Computer Jobs in small towns

[Patt]

I live in a small town (7000 in town, 15000 within 30 minutes drive), and am currently a programmer/analyst at a pulp mill north of my town. I am mostly an analyst, though I would prefer to get deeper into the programming side of things.

Anyone else work in a small town, and have a technology job somewhere I might not have thought of (school divisions, town office, provincial office (state office) etc.).

Part of what is prompting me to look for work closer to town is the fact that for the third time this winter, I narrowly avoided hitting a deer, and the jackass behind me nearly rear-ended me :| I'm tired of driving in poor conditions for more than an hour a day.

 

[pontifex]

good luck.
if you do find something its probably not going to pay very well.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: pontifex
good luck.
if you do find something its probably not going to pay very well.

I'm paid pretty well where I am now, but I'm basically away from home for almost 11 hours a day because of the commute. I'm not averse to lower wages, so long as it makes the quality of my life better. Cost of living is pretty decent here.

 

[xchangx]

Check out the hospital, maybe an analyst position that could possibly lead to a director

 

[cyclistca]

With things going crazy in the oil patch maybe you could work from home. Try companies in Calgary.

 

[adairusmc]

I work in a small town, right now working as a network engineer for the local internet service provider. Only about 10,000 people in my town.

All I had to do is apply for the job.

 

[lokiju]

Get some of those deer whistles for your bumper?

 

[Scarpozzi]

I used to live in a decent-sized town (50k people), but commuted 45 minutes to a small town to work (15k people)..... Sometimes it's hard to find a decent job in a small area. You have to consider the stability of the business (aka job security) as well as pay and the responsibility level itself. (ex...working for a small office of 5 people, versus working for a national/multi-national corporation hq) The latter tends to add a little extra stress overall.

Just evaluate what industries are in your area and make a list. Then seek out their websites and see what they're offering from month to month. The chances of a good job being available year-end is unlikely unless they're in expansion for some reason. Most things tend to slowdown this time of year.

 

[Wapp]

Originally posted by: lokiju
Get some of those deer whistles for your bumper?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_whistle

Scientific studies of these devices have indicated that they do not in fact reduce collisions.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: cyclistca
With things going crazy in the oil patch maybe you could work from home. Try companies in Calgary.

That is a great idea ... I would love to be able to work from home most days, and run out into the field if things necessitated it. The oil patch is indeed going crazy right now, I guess part of the angle I have to find is Oil Patch software to support. Anyone work in the patch and know of commonly used S/W?

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: lokiju
Get some of those deer whistles for your bumper?

As quoted earlier, they don't work. The deer and moose around here are plentiful, and I know several people who have them who have written off cars. Thanks for the suggestion though

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: pontifex
good luck.
if you do find something its probably not going to pay very well.

I'm paid pretty well where I am now, but I'm basically away from home for almost 11 hours a day because of the commute. I'm not averse to lower wages, so long as it makes the quality of my life better. Cost of living is pretty decent here.

You can't move closer to work?

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: pontifex
good luck.
if you do find something its probably not going to pay very well.

I'm paid pretty well where I am now, but I'm basically away from home for almost 11 hours a day because of the commute. I'm not averse to lower wages, so long as it makes the quality of my life better. Cost of living is pretty decent here.

You can't move closer to work?

Well, technically that is an option, but it would mean moving to an acreage, which my wife isn't cool with at this point in our lives (with a 3 month old ). We like living right in town, as nearly everything is walk-able, and we live right near our river.

 

[mercanucaribe]

You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

Look at http://www.gjc.com or google "GIS jobs".

Many of them want .NET and ASP experience. Others want SQL and other database stuff. Some want CAD experience. I don't even know whether you need GIS experience for a programming job. They could just tell you to do some online courses.

Unfortunately, I don't know any of this stuff because I'm a geographer not a programmer. My major was geography at UTexas and I took a lot of GIS coursework, but they really want people who also program.

 

[vi edit]

Having lived in small(er) towns a lot of my life, you really are very limited.

An overwhelming percentage of the time you are either going to be looking at a commute like you currently have, or moving like you really don't want to do. That's the just the reality of living in a small bedroom community. Unless you have a large factory or industry plant of some sort local you have very little options available, especially in the tech field. Employers that do have tech positions usually have a waiting list of current employees wanting the job or have zero turnover because the people currently in the job know they are in a good gig.

Tech & rural go together about as well as urban and raising cattle.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

Look at http://www.gjc.com or google "GIS jobs".

Many of them want .NET and ASP experience. Others want SQL and other database stuff. Some want CAD experience. I don't even know whether you need GIS experience for a programming job. They could just tell you to do some online courses.

Unfortunately, I don't know any of this stuff because I'm a geographer not a programmer. My major was geography at UTexas and I took a lot of GIS coursework, but they really want people who also program.

Thanks for the link and the info. I used to work for a Forestry Consulting firm that had a GIS-based software product, but I only maintained the database, and wrote little utilities that fiddled with data, but didn't actually touch the GIS stuff.

Edit: the link is actually http://www.gjc.org

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

Look at http://www.gjc.com or google "GIS jobs".

Many of them want .NET and ASP experience. Others want SQL and other database stuff. Some want CAD experience. I don't even know whether you need GIS experience for a programming job. They could just tell you to do some online courses.

Unfortunately, I don't know any of this stuff because I'm a geographer not a programmer. My major was geography at UTexas and I took a lot of GIS coursework, but they really want people who also program.

Thanks for the link and the info. I used to work for a Forestry Consulting firm that had a GIS-based software product, but I only maintained the database, and wrote little utilities that fiddled with data, but didn't actually touch the GIS stuff.

Edit: the link is actually http://www.gjc.org

No wonder I can't find a job!

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

Look at http://www.gjc.com or google "GIS jobs".

Many of them want .NET and ASP experience. Others want SQL and other database stuff. Some want CAD experience. I don't even know whether you need GIS experience for a programming job. They could just tell you to do some online courses.

Unfortunately, I don't know any of this stuff because I'm a geographer not a programmer. My major was geography at UTexas and I took a lot of GIS coursework, but they really want people who also program.

Thanks for the link and the info. I used to work for a Forestry Consulting firm that had a GIS-based software product, but I only maintained the database, and wrote little utilities that fiddled with data, but didn't actually touch the GIS stuff.

Edit: the link is actually http://www.gjc.org

No wonder I can't find a job!

I've spent the last while researching what sort of work a programmer can do in the GIS field. Again, thanks for the idea.

 

[fisheerman]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You don't like cities?

I don't know why you can't find jobs in small towns. I see lots of GIS job postings in Podunkville, which I don't apply to because I don't want to live there.

As a matter of fact, I don't like cities that much. My wife and I are perfectly happy in the small town life. Do you work in GIS? What sort of experience do you need for GIS programming type jobs? With oil and forestry industries active in the area, GIS might just be something to look closer at.

Look at http://www.gjc.com or google "GIS jobs".

Many of them want .NET and ASP experience. Others want SQL and other database stuff. Some want CAD experience. I don't even know whether you need GIS experience for a programming job. They could just tell you to do some online courses.

Unfortunately, I don't know any of this stuff because I'm a geographer not a programmer. My major was geography at UTexas and I took a lot of GIS coursework, but they really want people who also program.

Thanks for the link and the info. I used to work for a Forestry Consulting firm that had a GIS-based software product, but I only maintained the database, and wrote little utilities that fiddled with data, but didn't actually touch the GIS stuff.

Edit: the link is actually http://www.gjc.org

No wonder I can't find a job!

I've spent the last while researching what sort of work a programmer can do in the GIS field. Again, thanks for the idea.

I is a GIS developer what do you want to know?

-fish

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: fisheerman

I is a GIS developer what do you want to know?

-fish

I want to know what sort of background is necessary to get into the field: my background, briefly follows: CS diploma from a technical institute (2 years + coop), 5+ years programmer/analyst work experience including VB(v6 and earlier), Java and heavy emphasis on SQL Server and Oracle client/server programming. I have worked for a Forestry consulting company as mentioned in an earlier post, and worked on peripheral apps for a GIS-enabled app. Currently I'm working at a pulp mill, but in mainly a non-programming/hands-on type of position.

What do you do, and what sort of opportunities related to Forestry and/or oil patch could you see an individual consultant/employee being able to find.

 

[fisheerman]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: fisheerman

I is a GIS developer what do you want to know?

-fish

I want to know what sort of background is necessary to get into the field: my background, briefly follows: CS diploma from a technical institute (2 years + coop), 5+ years programmer/analyst work experience including VB(v6 and earlier), Java and heavy emphasis on SQL Server and Oracle client/server programming. I have worked for a Forestry consulting company as mentioned in an earlier post, and worked on peripheral apps for a GIS-enabled app. Currently I'm working at a pulp mill, but in mainly a non-programming/hands-on type of position.

What do you do, and what sort of opportunities related to Forestry and/or oil patch could you see an individual consultant/employee being able to find.

I am a senior web developer that creates highend application like what you see on TV ie (google earth, microsoft virtual earth, etc.). that's the cool stuff that the news uses to show those pretty pictures with the earth zooming in and aerial photos of the places.

If I were giving advice on how to start this is what I would start with.
All of the data that is used to drive all of these pictures is stored in huge databases so knowing relational databases is a huge plus (oracle, sql server, etc). The application part is mostly just straight web dev ie java and .net. XML is and variants of are used to communicate with said data (KML, GML, ArcXML etc) so getting a basic understanding of XML is going to help as well.

For the GIS specific I would learn something like the ESRI (you can google that) platforms because they are the most widespread GIS software makers out there. other players include Integraph(bah), MapInfo, and Oracle is getting into the game. If you learn some of the ESRI softwares you will always be able to find a job.......

GIS is exploding into every piece of IT so it isn't going anywhere. When I started back in 96 it was just getting a foot hold but now it is everywhere. It seems like it is going to be in high demand for a while

Great field and if you can get more on the IT {ie developer, database admin, proj man} side of it and away from the analyst side you can pretty much write your own ticket.

hope this helps

-fish

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: fisheerman

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: fisheerman

I is a GIS developer what do you want to know?

-fish

I want to know what sort of background is necessary to get into the field: my background, briefly follows: CS diploma from a technical institute (2 years + coop), 5+ years programmer/analyst work experience including VB(v6 and earlier), Java and heavy emphasis on SQL Server and Oracle client/server programming. I have worked for a Forestry consulting company as mentioned in an earlier post, and worked on peripheral apps for a GIS-enabled app. Currently I'm working at a pulp mill, but in mainly a non-programming/hands-on type of position.

What do you do, and what sort of opportunities related to Forestry and/or oil patch could you see an individual consultant/employee being able to find.

I am a senior web developer that creates highend application like what you see on TV ie (google earth, microsoft virtual earth, etc.). that's the cool stuff that the news uses to show those pretty pictures with the earth zooming in and aerial photos of the places.

If I were giving advice on how to start this is what I would start with.
All of the data that is used to drive all of these pictures is stored in huge databases so knowing relational databases is a huge plus (oracle, sql server, etc). The application part is mostly just straight web dev ie java and .net. XML is and variants of are used to communicate with said data (KML, GML, ArcXML etc) so getting a basic understanding of XML is going to help as well.

For the GIS specific I would learn something like the ESRI (you can google that) platforms because they are the most widespread GIS software makers out there. other players include Integraph(bah), MapInfo, and Oracle is getting into the game. If you learn some of the ESRI softwares you will always be able to find a job.......

GIS is exploding into every piece of IT so it isn't going anywhere. When I started back in 96 it was just getting a foot hold but now it is everywhere. It seems like it is going to be in high demand for a while

Great field and if you can get more on the IT {ie developer, database admin, proj man} side of it and away from the analyst side you can pretty much write your own ticket.

hope this helps

-fish

I really appreciate the info. As a matter of fact the company I used to work for was a partner with ESRI, so I am familiar with some of their products already.

I am going to look into this a further, and may contact you with questions at some point in the future if that's cool. Do you know any good GIS Developer forums?

Thanks.

 

[fisheerman]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: fisheerman

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: fisheerman

I is a GIS developer what do you want to know?

-fish

I want to know what sort of background is necessary to get into the field: my background, briefly follows: CS diploma from a technical institute (2 years + coop), 5+ years programmer/analyst work experience including VB(v6 and earlier), Java and heavy emphasis on SQL Server and Oracle client/server programming. I have worked for a Forestry consulting company as mentioned in an earlier post, and worked on peripheral apps for a GIS-enabled app. Currently I'm working at a pulp mill, but in mainly a non-programming/hands-on type of position.

What do you do, and what sort of opportunities related to Forestry and/or oil patch could you see an individual consultant/employee being able to find.

I am a senior web developer that creates highend application like what you see on TV ie (google earth, microsoft virtual earth, etc.). that's the cool stuff that the news uses to show those pretty pictures with the earth zooming in and aerial photos of the places.

If I were giving advice on how to start this is what I would start with.
All of the data that is used to drive all of these pictures is stored in huge databases so knowing relational databases is a huge plus (oracle, sql server, etc). The application part is mostly just straight web dev ie java and .net. XML is and variants of are used to communicate with said data (KML, GML, ArcXML etc) so getting a basic understanding of XML is going to help as well.

For the GIS specific I would learn something like the ESRI (you can google that) platforms because they are the most widespread GIS software makers out there. other players include Integraph(bah), MapInfo, and Oracle is getting into the game. If you learn some of the ESRI softwares you will always be able to find a job.......

GIS is exploding into every piece of IT so it isn't going anywhere. When I started back in 96 it was just getting a foot hold but now it is everywhere. It seems like it is going to be in high demand for a while

Great field and if you can get more on the IT {ie developer, database admin, proj man} side of it and away from the analyst side you can pretty much write your own ticket.

hope this helps

-fish

I really appreciate the info. As a matter of fact the company I used to work for was a partner with ESRI, so I am familiar with some of their products already.

I am going to look into this a further, and may contact you with questions at some point in the future if that's cool. Do you know any good GIS Developer forums?

Thanks.

Ask away......

For GIS specific ESRI has some very good forums for posting question and such
ESRI Forums

For straight up web dev hard to beat
Microsoft ASP.NET
4 GUYS
JAVA

late

-fish