How are the software jobs in Philly? (Philadelphia, Hershey: find a job, school)

[athrabeth]

I am currently in my hometown of Raleigh, seriously thinking about a move early next year and still deciding where. I like Philadelphia and know people there, but have heard mixed things about the software job prospects. How hard would it be to find a good job as a software engineer? While I could probably find some kind of job anywhere with my skillset and experience, I have worked two consecutive subpar jobs the past year and want to make sure the next one is somewhere I really want to work. Ideally I would like to work for a small-to-mid-sized company with that is more stable and predictable than a Silicon Valley-type startup (like reasonable hours), but more innovative and flexible than a big corporation (doesn't need to be on the bleeding edge, but should be relatively up-to-date). Could I find somewhere like that in Philly?

Technical details: I'm mostly a full-stack .NET programmer, skilled at server-side, SQL, and Javascript. Would like to get a job with a modern JS framework.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by athrabeth

I am currently in my hometown of Raleigh, seriously thinking about a move early next year and still deciding where. I like Philadelphia and know people there, but have heard mixed things about the software job prospects. How hard would it be to find a good job as a software engineer? While I could probably find some kind of job anywhere with my skillset and experience, I have worked two consecutive subpar jobs the past year and want to make sure the next one is somewhere I really want to work. Ideally I would like to work for a small-to-mid-sized company with that is more stable and predictable than a Silicon Valley-type startup (like reasonable hours), but more innovative and flexible than a big corporation (doesn't need to be on the bleeding edge, but should be relatively up-to-date). Could I find somewhere like that in Philly?

Technical details: I'm mostly a full-stack .NET programmer, skilled at server-side, SQL, and Javascript. Would like to get a job with a modern JS framework.

One of the better and stable IT gigs you can get here is in the med/ed "industry" meaning in one of the colleges/universities or health systems. I'm a retired IT person. I worked at UPenn's Perelman School of Medicine and Penn Medicine(formerly called the Penn Health System). I started out in programming and moved on to server/network administration and database administration.

[Shazzy1228]

Any reason you are leaving Raleigh?? Just curious?

[ThomasDarcy]

Comcast is a big employer of software engineers. Magento has a Philly office, that runs their analytics division (https://rjmetrics.com/) There are a number of relatively stable startups that seem to have a decent work/life balance. See, e.g. Curalate, Stitch Data, Monetate, Blackfynn among others. There are also a number of robotics/drone companies operating out of "Pennovation Works" (https://www.pennovation.upenn.edu/th...ity#innovators) including Qualcomm Research, Verge Aero, COSY, iFlight, Hershey Labs, and others.

[athrabeth]

Originally Posted by Shazzy1228

Any reason you are leaving Raleigh?? Just curious?

It's complicated. But basically, I moved back late last year from Atlanta and to make a long story short, it was probably the right thing to do at the time but I have too much personal baggage and negative history here in my hometown to stay permanently. That's about as much detail as I'll go into on a public forum.

[timeEd32]

Another option is find a job at a company you like that has a remote team culture and then go live wherever you want, whether that's Philly or somewhere else. That's what I did/do.

[thedirtypirate]

There are plenty of position openings online. Just apply, and if they fly you here, you know they really want you.