I think the issue with dev jobs is that a lot of people can score positions as devs; its not too hard to get through an interview and tests, but its that factor of fitting in with the company culture + software whish is critical. Obviously it is a hit and miss on whether the right person is selected for the job, but it is quite an area to get into with “limited” experience

As I mentioned earlier, I have been looking for a while now for some kind of programming job, but the clock is ticking and I do need to find a job soon, so I am seriously looking at possibly retraining in a health related field. I have several good, and not too expensive options close to home for that kind of training.

Heck, I don’t even have a degree in computer science. I learned my programming skills on the job at the university as our particular research projects required. With my limited skill set, I pretty much feel there is no way that I am getting back into I.T. at this point. Time to move on. Maybe that is the silver lining for me here. A chance to step out into new territory for a few years and learn something new until I can eventually retire.

Mona you would have been better off having entered another field of employment. Nursing and healthcare is the place to be right now along with any other government job. That seems to be the only thing booming right now government jobs. Where else can you get job security and a 3% pay raise every year while everyone else in the private sector is losing their jobs or taking pay cuts? It is too bad the baby boomers get all the well paying secure government jobs and we young people get stuck permanently with these stupid low paying contract jobs.

Funny thing, I never got a job in programming through an interview, resume or any of that none sense. It was always someone I knew needed someone for something or they knew someone in another company that needed so and so.

I am having the same problem. I was laid off from my fixed-term
position at Penn State University at the end of January. My programming skills are limited to the projects that we worked on over the years. Basically our applications were developed using VB.NET, VB6, Avenue, and some basic HTML. I have been looking at programming positions for months now since I knew my appointment ended in Jan, 09, and like you say, they want you to know every language in the book, and not just know them, but be proficient in them. Not only is my skill set limited, but I am too old; I am 55 years old! So I have been programming for something like 15 years, but because I don’t know a vast suite of languages, I am useless in the IT field. These companies today want the whiz kids who can do Java, C#, C++, etc. in their sleep.

So, I am at the point where I am about to forget getting back into IT and try to find a way to afford going back to school and retraining in some other field, because I am getting nowhere applying for programming jobs. I have not even been contacted for an interview, let alone offered a position. I have not been unemployed in 25 years, and things really do not look good right now. Good luck in your job search.