literally almost nothing anywhere in CT; I applied to hundreds of jobs all over the country (though I don't think ANY employer would pay to relocate an entry-level position, so if you apply out of state you better be able to afford to move yourself).
It's harder when you have a very specific skill-set (i.e. design, IT, etc) because you can't just cross-over from field to field for the sake of getting a job, like grads with degrees in more generalized areas. I'm not qualified to be a marketing assistant, do sales, etc (which seems to be where the bulk of jobs are, sales, teaching, nursing, etc)
Keep trying, is all I can tell you...if you are totally unemployed, pick up a part-time job in retail or food service or something to get by, and just keep looking. Have you tried joining LinkedIn? There are job postings, and you can network with people you used to know/work for, and maybe get your foot in the door somewhere.
I just graduated from college with a degree in Computer Science and I'm having a ridiculously hard time finding a job in the Hartford area. I've even expanded to Springfield, MA ... and still nothing. That is, no replies.
Does anyone know what the job market is like for entry level software developers in the Hartford area right now? I've gotten a lot of advice on my resume and I'm out of ideas as to what to do. Dice.com, Indeed.com, my school's career links...every company I apply to doesn't show an interest. This has been happening for about 3 months now.
I've begun to understand that the Hartford area is really big into insurance companies..I've applied to them too. And I know the economy's not doing well...but I really don't understand the complete silence. I had over a 3.0 GPA and I'm coming from a well-received technical school. I had no internships and co-ops during college, but I stayed at my school every summer to work on various faculty research projects. I determined I don't like academia, and I really don't want to be in school anymore right now.
I've even started considering switching career tracks ... taking an A+ certification, CCNA ... even maybe taking actuarial exams.
So...I don't know. I thought posting here might give me some clues.
Any sort of insight would be immensely appreciated.
Ok, I'm an ex-industry insider though I have shifted my focal point towards the management side, in my best interests, lol.
Let me write something in bold letters before yapping further. Give serious consideration on getting your master's degree. The economy is so bad that this is the best time to do master's. When you get out in two years, this crisis would have passed and we are looking at the epicentre of a great recovery, a happy hunting ground for you, all set.
Everyone agrees that 2011 is the phase of recovery and if we all can dream further, ?BOOM?
Now on to my dirge.
IT industry stands like shredded beef today.
I wanna go back to the 90s. The time which I hate so much now, because it made me fall in love with IT. I'm part of the great generation which saw the birth and astronomical growth of Java, windows, oracle, linux in my teens and early 20s. I'm part of the great generation which was in college fantasizing about fixing the IT industry's first massive catastrophe - Y2K.
I'm also part of the doomed generation which saw the pros and cons of globalization, which went on to aggrandize IT and then shred it to smithereens.
An IT person's biggest enemy is offshoring. And the enemy is permanent. The days of qualitative brilliance of IT is in cryogenesis. These are the times of cheap IT. Who does not want an entire Java application package created and sent into production for less than 100 dollars?
But look who's talking. My country of origin is central to offshoring. It is one of the four destinations of offshoring. My folks would call me Benedict Arnold. I've already been, several times. Imagine my agony of coming to find opportunity and see it shipped to where you came from, totally shredded in quality and quanitity in the process.
A big time financial institutuon offshored my job in North Carolina. So I came to the North East. It's been offshored again, I heard in hindsight. So here I am
And this is the very reason I have taken the shift towards areas which can be least offshored.
So, rather going into IT full-blown, you can use IT as the base and funnel yourself towards the functional side of IT, more into domains, concepts and processes.
I'm talking PMO, project management, business intelligence and reporting. These jobs can never be offshored. And these jobs are recession proof. Despite, the recession I found a job in Denver in a matter of days.
Also, be prepared to travel across the country.
Never buy houses yet. Coz in this line of work, we're not gonna stay in one place. Property has to be mobile. Remember Google is working on technology to eradicate desktops and laptops altogether. The world is changing. Nothing is stationary anymore.
Some day when you become a domain God, you will get the opportunity to finally stamp your foothold in one organization.
And MBA's don't work either. Greedy wall streeters are sending all MBA jobs to the BRIC countries. So, what's the point in a million dollar MBA from Harvard?
Did you try monster?
Last edited by Currency Pair Crocodile; 05-04-2009 at 12:25 PM..
During the Y2K boondoggle, most of the Hartford corporations imported Indian IT specialists...from what I understand, once that door was opened to this day they source much of their IT talent from said country.
Many of the "upscale" apartments in Manchester such as Aspen woods is very largely populated by said folks who are here for a few years on a work visa. For some reason, I've gotten into some kind of referral network in their culture and every time they move from an apartment, I get the call to have their apartment "spruced up" so they don't lose their deposit. (They'll spend $300.00 with me doing carpet cleaning, wall patching etc vs losing $1000.00 with the leasing company.)
So that's where I have gained that information - simply by talking to the folks heading back home to India.
That may be some of why you are not finding open doors.
Good that they're leaving
Here's the problem, J. Of all those folks, only 20% will be pure engineers.
You'd be surprised to find that many of them majored in chemical engineering, civil engineering and other ridiculous domains like Bachelor of Economics, Literature etc. So where's the connection to computer engineering?
Another problem with IT programming, anyone can learn.
i'm kind of in the same situation except that i'm not entry level. i've been in IT for 30 yrs the last 15 of which have been spent doing Windows related development using C/C++, MFC and now .Net (don't know if these terms are familiar to you). my last consulting contract ended at the end of March and it's been absolutely dead out there. its not me, its not you and its not CT in particular - just a lousy economy. the one thing i'm considering doing to make my resume more visible is getting my Microsoft certification. there are tons of different ones depending on your specialty but i would be going for the MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist). granted most of the stuff covered in these cert exams may be over your head seeing as how you don't have a lot of actual work experience but it's something you might want to think about.
this link should be a good starting point..
It just took me 6 months to find an entry-level job since graduating in December 08 with a degree in Graphic Design. There is literally almost nothing anywhere in CT; I applied to hundreds of jobs all over the country (though I don't think ANY employer would pay to relocate an entry-level position, so if you apply out of state you better be able to afford to move yourself).
It's harder when you have a very specific skill-set (i.e. design, IT, etc) because you can't just cross-over from field to field for the sake of getting a job, like grads with degrees in more generalized areas. I'm not qualified to be a marketing assistant, do sales, etc (which seems to be where the bulk of jobs are, sales, teaching, nursing, etc)
Keep trying, is all I can tell you...if you are totally unemployed, pick up a part-time job in retail or food service or something to get by, and just keep looking. Have you tried joining LinkedIn? There are job postings, and you can network with people you used to know/work for, and maybe get your foot in the door somewhere.
Good luck!
What software do you use for graphic design, just curious.
Also to the OP what languages in CS are you familiar with?
Dear girl,
Don't get disparate. It is the same all over US, with maybe a few exceptions. Hartford is no worse then most places. You just tackle real life for the first time. There may be nothing wrong with you, your grades, or your resume. The problem is the current US economy and the fact that most programming jobs were either outsourced, or given to H1-B visa holders. Very few companies recruit new employees and for each jobs there are about 1000 applications.
That however, may change and you need to be alert.
My advice is open your search to include all of the US and temporary contract jobs as well. Maybe something pops up somewhere in DC or on the west coast and you need be ready to move.
Patience is always a virtue.
Good luck with your job hunt.
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though I have shifted my focal point towards the management side, in my best interests, lol.
