28 replies to this topic

[Kevin Bruss]

I'm currently residing in Lakeland, Florida and I'm interested in how
other IT professionals in the ProIV arena go about searching for jobs
outside their area.

I'm currently looking for ProIV/Superlayer (Chess/Glovia) work in
the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (USA) area.

- Are there any good online job agents?
(or are they not recommended?) ?

- Are there any recommendable agencies to go through?

- Is anyone on here in OKC looking for a Programmer/Analyst?

- Are there any recomendable resume companies to sign up with?
(I'm sure mine could use some polishing up..)

[Bob Filipiak]

Kevin,

I thought that I was the only sap running PRO-IV in any form in Florida. Nice to know that I am not alone anymore.

BTW, please note that there are posts from a couple of firms "down under" looking for PRO-IV talent; have you considered moving!

After all this is a lousy wage state.

Lakeland, Hmm, you don;t happen to work at "The House of the Mouse"???? do you????

Bob Filipiak

Edited by Bob Filipiak, 13 July 2003 - 12:39 AM.

[BrianE]

Bob,

I'm also running Pro IV in Gainesville Florida.

There are a few or us.

Brian

[Bob Filipiak]

Brian,

Do you get the feeling that being a PRO-IV anything in Florida is an endangered species????

Bob Filipiak

BTW, Are we alone???
Anyone else in the "Sunshine State" working with PRO-IV??

[Kevin Bruss]

I don't work for the mouse, but my wife and I frequent there so much
that it may as well be our 2nd address!

I do work in Lakeland, for a company that is in the automotive business.

Australia (Down Under) sounds intriguing, but I'm more of an 'employee'
type than a I 'contractor' type. I'd like to be able to put, say, 10yrs into
a company but so far due to site shutdowns, have been unable to do so
for this, and my previous employer in Minnesota.

I had a contact looking for me in Oklahoma, and she said it didn't look
good; most companies were in layoff mode and not hiring. (There could
also be some political reasons why she may want to assist in keeping
me here..)

I'd like to post my resume somewhere, but I feel it needs some
professional help and be polished up a bit, which is the reason for this
post. I was hoping perhaps other developers have gone through a
similar situation and could offer some tips, pointers, or some
references that would be of help.. Once I am confident of my resume,
than I can start distributing it again.

Thanks all for your above responses.. Keep them coming!

[Bob Filipiak]

Kevin,

I hope you can get your resume to shine like a freshly plated bumper!!!

Bob Filipiak

[Phil]

Kevin,

I had posted a topic on here a couple of months ago trying to work out why the Pro-iv market had become so dead. Many things were discussed and debated but the overiding factor for me was clear.

Subsequently I have re-trained myself in Oracle, more specifically PL/SQL Development in the hope that this will bring more choices and more security with regard to employment.

You can polish your CV as much as you like, but if companies are not hiring then your polish is best saved for your furniture.

Phil

[Kevin Bruss]

Nice one Phil.. I think one reason is (and I beleive I saw that post regarding this) that a developer has a hard time acquiring the software for personal use, to develop and hone their code from home. I tried to do this; was interested in a 'quote' but didn't get any response.. Talk about customer service, eh? I cringe when I look at VB, but I think a few classes on it would get be off to a good start. I hate learning new languages all the time, but understand sometimes there is a need for it. I was self-taught on ProIV/Superlayer; I had an introductory 3 day course 6mos. before we actually got the software onsite..

I almost had to switch my career, but again, can see where sometimes this may be necessary.. I'll just have to play this out by ear then I guess..

[Phil]

There are worse places than Florida surely ?

[Bob Filipiak]

Phil,

Yes, there are, like Alaska in the middle of winter.

Bob Filipiak

[Bob Filipiak]

Kevin,

I understand exctly where you are coming from. I too had to learn PRO-IV by myself. Not that long ago, PRO-IV USA sent me an evaluation copy of V5.0. Beside the difficulties of getting it up and running (TCP/IP is not one of my strong suits); on the machine I was using, it was sluggish. Molasses in a Vermont winter sluggish. While native was quite familiar to me, just looking at Developers' Studio or Superlayer made this head swim.

After dissecting one of the simpler SL sample function screens trying to understand the mechanics behind the 'Windows' features, I simply said - FORGET IT!! I am getting too old for this!!!

Phil may be right, though. If you were back in high school today, and your language choices were: Latin, Spanish or Chinese. Which one would you definiteky NOT pick. (for me - Latin). He may be right, and if you are adaptable enough; some other DB technology may pay off. It is something I have considered at times.

Bob FilipiaK

[Kevin Bruss]

Aye; I understand.. but for me it seems like I'd be "dumbing" myself down to work with just SQL or Unix Administration.. On the upshot, it would probably equate to far less stress..

[Phil]

Kevin,

The thing I've noticed so far whilst using PL/SQL is how much it integrates with other languages and code.

I have been using it for two weeks now and am having to pick up HTML, stylesheets and various other packages such as Toad, and external editors.

The change is very refreshing and the creativeness is alot more obvious compared to Pro-iv, thus providing a more varied working day.

I'm not trying to sell you this, but I feel people should cast off the shackles of Pro-iv and run and run and run.

Only joking.

My opinion ? I'm enjoying this !!

Phil

[Dan Shannon]

Aye; I understand.. but for me it seems like I'd be "dumbing" myself down to work with just SQL or Unix Administration.. On the upshot, it would probably equate to far less stress..

Dumbing down???? Hahahahahahahaha... there's a hell of a lot more to learn (and a lot more techniques) in PL/SQL alone than there will probably ever be in PRO-IV. As for the black arts of Unix sysadmin and Oracle DBA - some of these people are the world's true ubergeeks. Try it and see.

[Bob Filipiak]

Kevin,

Stress!!!!!!!


Tell me about it!

Before I had any dealings with PRO-IV, I had a nice head of hair. Now a days, I have more in common with Telly Savalas, Yul Brenner. There are times when I feel that life here in paradise would have been much nicer if I NEVER saw one line of PRO-IV code!

Too late now y'all.

Bob Filipiak

PS> "Dumbing down" would be more like going from PRO-IV and going to assembly or machine code.