Subj : Re: CV, work-history, 91C, CompSci?, Applet? (was: Software Job Ma...)
To   : comp.programming,comp.software-eng
From : scott frye
Date : Fri Sep 09 2005 07:16 am

> writing computer software. If this horrible
>recession ever ends, maybe somebody can help me find a paying job.

It is clear from this thread that Mr. Maas is more interested in
finding justifications for why he has failed to get a job in the last
ten years, instead of analyzing what he can change in himself to help
get a job.

There are two reasons why someone might not be able to get a job for 10
years.

1.) A long string of bad luck combined with all valid attempts to get a
job being thwarted by people working hard to interfere with that
person's attempts.
2.) There is something the person isn't doing. Something that most of
the other people in his industry are doing to get a job.

I would suggest that Mr. Maas has been assuming his problem is #1 for
the last ten years.  After 10 years, the probability of this being the
case is vanishingly small.  It is time that Mr. Maas accept that #2 is
the most likely case and it is time to start identifying what he is
doing wrong and correct those things.

Several possible items have been addressed about what he is doing wrong
and in each case, instead of considering them, he has rationalized why
his behaviour was correct.  I would suggest that this is the attitude
you need to change Mr. Maas.  It is possible that not every suggestion
is valid.  But it is highly probable that at least one of them is.  I
would suggest reviewing the posts and determining which pieces of
advice you can try.  If you try several of them, I believe your
attractiveness to an employer will improve.

I too have been in the business for 20 years.  In that time I have
never had trouble acquiring a job.  The most I have been unemployed was
1 week in the last 10 years.  I even was able to land a job at the
height of the dot com bust when "no one was hiring".  The lesson from
this is that blaming your lack of work on the economy is not valid.  It
is possible to get a job despite a bad climate in your industry and
currently, IMO, the software industry isn't that bad.  Its not what it
was...but I wouldn't call it a recession either.


-Scott Frye

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