Monday, January 30, 2006

Boy, Things Have Changed!

When I left my position as Technical Director of a new division of SGP in March 2002, I knew that the market was starting to turn bad for consultants. Even the ones who were "known quantities" out there. I left SGP because I wanted to fulfill a dream and persue a master's degree in Percussion Performance. I had never had any downtime since graduating college and the pull of music was becoming stronger.

However, on my first day of freedom, at 8:30 AM (they did not even wait until 9), I got a call from an old colleague of mine who was forming a new company and wanted me to be CTO of it. This position carried me until the summer of 2003, when we sold the company to our biggest competitor.

During this time, I heard all sorts of horror stories about the consulting market. Nobody could find a job anywhere! At the apex of this madness, the New York Times magazine ran a story about a former high-flyer in the Internet world who was working at The Gap, selling jeans and trying to eke out a living. After we sold the company, I had about 2 months where I experienced the depths of the consulting marketplace. People with 10 years of heavy C++ were being offered $35 an hour, and were happy to take it!

Fast forward to January 2006.....

Jobs seems to be abundant in the IT field. How abundant? I just posted a help-wanted ad for Finetix, and I received a grand total of 2 replies, one of which was from a glorified computer technician. Now, Finetix happens to be a good company to work for. They have interesting projects in the Wall Street area and they pay about 10-15% over the prevailing market rate in order to get the best talent that they could find. But, seriously... 2 replies!!!

Anyone interested in working for Finetix? Send your resume to me at magmasystems@yahoo.com.

©2006 Marc Adler - All Rights Reserved

No comments: