Slightly used PB developer on the street

[Former Member]

First mistake:

I thought I had a sunset job, i.e., a comfy position with a stable company that I could hold on to until retirement age (5 years to go).

Second Mistake:

Not learning anything but PowerBuilder.

The inevitable happened:

'Stable' company's parent sold to another investment firm. Firm didn't want the satellite divisions (us and another). Satellite divisions sold to a competitor. We find out tomorrow by meeting with new company's HR if we have employment and for how long.

So... what's the PB field like out there? Still a lot of contract positions?

Larry Molter

It sucks being a dinosaur.

[former_member190719 · Accepted solution]

A couple of suggestions:

1.  Do a search on twitter on "powerbuilder".  Better yet, get a feed set up, I have one to my FlipBoard account.  Most of the traffic seems to be contract positions.

2.  Set up a feed on indeed.com for powebuilder positions.  You can customize it to locations you want to work in.

3.  Set up a google alert for web posts about powerbuilder.

There seem to be lots of contract positions out there still.  You might have to travel a bit more, and the contracts may be for shorter periods.

See this ISUG TECH article from Rik Brooks as well.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Bruce, I haven't tried the Twitter searches, and I just discovered indeed.com. After I get really down later this week after meeting with HR, I'll ramp up the searches. Thanks.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Rik is currently contracting at my company!

[former_member190719 · Accepted solution]

Great thing about indeed is that it consolidates all the various job sites.  So you don't have to search dice.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, etc individually.

Couple more tips.

1.  Touch up your resume on LinkedIn and start checking some of the groups there.

2.  If you start talking to headhunters, make sure that you don't end up having two or more submit your name for the same position.  That's the kiss of death for your being placed there, because the company then wouldn't know which one to credit for putting you in contact with them.

3.  Along the lines of 2 above, don't just send your resume out to a bunch of headhunters.  They'll all farm it out to any and all job openings they know of, and then you'll end up with multiple submissions to the same company(ies).  Instead, only let them submit your resume to specific openings that you have discussed with them, and discuss the opening enough with them to ensure that you haven't already been submitted there by someone else.

[Former Member]

Hi Larry,

First, the good news: There are PowerBuilder jobs (Contract and Full Time) to allow you  to complete the 5 years left for your retirement.

Second, the bad news: You may have to travel.

Now, the suggestions:

1. For contract positions the best website is Dice.com (there are full time positions here too)

2. For full time positions Monster.com is the best option

3. Create/Update your profile on LinkedIn

4. Send me you contact info. I get emails for PB positions, but I'm not interested right now. I'll pass that info to you. My email: msoftware at hotmail dot com

[Former Member]

Hi Larry,

Sorry to hear that. The perception of job stability is a flaw in human nature me thinks. I think the market right now is actually pretty good for all developers including PB. If you live in a large market you may find PB work locally. If you don't, you will probably have to travel while you broaden your skill set (think Pluralsight in the evenings). We've got contractors from all over the place: WI, TX, GA simply because there aren't any PB developers in our area and apparently no PB jobs where they're from.

We're currently looking for another PB developer. Our HR is involved in the process these days. They use several recruiting firms; MDI, Acentron, Teksystems, Perceptive Recruting, SystemTec. There may be others. I can only tell by the resume headings that float my way (I'm looking for a .Net developer myself). You can also look on websites like LinkedIn, Dice, Monster and the like for something.

Get a haircut, trim your nose hairs,  polish off your resume and get it out there immediately.

Time to make lemonade out of lemons.

Good Luck!,

Mark

[Former Member]

Hi Larry;

First of all ... my sincere condolences. 

Second of all .. I really hope that the new owner keeps you on for another 5 years (I'm in the same boat)! 

To answer your question - along with what Bruce suggested - try www.Monster.com. A friend of mine has had some great luck as of late using that vehicle.

Regards ... Chris

As they say in Canada ... "Keep your stick on the ice, I'm pulling for ya!"

[Former Member]

Thanks, Chris. We'll know this week about our status. I spent some time this morning looking at Monster. Gee, I really don't want to travel again. I'm only 4 miles from home here. Kinda got used to it. Stoopid mergers.

If I touch my resume on Monster or Dice, it sends out pheromones to all the headhunters sniffing around. Not ready for the onslaught yet.

Thinking positively (for a change). But you know, with business, if in your mind something makes sense (like keeping us on as a wholly-owned subsidiary), they'll do just the opposite and close up shop.

Not a good time for turmoil.

Are you at risk?