Work Issues

search for "resume sample" or go to www.monster.com, there are many sites talking about resume building. Good luck!

Cool, thanks for the response. Cheers, Simon "Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch.", Eric S. Raymond

You should ask this in a programming forum (either VC or VB, SQL etc.) Best regards, Alexandru Savescu

I used the Exam Cram books and I did it 6 month ago .. but like you I'm worry about the somekind of retirement ..

I've also been interested in working/living in Australia or New Zealand for quite a while now. I'm currently in Canada. It seems to me that if I really want a job there, that I should pack up and go and look for work there instead of trying to get a job while I'm still in Canada. Is this a safe assumption or not? Which citie(s) in Australia or New Zealand are considered the high tech centres? What resources or news papers are a good place to look? Thanks in advance.

I'm in southern MD (Patuxent River) working for a defense contractor. We know we're good as long as we stay here, but we aren't interested in doing that.

Some good information at this site. It isnt a plug or anything. I just think it is a decent site. Perhaps in a few years when i have more exerience.. http://www.asp-shareware.org Mark A

MellowmanNYC wrote: I want to work with Visual C++ doing financial applications, either client/GUI or server programmer is fine. We wants to live in the city and I don't like to commute You shouldnt have a problem. Employers are scrambling to create jobs like this!!

As you mentioned, I suspect the pickings will be slim on the job market for a while, due both to how new the product is and the current tight tech market. However, I think there was actually one possible solution embedded within your question. Mike Morearty wrote: I'm more interested in working on the kind of stuff that's traditionally done in C++, such as shrinkwrap applications and tools. Instead of looking for another 9 to 5, why not spend your spare time figuring out what types of shrinkwrap tools you could put together for .NET developers? Remember when VB first hit? People like Dan Appleman (Desaware) did well because he was early to market with VBX bolt ons, and it turned out to be a huge market. He's much better off than he would have been had he just looked for a job writing code in the (then) new VB environment. Anytime there's a paradigm shift in our development environment, there are opportunities to provide new tools to developers. While it may not be as obvious as the VBX market, I'll bet with your experience and a little creative thinking you could come up with some great shrink wrap products that you could, if nothing else, sell off your web site. If the tools are relevant & good and you're first to market, it might even make you enough to make your company your new 9 to 5. I mean, if you're spending your spare time coding in .NET now anyway, why not write something you can sell? Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)

If you want to stay, I say train yourself on Oracle to become a DBA. You can download developer editions of their database software for free. At least that way if you want to leave you can leave without being penalized. Or figure out how much that training costs, so if you do leave you know exactly how much you're "going to owe them". Good Luck! Andy Gaskell, MCSD MCDBA

Jacksonh wrote: when I negotiate my salary I should ask for a relocation allowance. Well, of course, negotiate is the key word here. Often relocation includes the cost of the moving company, gas expenses for driving, sometimes temporary housing while you find a new house to buy, occasionaly even per dium (food, gas, etc. daily expenses). There's not really any strategy - it just comes down to how good your bargaining skills are, and whether or not you're bargaining from a position of power. In general, though, with any kind of negotiation, if they say yes to your first offer, you could have got more. How hard you negotiate will ultimately come down to how strong you think your position is. Hope this helps... Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)

James T. Johnson wrote: Besides, if you don't have to go in to a (somewhat non paying) job, you can spend all day playing with .NET, right? Yep Okay, so is this the emoticon that shows me green with envy? :rolleyes: James T. Johnson wrote: If that doesn't work out Burger King and McDonald's are just a block away In my previous lifetime, I spent 10 years in marketing (which is how I learned to survive corporate war games). After one particularly interesting client, I spent the night drinking a bottle of tequila with my company officers and swearing to get out of the business. After that, I closed the company, crashed with some friends for a few months & studied C night & day. To earn spare money, I picked up whatever playing gigs I could (slim) and otherwise did the office cleaning thing at night. Let me tell you, after 10 years in marketing, it felt good to do an honest day's work! James T. Johnson wrote: I'm going to take my dad's advice and put an ad in the local paper this week offering in home service pc upgrades. I seem to change careers about every ten years or so. I don't plan it, it just kinda works out that way. Consequently, I strongly believe that anyone can change directions in life if they're willing to put some effort into it and believe in themselves. That's how I know your business will be a huge success - go for it, man! Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)

I haven't used TeckChek though I had to sit the C++ exam on BrainBench last Monday. They cover standard C++ nothing to do with Windows messaging, API, MFC or anything like that. It contained 40 questions and I had 3 minutes to answer each question. If it wasn't answered by the 3 minute mark it was marked as wrong. If you answered early you just lost the time, still 3 minutes for all the other questions. It asked stuff like the order of construction or destruction of a class that inherited from multiple base classes (which I had never had to do in 6 years of coding). Static functions and variables, const functions and variables, reference parameters. Pointer arithmetic with all answers looking the same except for a character or two. Virtual functions and other stuff I can't remember. Most of it you will know, but the pressure of the timer counting done in the bottom left corner of the browser and the similarity of many of the answers will stress you. Christ, I finished in 90 minutes and was more stressed than interviews I have attended that went over two hours with four interviewers or university exams I have sat. Make sure you are in a quite environment when you take it, review standard C++ in the couple of days leading up to the test and if allowed have a couple of reference books available that you know well. This last one is important, it is better to have something you know the layout of well as you don't have mush time to find or check an answer. By the way I got 25.5 out of 40, got the interview and have been waiting the last 2 days for an answer to see if I have the job or not. Michael Martin Australia mjm68@tpg.com.au "Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace" - Victor Stone

Well said, and a good point. When I was a regular prior to my merc days, I changed jobs about once a year, and bumped my salary a minimum of 10k each time. You can't get those kinds of raises at the same job, but we spend so much of our time at the office, when you find a great job, why look for another one? At that point, anything that helps bump the salary is a good thing. Plus, of course, learning is always fun... Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)

James T. Johnson wrote: When I talked with the author last night said its only half done right now; hopefully he'll get the other half finished soon Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeee. Go Mauritio, go! Nish [not logged in]

You don't think I was alone do you? I had a little insider help... :-D IMPORTANT WARNING Please note that by clicking on open you agree to open a fullscreen browser instance. You will need to press ALT + F4 to close the window when you are done. You should, if possible, set your screen resolution to 1024 x 768 to view this flash animation in it's intended proportions. You have been warned... ________________ David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk Sonork ID: 100.9977 Dave Contents of my clipboard: Barclays Visa Connect - 4936-3503-2 -- sh*t, I'd better edit the rest out...