[VOA]

SpyderTim,
If you are in the telecom sector, it's been (and probably will continue to be)
a tough situation.

I have a cousin in Dallas (aka "Telecom Gulch"), who is a prosperous electrical engineer
doing web/database setups...but he has lots of friends/fellow engineers
that have been put on the street with the telecom meltdown.

Me, I'm in a sector of molecular biology.....stable work, only middling compensation
(partly due to the influx of every biochemist/molecular biologist from the former
USSR, Mainland China, and the British Commonwealth that can afford a plane ticket).
I'm not xenophobic, but the influx over the past 10 years probably has depressed wages for
at least the short-haul; probably will help the USA stay strong in the sector for
the long haul.

Good luck with the hunt!

[Myrddin]

Me, I'm in a sector of molecular biology.....stable work, only middling compensation

I graduated from Revelle College, UCSD in 1976 with a BA in Molecular Biology. Job prospects were not great at the time. I headed to grad school to pursue an MS in pathogenic bacteriology. Along the way, I decided that the rewards of smelling agar cooking in the lab, writing research papers and drawing a small income didn't make sense. The local FCC office fixed me up with a First Class Radiotelephone license with RADAR endorsement for a couple nights of study and 45 minutes sitting for the exam. 25 years later, my bookshelves are loaded with EE and CS texts. Having a cross functional set of skills in hardware and software engineering is a great way to dodge unemployment. There is always something interesting available and it usually pays fairly well.