Java job market in NYC: Healthy, or not so healthy?

[Irving Fried]

Jumping back into the Java job market, I'm not sure what to expect.
After a week of putting my resume out - responding to various ads on
careerbuilder.com, I feel like it's pretty dead out there.

 

[Manish Pandit]

I'd say 1 week is too early to judge

Try monster, dice and hotjobs too, that is sure to help.

-cheers,
Manish

 

[Irving Fried]

But what do you think about the market itself? A friend at IBM just
told me it's weak. I had been hearing it was strengthing over the last
few months, but now it's cooling off. I also heard a position that was
interesting to me, at an investment bank, has now been cancelled for
budgetary reasons. It would be a shame if it was cooling off.

 

[Manish Pandit]

I have not been out in the market for a while (last it was Oct '03) but
as far as the bay area (CA) goes, things seem to be okay. If you are
just a plain vanilla java developer with no specialization
(J2EE/Webservices/XML....), it might be hard, but you *will* land a job
out here. It might not be a big paycheck though. All and all bay area
java market seems to be alright, based on the list of openings on
various jobsites.

Again, if you are betting on pure java skills, it will be tough as
there are cheaper alternatives (offshore, inshore) but if you manage to
take it to the next level by adding leadership, architecture and
specialization to your skillset, it will definitely be honored. Hope
this helps!

-cheers,
Manish