How does the job market in Portland compare to other cities? (Beaverton: 2014, school)

[Steve Pickering]

Why fly someone from out of the area when you have a stack of applicants that reach the ceiling who are already here, many of them sleeping in doorways.

[rzzz]

Originally Posted by skiffrace

There are some jobs posted, but there are lots of programmers applying for them. It's about the supply\demand ratio.
I found that today is much harder to get a job compared with 2005 - the last time I previously looked.


I assume they gave you a phone interview before they paid for your plane ticket.
How thorough and technical the phone interview was? Here typically it is long, and very technical - little or none behavioral\hr bs, lots of detailed technical questions.
In the unlikely event you are invited for in-person interview, be prepared for hardcore, white board algorithmic\problem solving questions, some taken out of Donald Knuth book
Computer science degree is often required, too little or (surprisingly) too much experience will hurt you as well.


I found this to be true as well.

It was a typical tech interview process. At Apple and a financial startup in Manhattan.
In PDX they don't even bother getting the ball rolling unless you are in Portland. Minneapolis (where I'm at now) is similar.

"Ping me next time you’re in town" - pulled verbatim from one of the emails. For a position developing financial software for the iPhone, which... I know something about.

[Steve Pickering]

The last job I had in Portland, opps. the second from the last, they flew me out from Phoenix where I worked at Sky Harbor to Troutdale for the interview, where I landed the job.

(My last Portland job was at OMSI on the hill.)

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

The last job I had in Portland, opps. the second from the last, they flew me out from Phoenix where I worked at Sky Harbor to Troutdale for the interview, where I landed the job.

(My last Portland job was at OMSI on the hill.)

OMSI on the hill? So you haven't worked in Portland since 1992 at the lastest? Wow, that is a long time ago.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

OMSI on the hill? So you haven't worked in Portland since 1992 at the lastest? Wow, that is a long time ago.

I have been retired since 2000.

[EastCoast617]

OK Back to Boston where we actually have work. Rather hate the city and the people and be able to eat than be in a re-run of Portlandia and 2 bucks in my wallet. Never again! Oh the people aren't that nice, it's an act. At least in the Boston if we don't like you we LET YOU KNOW ASAP!

Bye bye broke ass city, hello Boston money!

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by EastCoast617

OK Back to Boston where we actually have work. Rather hate the city and the people and be able to eat than be in a re-run of Portlandia and 2 bucks in my wallet. Never again! Oh the people aren't that nice, it's an act. At least in the Boston if we don't like you we LET YOU KNOW ASAP!

Bye bye broke ass city, hello Boston money!

Huh? If you were broke in Portland that was your fault, not Portland's fault.

[almostjay]

I can add a little bit of perspective to this conversation, and hopefully quite a bit more over the next few weeks. I have been "casually" applying to engineering jobs in Portland while still here in NYC for the past several months. I say "casually" because I've been very picky about where I've applied, trying to stick to only jobs that I'd be really happy to have. I think I've submitted about 10 applications.

That has translated into two phone interviews, one of which was successful and will be followed up in person in a couple of weeks when I get into town. I've gotten maybe three "sorry we've hired someone else" emails, and haven't heard anything on the balance of the applications. I'm not sure how exactly I should interpret these results, but I'm pretty happy with them when compared to what I've heard from many others here who claim to send dozens or more resumes with zero responses.

Logic would dictate that if I were local, my success rate will increase. I will be putting this to the test come September, and will be happy to share my experience. All of that said though, I have a unique situation here that will allow me to just come back in a few months if things don't work out, so my overall risk is pretty low.

[OscarLevant]

Originally Posted by EastCoast617

OK Back to Boston where we actually have work. Rather hate the city and the people and be able to eat than be in a re-run of Portlandia and 2 bucks in my wallet. Never again! Oh the people aren't that nice, it's an act. At least in the Boston if we don't like you we LET YOU KNOW ASAP!

Bye bye broke ass city, hello Boston money!

Finally Honesty

I was unable to find anything that actually paid a marketable/fair salary. I have an undergrad in Comp Sci and a Masters from OHSU SOM in Informatics... the only job I could find was out of state. It has been my experience there are people so desperate to live PDX that they are willing to accept below market wages. I do not know if this was always the case; because when I first landed in PDX back in 1999 it was because a company recruited me from out of state and paid for everything associated with my move.

Don't get me wrong, I was able to get interviews since I was a local but the salary offered to start was less than I was making at the job I currently had at the time while I was going to OHSU. Even when I interviewed at OHSU ( a lot of my fellow graduates transitioned to working there after completing their degree) the salary was very very low, especially considering I would have to pay union dues

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by OscarLevant

Finally Honesty

I was unable to find anything that actually paid a marketable/fair salary. I have an undergrad in Comp Sci and a Masters from OHSU SOM in Informatics... the only job I could find was out of state. It has been my experience there are people so desperate to live PDX that they are willing to accept below market wages. I do not know if this was always the case; because when I first landed in PDX back in 1999 it was because a company recruited me from out of state and paid for everything associated with my move.

Don't get me wrong, I was able to get interviews since I was a local but the salary offered to start was less than I was making at the job I currently had at the time while I was going to OHSU. Even when I interviewed at OHSU ( a lot of my fellow graduates transitioned to working there after completing their degree) the salary was very very low, especially considering I would have to pay union dues

Was there any demand for what you have a degree in in Portland? It all depends on what the job field one is looking in, not every type of job is in high demand here.