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Alvin Goats <agoats@compuserve.com> Career SIG Leader

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The Career SIG started off with 5 and grew to 8 this past meeting. People are still looking but are seeing positive signs of improvement. For the graduates who are out looking, snag a low position inside a company. Even if it means doing something not really related to what your degree is in, get the job. Once inside the company, you will have access to the internal job postings and a head start over the majority of people from outside. Just make sure you do your best at the job you snag, that first impression counts! There appears to be a slow down that may be in part due to the Labor Day holidays, but may also represent some corporate hesitation based on the presidential and congressional elections coming up in the near future. Overall trends at the moment are varied: Outsourcing will continue, but only portions will head offshore. Security is high on the hiring list, and primarily to stay domestic. Outsourcing is beginning to go deep in Strategic Partnerships. If you have security experience or can gain it quickly, pursue this NOW. Customer dissatisfaction with offshore and governmental politics of other countries has raised the security flag to most companies. While some are still traipsing off to India and China, presure from the public has flagged the corporate heads hard. This is one area that may resist moving offshore for two reasons: the public doesn't like it and the best encryption methods are not exportable (DoC, DoE and DoD restricted). Many companies have cut back so deep into their structure they have found holes in their structure that won't support proper growth. To fill those holes, these comanies are now looking at their outsource suppliers to fill the gap. With non-disclosures already in place, they are now pushing for strategic partnerships that go far deeper than ever before. The outsource company is being asked to provide support at earlier development cycles, even into R&D. Unease with offshore protection of Intelectual Property has added greater emphasis on the on onshore outsourcer and a greater need for strategic partnership. This is currently happening in the high tech manufacturing sector and will spread into other sectors as well.

Curiously, "onshore" has two meanings: Inside the U.S.A. North America, including the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It seems that the North American countries have all agreed on the strength of non- disclosure agreements such that each country is equal. This works well with manufacturing IP between the US and Mexico, and with a large percentage of software IP between the US and Canada. Sensitive information, be it the most advanced technology or personal information will remain in the USA. Some companies I know have pulled back some work from offshore and put it in Mexico, bringing other items all the way back to the US. While they aren't really bringing the work back into the company proper, they are bringing it back to Domestic Outsource companies. Good luck to the job seekers! A major milestone this during this past meeting/month:

The Career & Consulting SIG is now on the WEB SITE! The time is listed and the two mailing lists (jobs and sig-career).

We had a pretty good turnout with most people arriving by 6:15.

One of the members of the group and more instances since the meeting prompts me to write the following about what to focus on in your abilities.

All too often, we focus on what we define as what we do and not on the more global thing. We focus on the software we use to do the job and not the job itself. We focus on the industry we've been in and not on the more general job function we perform.

A member foucsed on the software which is not in major demand and not the fact that he designs software tools. Software tools is the key and not the software used. While you may have loads of experience in something like JBuilder or Asymetrix or some other software, it is the ability to write tools that is the key. So rather than focus on the software, focus on the thing performed, the product made.

The same thing occurred again where a person was let go recently and was focusing on the industry: Automotive. Rather than focus on the industry, parlay your knowledge and expertise into other industries. A major class sales and marketing guy, he's focused on the industry and not what he does and can do. You need to open your horizons.

Long ago, I met a TI'er who was a real-time programmer with the TMS99000 CPU from TI. He was foundering for a couple months because he was hung up with the TI processor chip and not the fact that he was a real-time programmer. It would take only a few weeks to train him on another processor, whereas you may never get a programmer able to write real-time programs.

Along the same lines, the discussion took a turn where people are still focussing on technology companies and not on where the jobs are. We discussed Walmart, which everyone should now know is a technology powerhouse and pushing advances in technology. What everyone misses is there are other such opportunities. Meritor, some people know them, most people don't. THEY are the ones who pushed the "run flat" technology of using SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) devices to monitor the pressure in a truck's tire and give feedback to the driver. Initially, this was only a signal that let the driver know so that he/she could slow down and not destroy a tire that costs around $1,000. The tire could be fixed at the next drop; while the destination is unloading and loading the trailer, the tire could be removed, repaired and replaced. This time savings as well as the tire cost saves hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for most any trucking company and in the tens of millions for the large ones.

Special RFID and GSM radio systems are added to the trucks and trailers to allow for tracking. Computers have been added to monitor fuel consumption, tire pressure, weather conditions, road conditions and more. This data gets transfered many different ways to the trucking company headquarters who can shut a truck down for service, find the best fuel in a given locale for their trucks and the ability to tell their customers exactly where the truck and cargo is at a given moment. Very high tech, and an opportunity for employment.

Like the IBM advertisements in the trade magazines (you ARE getting those FREE trade magazines aren't you?), the technology is everywhere. You only have to look for it.

Alvin