IT jobs a nightmare to get
May 1st 2007, 10:31 am
#61
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Posts: 4,104
Re: IT jobs a nightmare to get
Well, if anyone needs a programmer in Saskatoon, let me know 
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May 1st 2007, 1:12 pm
#62
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 63
Re: IT jobs a nightmare to get
Hi all,
I've read this thread with fascination. I live in Victoria (have for 5.5yrs) and commute weekly to Vancouver (company has an office in both cities to work out of). We are having a devil of a job finding the right people. We're not looking for programming skills (perl and shell - but not heavyweight development folks) - but serious Windows people with Storage, Virtualisation and cluster experience. All the IT people I meet and network with all say the same thing as we experience - we can't find people.
With regard to speed, we've interviewed a few people over the least few months and the interviews go like this. Interview in the afternoon as a first pass, discuss terms, fly them to Victoria the next day for the Exec interview and job offer is made (did one last week, resume in my inbox on Monday, Vancouver interview on Wed, Victoria interview on Thursday and offer made there and then) - doesn't look slow to me.
I do agree that networking is the key in Vancouver and Victoria - it hasn't got to be painfull just find the local groups like CIPS or a SIG and go and meet people. You do have to sell yourself - something that takes a little getting used to but it's just a different way of doing things - give it a go and dive in.
Some Vancouver Island job postings;
http://www.infotechvi.com/tech_jobp.php
http://www.viatec.ca/job/job.php
If you like reading numbers then have a look at this report.
http://www.bctia.org/files/PDF/TechT...t_Feb_2007.pdf
There's also a looming public sector skills shortage as the baby boomers retire in the next few years or so - all of the BC Government jobs are now 'out of service' which means anyone can apply. The Olympics are in Vancouver in 2010 and they are going to need a bunch of people. The economy is hot.....etc.....
Good luck everyone.
Cheers - Steve
I've read this thread with fascination. I live in Victoria (have for 5.5yrs) and commute weekly to Vancouver (company has an office in both cities to work out of). We are having a devil of a job finding the right people. We're not looking for programming skills (perl and shell - but not heavyweight development folks) - but serious Windows people with Storage, Virtualisation and cluster experience. All the IT people I meet and network with all say the same thing as we experience - we can't find people.
With regard to speed, we've interviewed a few people over the least few months and the interviews go like this. Interview in the afternoon as a first pass, discuss terms, fly them to Victoria the next day for the Exec interview and job offer is made (did one last week, resume in my inbox on Monday, Vancouver interview on Wed, Victoria interview on Thursday and offer made there and then) - doesn't look slow to me.
I do agree that networking is the key in Vancouver and Victoria - it hasn't got to be painfull just find the local groups like CIPS or a SIG and go and meet people. You do have to sell yourself - something that takes a little getting used to but it's just a different way of doing things - give it a go and dive in.
Some Vancouver Island job postings;
http://www.infotechvi.com/tech_jobp.php
http://www.viatec.ca/job/job.php
If you like reading numbers then have a look at this report.
http://www.bctia.org/files/PDF/TechT...t_Feb_2007.pdf
There's also a looming public sector skills shortage as the baby boomers retire in the next few years or so - all of the BC Government jobs are now 'out of service' which means anyone can apply. The Olympics are in Vancouver in 2010 and they are going to need a bunch of people. The economy is hot.....etc.....
Good luck everyone.
Cheers - Steve
Cheers, Rob.
May 1st 2007, 5:27 pm
#63
Lapine Member
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: Austin, Texas in my own little world
Posts: 21,691
Re: IT jobs a nightmare to get
I'll bet that most people with SAN and clustering experience are going to be UNIX-based.
May 2nd 2007, 5:48 am
#64
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Posts: 164
Re: IT jobs a nightmare to get
Sure, ask away.
The reason we're looking for Windows guys is that at the moment we have enough Unix guys (I'm in the Unix bunch) and we just filled a Unix position in Vancouver that we've been trying to fill for a while.
With regard to the SAN and Clustering we are finding demand for Windows/Cluster (Microsoft, Veritas and technologies such as Neverfail) as well as hooking these guys up to SANs. The SAN experience comes in handy for things such as VMWare VMFS/HA/DRS - the Windows/VMware guys at an enterprise level need to have an understanding of how the servers will interect with SAN and NAS devices (as well as being able to talk networking protocols etc...).
As well as being Solaris or Microsoft certified our guys are certified in complimentary technologies (until recently I was also a CCNP), such as storage, web servers etc.... It's the way our company works and it allows you to talk intelligently (sometimes) with a whole range of people at customers sites.
Cheers - Steve
The reason we're looking for Windows guys is that at the moment we have enough Unix guys (I'm in the Unix bunch) and we just filled a Unix position in Vancouver that we've been trying to fill for a while.
With regard to the SAN and Clustering we are finding demand for Windows/Cluster (Microsoft, Veritas and technologies such as Neverfail) as well as hooking these guys up to SANs. The SAN experience comes in handy for things such as VMWare VMFS/HA/DRS - the Windows/VMware guys at an enterprise level need to have an understanding of how the servers will interect with SAN and NAS devices (as well as being able to talk networking protocols etc...).
As well as being Solaris or Microsoft certified our guys are certified in complimentary technologies (until recently I was also a CCNP), such as storage, web servers etc.... It's the way our company works and it allows you to talk intelligently (sometimes) with a whole range of people at customers sites.
Cheers - Steve
May 8th 2007, 9:11 am
#65
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2007
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Posts: 148
Re: IT jobs a nightmare to get
Hi Recent Lander....
I am in the process of emigrating to Canada, just waiting for the results of my medical to come through....
I am in IT as well (PC Support / Rollouts, etc) and a friend of mine who is also in IT who left the UK to go to Canada about 6 years ago had the same problem. Networking is the answer. My mate worked at companies for free for a period, and landed his first job by working at an IT seminar (for free!!) by setting up an IT stand and someone commented on his good work, and before he knew it, he was offered a job!!
I have looked at the job market there (I'm sure like you have!!!) and I have had a lot of exposure with Blackberry devices / rollouts / migrations, and I plan to get a job with RIM in Waterloo....I have heard though that RIM is a closed shop and are very very hard to get a job with....
I hope you have found a position since you posted this thread. It would be nice to know if you have, and what you had to do to get a position.
Take care and I hope everything has worked out...
I am in the process of emigrating to Canada, just waiting for the results of my medical to come through....
I am in IT as well (PC Support / Rollouts, etc) and a friend of mine who is also in IT who left the UK to go to Canada about 6 years ago had the same problem. Networking is the answer. My mate worked at companies for free for a period, and landed his first job by working at an IT seminar (for free!!) by setting up an IT stand and someone commented on his good work, and before he knew it, he was offered a job!!
I have looked at the job market there (I'm sure like you have!!!) and I have had a lot of exposure with Blackberry devices / rollouts / migrations, and I plan to get a job with RIM in Waterloo....I have heard though that RIM is a closed shop and are very very hard to get a job with....
I hope you have found a position since you posted this thread. It would be nice to know if you have, and what you had to do to get a position.
Take care and I hope everything has worked out...
