Re: Distant Job Search Challenges

hossman has a very good suggestion.

Some explanation of the phenomenon may be useful. Despite the fact that there are thousands of planes going to tens of thousands of locations around the world, over half the US population has been in an airplane less than 5 times. Many have never been on a plane at all. Well over half the US population lives (and will die) within 100 miles of where they were born. Those people simply do not comprehend the idea of just picking up and moving somewhere. They look at it in terms of how they would react and they feel that it would be a chore. Since you're willing to do it, then there must be a huge reason why you'd be happy to do it!

My recommendation is to do one (or more) of the following:

Look for a contract position. There are thousands of open contract positions, even in Perl. (If you know Java, this is even easier.) Look for a position that's less than 6 months, particularly one where the company does not intend to hire or extend. Then, take it. You're expected to look for another job while you're on this one, so going to interviews won't be taken the wrong way.
Use your network. Hit up every one of your friends. Make new friends in your target cities. Tell them you are desperately seeking anything in their area just so you can move near them.

If you're interested in moving to the Columbus Ohio area (where my 2400 sqft house was around $200k), I can hook you up. Especially if you know Java. :-)

My criteria for good software:

Does it work?
Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

Comment on Re: Distant Job Search Challenges

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Re^2: Distant Job Search Challenges by freddo411 (Chaplain) on Apr 14, 2006 at 19:54 UTC
...over half the US population has been in an airplane less than 5 times. Many have never been on a plane at all. Well over half the US population lives (and will die) within 100 miles of where they were born. Those people simply do not comprehend the idea of just picking up and moving somewhere. They look at it in terms of how they would react and they feel that it would be a chore. Since you're willing to do it, then there must be a huge reason why you'd be happy to do it! Yeah. I left a town of 20,000 in a rural area to go to college in a distant city where I had zero connections. It is certainly a leap of faith that many people don't need or want to take. The vast, vast majority of my classmates in high school stayed within 50 miles of home. I don't take the idea of relocating lightly; my wife and I have talked it over extensively and it happens to fit our goals. Interestingly, many of our couple friends in Los Angeles have relocated out of state recently. Jobs here are plentiful, but the cost of housing is beyond astronomical. Those couples were willing to change BOTH partner's jobs. If you're interested in moving to the Columbus Ohio area (where my 2400 sqft house was around $200k), I can hook you up. Especially if you know Java. :-) Ohio sounds great, but Java? Sacre Bleu! ;-) ------------------------------------- Nothing is too wonderful to be true -- Michael Faraday	[reply] [d/l]

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Re^2: Distant Job Search Challenges
by freddo411 (Chaplain) on Apr 14, 2006 at 19:54 UTC

...over half the US population has been in an airplane less than 5 times. Many have never been on a plane at all. Well over half the US population lives (and will die) within 100 miles of where they were born. Those people simply do not comprehend the idea of just picking up and moving somewhere. They look at it in terms of how they would react and they feel that it would be a chore. Since you're willing to do it, then there must be a huge reason why you'd be happy to do it!

I don't take the idea of relocating lightly; my wife and I have talked it over extensively and it happens to fit our goals. Interestingly, many of our couple friends in Los Angeles have relocated out of state recently. Jobs here are plentiful, but the cost of housing is beyond astronomical. Those couples were willing to change BOTH partner's jobs.

If you're interested in moving to the Columbus Ohio area (where my 2400 sqft house was around $200k), I can hook you up. Especially if you know Java. :-)

-------------------------------------
Nothing is too wonderful to be true
-- Michael Faraday

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