Newsgroups: sci.math,rec.org.mensa,comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.lang.lisp,ba.jobs.misc,misc.jobs.misc
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!hookup!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!karenk
From: karenk@netcom.com (Karen Kay)
Subject: Re: No employment available for mathematician/genius/programmer(LISP)
Message-ID: <karenkD3LCCn.Enw@netcom.com>
Followup-To: sci.math,rec.org.mensa,comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.lang.lisp,ba.jobs.misc,misc.jobs.misc
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1]
References: <3geqbg$2g2@openlink.openlink.com> <3gj046$9tb@lute.gcr.com> <3h1s7i$8tv@openlink.openlink.com>
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 18:21:59 GMT
Lines: 46
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.math:94481 comp.lang.lisp:16707

Robert Elton Maas, 21 years experience programming (rem@BTR.Com) wrote:
: I could sit here until I die of old age waiting for somebody to come to
: me again like that, or I could spend the rest of my life responding to
: job ads like I've done for nearly 3.5 years and still not get a job, or
: ... what?

Ummmmmm....actually go and meet new people? There are dozens of
meetings every month for programming groups in the Bay Area. You go
to the meetings and talk to people. I did this for several months, and
the contacts I made are still paying off. Networking means *talking*
to people, it doesn't mean waiting for them to phone you. I've found
applying for jobs just about the most useless way of actually getting
work. 

: Anyway, if the "entry
: level" job needs two years Unix device drivers, and I've never touched
: a Unix device driver in my life, then obviously it'd be a waste of my
: time to apply, right?)

Depends on the job.

: Probably. But when I was sending a reverse chronological resume I was
: criticized for emphasizing the obvious fact I've been unemployed,
: because there's no employment listed back to 1991.Aug, which is obvious
: in such a resume format, so I switched to a skills resume, and now
: employers are complaining it's not a standard format, so I just can't
: win.

Huh? I don't understand that. But what works for a lot of people is a
chrono-fuctional resume--a hybrid of the two. I use that, because I'm
43 and changing careers.

: <<Read *What Color is Your Parachute?* by Richard Bolles.>>

: I already did. It sucks. It assumes I have lots of friends. I don't. It
: assumes I'm gregarious. I'm not.

Then you're doomed. Unless you can force yourself to network, you're
fucked. No one is going to hire you. WCIYP is particularly useful wrt
what he says about HOW people get jobs. All that is true.

Karen
  karenk@netcom.com



