Tech jobs in the midwest?

[Michael T. Halligan]

Paul M. Moriarty wrote:

>Roy S. Rapoport writes:
>  
>
>>I think it's more "a wonderful job in Ohio."  I find it hard to believe
>>there's more than one.  And once you're there ... it's a little hard to
>>find another one.
>>    
>>
>
>Yeah.  They still use chisels and clay tablets for most things in Ohio.
>
>C'mon, there's interesting IT going on throughout the country.   Now, if you
>want to limit yourself to high-tech only, perhaps the above statement is
>true.
>
>The major growth areas I see in IT moving forward are not in high-tech, but
>rather in health care and finance (especially real estate).
>
>- Paul -
>  
>

Roy's point was right.  Taking jobs in dead-end areas really limits 
you.  There was an article
on news.com a few months ago about software companies opening up in 
these impoverished
dead farming communities. Their whole strategy was low cost in labor & 
other resources. They
specifically mentioned moving people out under the guise of lower costs 
of living (with far lower
salaries) and ensuring loyalty because they were the only option in town.

The thing about working in, or near a major metropolitan area is that 
you have choices.  There is
absolutely no honor in being a company man, and staying with the same 
company your whole life.
The last decade or so of spectacular bankruptcies, offshoring, and 
pension mismanagement should
have been a wake-up call to everybody.

The last thing you should be saying before you take a job is "Show me 
the money".  Since the beginning,
I've laughed my head off when companies offered me lower salaries with 
higher amounts of stock options,
especially in the bay area where the rule is to over-hire to meet a 
deadline, then do mass layoffs afterwards.

If a company wants to keep an employee, they shouldn't even bother with 
false promises of stock options,
gradual salary increases, etc. The two things a company MUST do to keep 
and retain good talent is give
them competitive salaries,  and keep them working on interesting 
projects, because the employee is going
to be looking out for themself first, they're not stupid.

You're definitely right about health care & finance. I guess in those 
areas you can get pidgeonholed into
a cog-like position as a techie... Maybe get thrown a bone every five 
years when a new auditing standard
gets forced upon the employer.. Then at age 55 find out that your 
promised pension was mismanaged, and
you now have to work until age 70, like everybody at Lucent/Bell/AT&T 
found out in the late '90s, like everybody
at GM will find out this decade. 

The real estate money is a karmically sad one. Real estage agents & 
mortgage brokers pushing massive interest-only
loans on people who cannot afford them, but are too caught up in the 
buzz to think better. In the end, when it crashes,
there will be massive bailouts like the SNL bailouts of the early '80s, 
and the same unethical real estate and mortgage
brokers will get to sell the houses a second time.

Yes, I definitely miss caffeine.

























Michael T. Halligan
Chief Technology Officer
-------------------
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