Re: Get a job at a dot.bomb

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Bruce Byfield  wrote:

> Thanks for the concrete figures, Andrew. You're probably in a much
> better position to evaluate what's happening than most of us. 
> 
> Just out of curiosity: how many resumes would you normally expect in
> a week from the Bay Area?

On a good week, we would get 1 or 2. I had 1 opening in San Mateo that I
interviewed about 10 people for (we got 1 strong candidate).  A year ago, I
would have been lucky to have 3 candidates to interview. My Portland jobs fill
FAAAAAAAST as well. I think Intel let them all go at the same time. Although I
am dying in the mid-west and Texas. Probably just because we're in foreign
terrain. 

> Expect long, complex projects with questionable
> ROI
> > to get tanked in favor of "slap it together at the last minute" type
> > operations.
> 
> I agree with everything you say here except the last comment.
> Investors not only want a realistic hope of return; they also want
> proof of serious planning. The days when someone could cut and paste
> a few generalities from other business plans, then do a search and
> replace are gone. Investors want details, and they're taking due
> diligence much more seriously.

I was referring more to individual projects and how they are being viewed in
terms of technical documentation. (Sorry, I wasn't really clear on that.)

Yes, investors want to see something that has real financial and real thought
behind it. They also want to see people who are willing to put their heart and
soul into something. 

As for tech writing...what I am seeing is companies waiting until the last
minute and then calling people like me to come in and slap a doc-set together
very quickly. The project plans are giving less and less time and resources to
tech pubs. I have five "slap-jobs" running right now and just finished two.
That's rare. Usually I get only 1 or 2 a quarter spaced out with longer
projects.

Good for me, bad for full-timers. 

> A lot of research and development is being done in clusters these
> days and embedded systems, too. Clusters, of course, could be
> thought of as more highly evolved networks, while embedded systems
> take in handhelds. But, whatever you call them, I suspect that most
> of the innovations will come from these areas in the next while.

Wireless networking is a really hot area as is network security as well.
Clusters I suspect have a limited lifetime. I think the infrastructure aspect
of them is too daunting for companies. Perhaps it is just because the
technologies are still maturing. 

> > What is not doing well - one acronym: B2B-ANYTHING. B2B is a faltering idea
> and
> > concept. Many of the promises of technology providing frictionless and
> > just-in-time inventory didn't pan out.
> 
> You mean we can offically retire that acronym? Good! Now, if we all
> clap our hands, maybe P2P will go away, too...

I wouldn't mind seeing e-(insert dumb word here) be permanently wiped off the
face of the world as well. e-finance, e-retail, e-business, e-dorks, e-motions,
e-llusion, e-eeek, e-etc. 

Andrew Plato 


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