Since I've been hired in May, we've had three rounds of layoffs.

Today I survived round three. I was the team leader and all my team members were laid off, but I remain alone.

Our product was a prototype anyway, so it appears we'll be shelving it for a time. I'm supposed to take over the responsibilities of the "GUI" person.

Quakin' in my boots. I've never been a GUI programmer, always parsers, database, middleware. But, somehow, I'm going to be a GUI programmer now.

Only 5 developers left.

Glen Austin

Yes, have put in about 20-30 resumes through Monster for things that I seemed to be a fit for.

I have my resumes out to about 3-4 headhunters, and actually "almost" had an interview at Network Associates. They wanted to interview me, then had two interviews prior to mine and hired one of the two.

The DBA (my replacement) left at my last job, but the company also lost the contract, but I contacted them anyway. It seems they're only interested in me helping them, "if they run into a problem". I offered a 5 hour a week, DBA "tuneup check" contract for their systems, hoping to make a little extra, but they haven't returned my call. I'll follow up Monday. Official word is that there's a hiring freeze through the end of year.

I've called and contacted about 10 friends, none of which have been very helpful, save one.

One of my friends at Raytheon, Garland put my resume in for a DBA spot early last week, but I haven't heard from them.

I don't know what to do at this point. I don't want to put my job further into jeapardy, but I have a complimentary letter from a customer, and might try to contact them for a job, but we could lose a large "potential" sale, if I do it.

Also, some competitors have posted positions very similar to the project I'm working on. My non-compete agreement with my current company is very "soft", and with the managment change, I considered answering some ads, but I'm very concerned that anything like that might get me fired or sued.

So, at this point, I'm a bit frustrated. The Dallas/Ft. Worth market has been TERRIBLE for tech jobs, I would say one of the worst job markets in the country.

I have friends who have literally been out of work for months (some as much as two years), and EDS and IBM here are dumping employees so fast, to pick up the $5 an hour guys (if that much), in Bangalore.

My wife is asking me to consider other job markets, like maybe Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, etc. Nothing too far from home (Texas), and nothing with a million dollar cost of living.

I'm high in my range for tech people, and I've warned her that my next job could be a 20% cut or more from current compensation. This has made her depressed and angry, but I don't want to lie to her. I'm already down about 10% from what I made in 2000.

The other thing that keeps us in Texas is that we have a nice home 3000 sq. ft. at $1130 a month, good schools for kids, nice church, close to grandparents, good friends. So we have a lot to give up to move.

Glen Austin

The guy liked me well enough.... I qualify for the technical interview.

He said if I do well on the tech interview, he'll have an offer by the end of next week.

The problem is that I'll have to work 2 weeks a month out of San Francisco until March 1st.

And 24/7 beeper call when I get home. Pay is less than I currently make, benefits are better.

I wasn't really pleased with their work environment. People didn't seem to be very productive, and the cubes were terrible ( 1/2 height, no privacy ). People were standing around, most were badly dressed. I was told it was "dress down" Friday. They didn't seem to look very happy, like they were enjoying their jobs.

I don't know. I've got some other friends working on some stuff, and I would like an environment where people care, and it doesn't look like a slave ship. (People looking half alive, like they just don't care.)

We'll see how the tech interview goes.

Glen Austin

In a "bull pen" configuration, in a long hallway.

The halls are so narrow that I can't even imagine that it meets fire codes.

Glen