I’m not sure where my resume exists in cyberspace; but I still (at least 1 a week) get calls from recruiters to offer me Java opportunities. I haven’t been a Java programmer in 10 years. 
I say that as a reply to this post because I used both Monster and Dice way back then.
I guess my point is; if I’m getting calls on a 10 year old resume; there must be jobs out there if you have the right skills. Good Luck.
Part of my problem is that I’m not really up to date on the latest languages and methodologies.
Oddly enough, my current position, though it’s light on programming, is the most lucrative position I’ve had in my career; possibly because of the amount of responsibility involved. I’m not at all sure that I’ll be able to get the same amount elsewhere.
This morning I received a call from a gentleman who saw my resume on Dice. I have a phone interview at 10:30 tomorrow for a programmer / data analyst position that’s a lot nearer to home than my current job.
Good luck! Hopefully you’ll roll straight from one job into the next with no worries.
It would be great to finish here on the 30th and start there on the 3rd with my month’s severance in the bank. 
I hope the job interview goes well for you. Meantime, if you’re not on it already, get yourself onto LinkedIn. I got my current job because the HR person found me with a search on that site. (The weird thing? I was already onsite as a contractor, and had been for about 3 or so weeks.)
Good luck davidm. Time to count your blessings that you work in IT. I think there should be plenty of opportunities in the Philadelphia area. Although competition is intense these days you are in a much better position than people being laid off in other industries.
I spent this afternoon training my replacement, with more to come.
Seriously? I know this job. I know this job well enough to train somebody else. So why is there somebody else?
Had a phone interview this morning for a programmer / analyst position. I did well enough that he emailed me a test that I have till Wednesday to complete.
Looking at it, it’s been a few years since I’ve done that kind of stuff and my mind is drawing a blank. Too much anger and exhaustion to be able to think straight, I guess. 
Take the day off. Tomorrow, too. Tackle the test on Friday.
It’s not even complex. Just some simple SQL exercises, but all I can do is stare at it.
Tomorrow is family time. I have off Friday, so that’ll be a good time.
I put my resume, with personal info removed, on Craigslist, which is how I got my last two jobs. So far I’ve received two responses from women asking me to clean their apartment. 
davidm - Will you come reroof my house? Or sand and refinish my floors?
StG
I don’t think you’d like the roofing job.
Did they tell you why you are being laid off. The usual reason is reduction in workforce for economic reasons, but they can’t use that if they have already brought in a replacement. It seems to me they are on dangerous ground, legally, but I’m not a lawyer.
Congrats on your interview! SQL is pretty straightforward, and there are lots of good online references to help you, so don’t panic!
Oh, I’m familiar with SQL. I was still shell shocked (and am somewhat so still) and by brain just wouldn’t grasp it. When I looked at it the day after Thanksgiving it made a lot more sense. Not that they were easy problems. For one of them the solution involved the creation of temp tables.
The funny thing was, I first did it in Access and was able to do it successfully with nested queries. When I moved the Query to SQL Server (with some necessary minor syntax changes) the parser would not accept it. I don’t recall the exact problem but I think it involved Count not being allowing in subqueries. So my only choice was to replace the nested queries with temp tables, which worked. I was a little surprised that Access was more flexible and forgiving than SQL Server. Maybe it’s related to the size of the tables that are expected to be used in one versus the other.
As far as why I’m being laid off, technically, it’s because the IT consulting firm I was working for lost their contract with the company, so it could be called “lack of work”. But there was no reason that the company couldn’t at least make me an offer to work for them directly. My actual employer told me that it was because the company I was working at wanted to “go in a different direction”.
That didn’t seem like much of an explanation to me since the new guy is going to be doing the same job as me and seems to have pretty much the same skill set except that he doesn’t have two years at this particular company which is worth a lot.
I hope it wasn’t something stupid like my employer using a non-compete clause to try to get a payment from them in exchange for releasing me from it.
I don’t know that they’re doing anything illegal, especially since I’m in a right to work state and my contract specifically stated that it was no guarantee of employment.
If the company you were working at (not the IT Consulting company that laid you off - the one they were contracting with) is small enough, maybe you can talk to the HR Director and ask her why they didn’t make you an offer.
Just phrase it as you really enjoyed working there, and if the new guy doesn’t work out or quits, you’d be open to working there again, and if they have a need in the future your contact information is _______.
I’m guessing that the IT consulting company did have a non-compete clause, and/or the direction the company they were contracting with was to self-staff so they didn’t have to pay a premium to the consulting company.
Having said all that, your objective would be to leave the door open with them but focus on getting your next job.
You may also want to look at elance.com if you wanted to try and get some supplemental income while searching for a job.
I can’t get a clear answer from anyone as to why. The HR woman, who I’ve always gotten along with very well (she’s always screwing up her computer), seems closed-mouthed and angry about the whole thing.
If it is the non-compete thing then I wonder if there could be a legal thing here. The company consists of one man and he recently moved to the west coast, which apparently is why he lost the contract (although I’m not positive about that) so it could be argued that I’m not in competition with his business and his actions have caused me a material loss. But I’m not a lawyer.
In any case I just sent off the last of the test exercises to my potential new employer. I’m a little nervous about my answer to the one SQL question. It’s very complex but it’s all I could come up with.
It sounds like a good opportunity, and when you figure in benefits plus a shorter drive I should come out about equal financially, but it won’t be the same. I’ll likely be just another programmer in a cubicle instead of running an IT department from my own office with artwork and a window.
Out of curiosity can you post the SQL question? It’s been yonks since I did anything with SQL and I want to see what’s expected nowadays.