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A recruiter here in Chicago tells me he's dying for entry level ASP.NET and back-end Java coders. I think a lot of these companies just run these guys through

A recruiter here in Chicago tells me he's dying for entry level ASP.NET and back-end Java coders. I think a lot of these companies just run these guys through at largely unimpressive wages, run a bunch of candidte through as temp to perm, and hope to god one guy out of 20 isn't a complete moron. I've had the displeasure of working with some of these guys. They have some paper certs and some basic understanding of what they're doing but they have zero big picture and any love of what they are doing. Don't get me started on their work from a security or stability perspective. These guys are just in the wrong field. They heard the siren's song of being a coder, did some coding bootcamp or took a community college class or two, and are shoved into big departments churning out junk code. I think these jobs echo how a lot of basic IT support staff in the late 90s and early 2000s got work. Companies were scrambling for someone to sit down with end users and explain how Outlook worked, install software, and maybe reboot the occasional server. These guys all ran to braindump sites, got a MCSE or CCNA, and now are lifers at the company they fooled into hiring them. There's something somewhat sad about all this. These people probably would have been better off in a different field but are now stuck in unpromotable positions because they just don't have what it takes to move up. Our own support guy is in his 40s and is barely competent at providing basic level 1 PC desktop support. He's totally in the wrong field. I'm not saying this stuff is a calling, but in some ways it is. Like a lot of technical jobs, you kinda have to make it your religion and invest a bit of your personal time into it because its so fast moving that if you treat it like a 9-5 desk job, you'll fall behind very quickly.

pm90 12y ago
> Like a lot of technical jobs, you kinda have to make it your religion and invest a bit of your personal time into it because its so fast moving that if you treat it like a 9-5 desk job, you'll fall behind very quickly. I feel this statement should be emphasized a lot more. The technology scene is changing so fast that you HAVE to invest time in learning new things all the time, or at bare minimum hang out with people who do. I feel that this is kinda the flip side to working in technology: people see the great pay and benefits and wonder why they are being paid so well? Well, its because you're skills are in demand....for now. They may not be very soon, so be sure that your skills are upto date.
Amezarak 12y ago
> I think a lot of these companies just run these guys through at largely unimpressive wages, This. When I graduated with a MS in CS 3 years ago, I interviewed at over a dozen companies. I got offers at all of them. The highest offer I got was for 45k. The lowest was 32k. Outside of SV and NYC and the big tech hubs, wages are terrible. For comparison, waiters at the restaurant I worked at (by no means high end) made up to 40k. Companies want to pay dirt-cheap wages and get tons of highly qualified applicants and shockingly they just can't find anyone! That said, three years in and my salary has almost doubled (after job-hopping - which did make me sad, as that first job was a lot of fun even if it was a lot of work), so at least there's that, but that's just about the cap for private sector work in the region.

pm90 12y ago

> Like a lot of technical jobs, you kinda have to make it your religion and invest a bit of your personal time into it because its so fast moving that if you treat it like a 9-5 desk job, you'll fall behind very quickly. I feel this statement should be emphasized a lot more. The technology scene is changing so fast that you HAVE to invest time in learning new things all the time, or at bare minimum hang out with people who do. I feel that this is kinda the flip side to working in technology: people see the great pay and benefits and wonder why they are being paid so well? Well, its because you're skills are in demand....for now. They may not be very soon, so be sure that your skills are upto date.

Amezarak 12y ago

> I think a lot of these companies just run these guys through at largely unimpressive wages, This. When I graduated with a MS in CS 3 years ago, I interviewed at over a dozen companies. I got offers at all of them. The highest offer I got was for 45k. The lowest was 32k. Outside of SV and NYC and the big tech hubs, wages are terrible. For comparison, waiters at the restaurant I worked at (by no means high end) made up to 40k. Companies want to pay dirt-cheap wages and get tons of highly qualified applicants and shockingly they just can't find anyone! That said, three years in and my salary has almost doubled (after job-hopping - which did make me sad, as that first job was a lot of fun even if it was a lot of work), so at least there's that, but that's just about the cap for private sector work in the region.