I just got my walking papers and now thrown back into the pool of the unemployed!
You would think after being laid off 2 other energy companies I would of learned. ARgggg!
So who needs a PC geek in Houston?

Just curious, which company?

What kind of computer stuff do you do? Hardware? Programming? Let me know and I will check around the company I work for.

I may not be far behind. The company I work for is in bad financial shape. Really sad for me because I would never find a better situation or better people to work for. Unfortunately the bad economy and rising labor and insurance costs are killing us.

The company I was working for just suddenly stopped sending email (I work from home). 6 weeks ago, they had '4 to 6 months' of work for me, now, nothing.

20 employees and I haven't heard anything from any of them in a week.

It appears their clients have dried up, and there is no 3rd party billable work, and they can't afford in-house R&D work.

Bankruptcy here I come

Fuckin brutal field.

Good luck guys.

By the way, you guys know anything about satellite?

If so, check out www.ussi.org

We have contracts (fat ones mind you) with General Dynamics, CSC (formerly DynCorp), XM Radio, Hughes, Spacenet, MSD Broadcast, Sports Ticker, Skycasters, IDirect, Sirius and some other military ones that I can't really post here.

Interesting field, with your guy’s computer knowledge you could subcontract for us.

Basically what you would do is head out to a site; could be White Sands missile range one day, an XM Radio repeater the next and an Exxon gas station two days later.

Point is it pays well, usual $100 for the first two hours and $35 an hour after that plus a buck a mile 1 way over fifty.

Need a spectrum analyzer (HP preferably) and a laptop. Volt meter and a good PC tool set are recommended.

If you decide to check it out talk to Lisa Taylor and tell her that Mike in General Dynamics highly recommended you or let me know before you contact her. You'll be in.

Now if I only had about $4k for the hardware I'd be set.

I've worked alone in my home office for the last 10 years, and the thought of traveling to interesting places and working alone in the middle of nowhere is just as appealing.

I will know in a few more days if I am on the chopping block also. 256 people in my group and my company is laying off 30% of us..... I have weathered 4 layoffs so far, and this will suck big time.......

We are hiring a CNE here where I work. The title for the job is Senior PC Support Specialist.

I, unfortunately couldn't afford to relocate

same boat here. Cant leave Houston right now. I used to work for Enron then got laid off and went to CMS Energy, they just got bought out and canned my ass for being a contractor.
Now I am out looking and nothing really is bitting.
Im in Desktop/Network Support. If anyone has any ideas. 10 years in the industry.

Computer business sucks the past year or so...

Contractors are always the first to go.... it's a well paid temp thing anyway. You know that going in.

You just got the axe yesterday? It will take a while to get a bite. Get your resume and contacts out there now. The longer you are "on the beach" the less willing some place will be to take you.

Contact the technology whores at CSC . That company seems to have contracts with everything.

3 years of running A PROFITABLE Travel agency, then one day the airlines say " we are not paying commissions any longer", Then 9/11 hits no one is traveling just when we thought we could get ahead, SARS and the Iraq war (Terrorist jitters).

My Company is 98% corporate, So I am also a victim when my clients are htiing the shitter. We are in the middle of trying to sell the business. I am getting the hell out. 13 years invested in the Travel industry and nothing to show for it....

My soon to be wifes brother inlaw worked as an engineer in the Oil industry. 3 of the people (including him) got laid off in 1999. They started a consulting company that was going nowhere until they invented a valve for some pump (do not ask me what). While the patent was pending they got a call from Exxon who bought the proto type for a cool 66 million Canadian. The guy is now 38 years old, bought a share in the Edmonton Oilers, Buildt a dream house in the interior of BC and does not have to work a day in his life.......

All it takes is pooling of talent and idea's. Networking gentlemen that is where it is at. Big corporations would be NOWHERE with out the talent (YOU). think about it and start exploring you never know.....

tell me about it I got laid off a month ago and had to switch to a job as an EMT and still am not yet employed

Well we kind of looking for Java bodies . Long hours, constant stress, but plenty of work TBD. Messaging, threading, good analysis and math skills and serious experience... Locations - Dallas, TX and (probably) Durango, CO.

I can't believe people are still using Java.

I installed the Sun Java runtime last week to use a design app called Denim, and all I got was a non working computer.

What exactly do you guys develop that requires Java ?

So far (in my experience with several different clients here in Denver), I have only seen single platform applications developed with it, that could have been done much quicker and better with a RAD like VB.

Are you looking for a job right now in Pittsburgh, Samuel?

Yep.

10 years experience in the field. PC's, Servers, Novell, Microsoft, etc.. etc.. etc... I haven't had a bite yet.....

Its kind of hard to develop with VB when you have to deal with AS400, Suns, PCs and other piles of things 8)

If to talk seriously - then there are lots of things that we used it for over years, Ian. Starting from x-platform graphics for oil & gas stuff and getting all the way to distributed computing thingies for travel industry, components managements for telecoms and factories.

Java got its nice niche and it seems to sit there 8) I am not saying its only language in the world, since i used to about 10 others (including such things as bleeding Cobol and Fortan IV that i am keep trying to forget, but they keep coming back when i am dealing wil old proprietary things integration 8(), but its just what our company using, learned hard way that its easier to maintain and move around.

Back to the subject matter... Even the state agency level (at least here in California) is letting people know that they'll be laid off this Monday (June 16th)... They'll have 30-60 days to find other means of work... After that, they're on their own... On top of which, there will be a hiring freeze for the next fiscal year due to the budget crisis... I always thought we (state employees) had at least some lay-off protection... I guess not... Damn that Gray Davis!!!

- Air B

I work for AXA Financial here in Charlotte, NC and my company " To better position ourselves in the market place" are now going to " strategically co-partner w/ agencies in Bangalor India" ......Jersey translation - 95 of you are being fired so that we can pay somebody in another country 1/3 of your total cost to do the same work and make the share holders happy.

I'd like just once in my shitty life on this globe for a CEO to stand at the microphone and tell the world that he doesn't care about the share price and that he is going to keep Americans employeed !!! It'll never happen but hey I can have a crack fantasy just like the next guy.....

I know you're not being serious, but here's the deal: CEO's keep their jobs by keeping the stock price up. Keeping people employed probably doesn't even enter their minds, especially if the CEO isn't the guy who started the company.

The trick for all of us as U.S. workers is to make ourselves valuable enough that some guy in a 3rd world country can't take our job. For those of us in the tech industry, that's getting harder and harder. India and Russia are ramping up aggressive off-shore agencies, with a highly-educated English-speaking workforce that works for pennies on our dollar. I know from personal experience that corporations don't get the same throughput from these off-shore employees, but it's pretty tantalizing for executives who need to trim their costs while maintaining revenue.

My condolences to those who have been, or soon will be, laid off. The economy seems to slowly be coming out of its slump. Keep your heads up...

Exactly! Fucken A right on the money.

Cool, thanks man. Checking it out now.