Well guys, got bad news on Monday morning... Head guy from corporate in Chicago flew in to tell my office that they decided to sell the division and put their capital toward a new direction. The Legal Professional Group selling lawyer's professional liability insurance will be sold to Darwin Insurance with our office being transitioned to their control on October 1, 2008. This has impacted the entire 45 member staff in the Richardson office including myself. My last day of employment with Great American Insurance as part of their IT staff will be on September 30, 2008. I am currently seeking further employment and am open to any suggestions and leads.

I must stay in the Dallas area as I am currently in my last course at the University of Texas at Dallas and will graduate in December with a Telecommunication Engineering degree. My current work experience is in IT with a title of Application Development. I have a working knowledge of Windows XP, ASP.NET, C#, ADO.NET, SQL 2000, VB 6 as part of the Visual Studios 6 package. I have been with Great American Insurance for 3.5 years and have been the primary web developer for the past year as we moved all ASP classic content to the more flexible and easy to maintain C#/ASP.NET platform.

I have updated my resume and am looking into any possibilities at this point. I am looking for a base salary of at least $50k (slight pay cut) but I really need to have something lined up for a start date of October 1 so that I may maintain my current lifestyle.

Please email me at edward.a.hamilton at gmail if you have the ability to forward on my resume to anyone in the Dallas area. I am a quick learner and provide great work in a team environment. I ask that you please provide a little information about the job and employer such as the company name and maybe the company website if possible so that I may personalize the cover letter a little.

Thank you all for your understanding and help. This has been a crazy week but I feel confident in my abilities and know that a successful future lies ahead.

Thanks again,
Edward (Aaron) Hamilton

 

I could forward your resume on to my superiors at Capgemini. We have offices in Las Colinas off 114 and 635.

http://us.capgemini.com/

I will email you from my work email (will come from Jon Soucy)

 

Check http://careers.peopleclick.com/caree...rporate/search

If that doesn't work just go into www.BCBSTX.com and go to the jobs section and just do a general search under corporate. The website is weird sometimes and doesn't pick up jobs when you do a specific search.

I know that Blue Cross was hiring different types of I.T. personnel within the past few months. Here are the some of the positions they've posted below. I used to work there and you can't beat the benefits as well. They're located right next to T.I. off of 75/Spring Valley.

Sr Application Developer-Web 407925 TX - Richardson Aug 19, 2008
Sr Marketing Account Rep 407153 TX - Richardson May 30, 2008
Sr Technical Data Analyst 408600 TX - Richardson Aug 8, 2008
Program Manager Specialist 408935 TX - Richardson Aug 20, 2008
Case Management Hlt Advoc II 407958 TX - Richardson Aug7,2008
Sr Actuarial System Analyst 408177 TX - Richardson Jul 16,2008
Application Team Leader-CS 407967 TX - Richardson Jul 8, 2008

Actuarial Assistant 407117 TX - Richardson May 15, 2008

Application Team Leader-Web 408255 TX - Richardson Au 7,2008


Good luck man, I've gone through 2 major layoffs in 13 yrs and they are a pain in the @$$. Hopefully you will get a decent severance package.

 

Thanks for the leads... looking into them... yeah, severance was 4 weeks so that helps... again, thanks! Looks like a light at the end of the tunnel... hope it isn't the train!

 

Got this in my email this morning (and not the first time):

And for what it's worth, you should be looking for $65k+ unless you want to make 50k.

 

Also you might contact these people:

 

I have 3 years experience in programming, but really only the past year has been in C#, prior to that it was VB 6. Do you really think I can pull that kind of cash at what I would assume an entry level position?

Thanks for th leads though... emailing them all.

Thanks again,
Aaron

 

Aaron, if you are looking for an entry level position, paying 35k a year, then go for it.

If you've got 3 good years of software development under your belt, and have been heavy with C#/ASP.NET then you should be making more than 50k a year. ETA: a person with 3 years experience is no longer entry level, but is more intermediate.

Then again, I've got 10+ years of software development experience and run a consulting company, so what do I know?

You are right in the right place in your career to look at doing contract work. You could be making $40-65/hr, which would be roughly $80-130k a year (with obvious differences in tax and benefits). The only problem with consulting/contracting is that there is very little upward mobility and you'll get used to the money so you will have a hard time going back to a full time job.

The benefits? Money and flexibility. Getting paid by the hour is very nice when there are heavy periods of development Then again, when I take a week off, I don't get paid.

And don't think that a full time job = job security (as you have found out )

Where in Dallas are you located?

 

Also, have you been to any of the .net user group meetings (Either DDNUG or NDDNUG)?

They are GREAT places to network and learn a bit too.

Heck, woot.com is hiring asp.net monkeys... (they are off the tollway and Plano Parkway).

 

One more... do you have any certs? I'm not a believer in them, but I know that some shops care about them. They aren't terribly difficult to get, especially if you've been hard core developing for a year, and they can make your job search a lot easier.

You can also apply at RealPage (plano parkway/tollway). I know some people there if you are interested and can get a resume up to the top of the pile. Good place to work and you'll learn a lot.

 

I talked to my buddy and he has an open rec for a low/mid junior developer @ realpage if you're intested. I'd need a resume. send it to me at gmail.com(same name).

 

woooo....strings have been pulled...nice!

 

This really is an amazing group of people here. When I got on driver I had hoped to see some amazing cars and meet some great people with a common link of a G35... I now see this as so much more. Thank you, everyone for your help.

 

that's why I added the whole "what do you do for a living" thread as a networking tool

 

I'll get the foot in the door, but Aaron will have to get the job on his own!