This week in one of my career planning classes a student asked if they should bother to look for work given all of the bad economic news.  The economy is slowing down, and for many people it is probably going to get a bit harder to find a job.  People are using the R word freely.  There is plenty of negative news about the housing market, and the gyrations on Wall Street are enough to make you motion sick.

Now is not the time to panic.  Nor is it the time to get swallowed up by the daily business reports.  I like to take time to analyze information before I panic.  Then if necessary I can panic with the best of them.   Right now I see no reason for panic.

I have a five-stage barometer to gauge the demand for engineers and computer scientists.  Actually I have used it for over 20 years to describe the demand for engineering and computer science grads, much to their amusement or dismay, depending on the stage we find ourselves in.  Here are the stages and my assessment of the current situation for engineering and computer science candidates:

Stage 1  - Forget it and go back to graduate school, there are no jobs

Stage 2  - Must walk on water

Stage 3  - Must have a Master’s degree or a Bachelor’s degree and experience

Stage 4  - Must have a Bachelor’s degree and good communication skills

Stage 5 - Must have a Bachelor’s degree and a heart beat

We seem to be somewhere in between stage 4 and stage 5.  For most of our engineering and computer science majors, we are definitely in stage 5.  Right now civil engineers and construction management types - the dirt, air, water people - are in the very best position. Everyone else is in fine shape at stage 4 or better.

In any market, finding a job is a challenge.  It takes time, a plan, and it takes perseverance.  The reality is that getting a job takes about 3 to 6 months. You have to land your resume in the right places, go through multiple interviews with multiple companies, and then finally get hired. For engineers and computer professionals the state is the biggest game in town and getting hired frequently takes 6 months from exam to actual hire.

For most people entering the job market right now, it is going to be a life long process.  You will be looking for a job many times because jobs no longer last a lifetime. Companies operating in a global marketplace react quickly to economic changes. W hen there are no projects, they start laying people off.  It is a survival thing.

So, should you just sit on the couch and wait for someone to call just because the market is good?  NO!  You need to be just as active as you would be if the market was in any of the five stages.  Even at stage one, the really aggressive candidates get jobs… Working hard is part of the deal when it comes to job seeking.

What should you be doing?

Here are the 5 elements of a good, proactive job search:
 
Develop an awareness of what industries are growing and what organizations are likely to be hiring. Read the newspaper,  keep up to date on the research in technical journals, follow your field online,  and get the facts.  Figure out what social, political, technical or economic changes are going to create jobs. For example,  right now many organizations are anticipating huge retirements and have to hire immediately. Big crises also create jobs: fires, floods, bridge failures, energy shortages,  etc.
Focus in on what you are really good at and what really interests you. Start with identifying your most motivated skills, knowledge areas, and interests. No one gets hired for being mildly interested in something. What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? What did you love learning about? What knowledge do you have that you want to apply?
Organize your job search! Develop a database and keep track of all of your job search contacts and documents. Then, construct a job search binder with dividers. Include a calendar, to do lists, contact section, application section, and ideas section. Get A to Z indexes and include them where necessary. Put together a “daily to do” list. Knowing what you will do tomorrow is important because if you waste your time, you waste your life…
Develop a solid job search strategy. It should include a combination of networking, web job seeking, resume posting and professional activities. Network with faculty, alumni, friends and anyone you’ve met who could lead you to career or job information, and ultimately a job. Post your resume on the Career Services Office web site. Watch JETX for jobs. Join your professional organization. Take an EIT study course. Get your EIT!
Develop your professional job search presentation. You will need to have a fabulous resume, a professional interview outfit, job related correspondence templates, a portfolio of your work samples and writing samples. This is no time to be cheap. You will have more confidence if you look good on all of these levels.

This is the backbone of my career planning class and my book, “The Ultimate Career Planning Manual for Engineers and Computer Scientists”. If you have time, take the class. If you don’t have time, get the book and get moving. There is economic uncertainty and you need to get in before the storm.

Do you need help with passing the EIT /FE exam?
EIT (FE) Exam Help Seminars sponsored by CSPE

Are you signed up for the EIT exam this spring (or do you know some who is), would you like to know how to pass the exam from professional engineers who have passed the exam? California Society of Professional Engineers, CSPE a nonprofit engineering society dedicated to enrichment of the engineering profession, is sponsoring Fundamentals of Engineering (FE/EIT) exam review seminars.

If you are interested in what the exam is all about and how to pass it, you may want to check out the CSPE web site, www.cspe.com.

The FE Seminar is a one day seminar (6 hours or so depending on questions). The fee for the seminar comes with membership in the California and National Society of Professional Engineers. Seminar attendees will have access to seminar notes and seminar website. The seminar also covers how students can apply for a grant to cover exam fees. There is also a discount for members of engineering societies.

The EIT(FE) Seminars compliment your exam review (review courses or review on your own). The Seminars focus on the exam and how to pass the exam. The seminars cover:

1. What is the exam, how to approach it, what are the best strategies to pass the exam.


2. How is the exam organized; what is the best way to get through the exam to get the most points.


3. What are the high probability questions that will be asked on the exam, what are the things to know in each topic area, and how to solve the problems fastest way to get the most points on the exam.
   

For more information on the seminars and CSPE: http://www.cspe.com/FunctionalAreas/StudentYouth/ddseminar.htm

To sign up for the seminar: http://cspe.quartzvalley.com

Please forward to a colleague who would be interested.

California Short on engineers, but Schwarzenegger’s plan will help

By Victoria Bradshaw and Carl Guardino 
Article Launched: 03/17/2008 01:33:19 AM PDT 
Reprinted with Permission
 
It’s hard to imagine an occupation more emblematic of California’s enterprising spirit than that of engineer. Half a century ago, the professional engineers of this state designed public works projects that helped transform explosive population growth into economic dominance. More recently, their technical expertise led to innovations that have changed the global marketplace. 

California’s competitiveness is threatened by a shortage of engineers turned out by the state’s colleges and universities. 

Four years after a National Science Foundation report found that South Korea awards almost the same number of degrees as the United States, a shortfall of engineers persists in California. The looming retirement of thousands of engineers will exacerbate the problem. 

Unless action is taken now, the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency projects California will fall 40,000 engineers short of the number needed in 2014. Over the next six years there will be 12,600 job openings for civil engineers, 7,400 openings for computer engineers and 2,200 openings for environmental engineers. 

The promise of reduced oil dependence through advances in green technology, the leading role the state enjoys in biotechnology and nanotechnology and the improvements envisioned by voters who approved $42 billion in infrastructure bonds last year all depend on an ample supply of well-educated engineers. 

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his partners have developed a plan to bring approximately 20,000 new engineers educated in California into the workforce by 2014. 

The plan calls for establishing new programs at University of California and California State University campuses to expedite certification for military veterans with engineering degrees. Every year approximately 3,000 veterans with engineering-related military assignments are discharged to California. We owe them every opportunity to succeed in the civilian workforce. 

The governor also is directing $1 million in federal workforce investment funds to be used to develop new apprenticeship programs sponsored by the community college system and private industry partners. To bring more private funds into "pipeline" programs that help move math and science students into the engineering field, the Engineering Education Council has been formed. 

Finally, to foster immersion in engineering instruction at the K-12 level, the governor plans to expand the statewide charter of High Tech High. This network of 10 engineering-focused schools gives students a project-based learning environment emphasizing math and science. 

California should always embrace the diversity of ideas that foreign-born professionals contribute. For years, foreign students who went through engineering programs in California or who were educated abroad would easily find work and stay. But as economies in developing nations have flourished, an increasing number of these engineers have returned to work in their home countries, widening the workforce gap in California. 

Schwarzenegger’s initiative represents a top-to-bottom approach that will help solve this shortage, creating a pipeline of young people pointed toward the engineering fields and at the same time helping veterans convert their military experience into professional certification - and once again, our homegrown engineers will be the engine of California’s economy. 
 
VICTORIA BRADSHAW is secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. 
CARL GUARDINO is president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. They wrote this article for the SJ Mercury News. Reprinted with permission in CSUS College of Engineering and Computer Science Career Updates 

March 2008
Company Information & Interview Sessions
 
Meade Construction Group, Inc.
CE, CM Majors
March 20 Info Session 11:00 – 12:30 pm in the Lobby Suite, UU…..FREE Pizza
March 20 Interviews in RVR 2006: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

CGI
CM, CS Majors
March 25 Interviews in RVR 2012: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

Kiewit Pacific Co.
CE, CM Majors
March 25 Info Session 5:30 – 6:30 pm in Riverside Hall 3014…..FREE Food
March 26 Interviews in RVR 2006: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

S.J. Amoroso Construction
CE, CM Majors
March 25 Info Session 12:00 – 1:00 pm in Riverside Hall 2018…..FREE Togo’s
March 25 Interviews in RVR 2006: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

NEC Electronics
EEE, ME Majors
March 27 Interviews in RVR 2006, 2012, 3014: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

PG&E
CE, CM, EEE, ME Majors
March 28 Interviews in RVR 2006, 2012: see 
www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students for resume submission info 

Fabulous Opportunity for CM, CE, MET major!

Meade Construction Group, Inc. is interviewing  will hold interviews for: Project Engineers

Free Food- The company is hosting a pizza lunch from 11-12:30 on Thursday, March 20th and will give a presentation on the cool things the company does. They are a high tech and health care construction firm located in San Jose.  The company is 5 years old and has grow in size to $50 Million.  They are the fastest growing contractor in Silicon Valley.  They are hiring for Project Engineers for data centers, bio-tech labs, clean rooms, hospitals, operating areas.  For more info http://www.meadegroup.biz.

Bring your resume or just come and listen.  Interviews open all afternoon,  sign-up at PIZZA LUNCH!  

LOBBY SUITE, FIRST FLOOR UNIVERSITY UNION!!!

Thursday - March 20, 2008 (multiple interviews times are available)
Start time 11:00am
End time 4:00pm

Majors Sought: CE CM MET 

Length of each interview: 30 min.

For position details: http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students/ 

After reviewing the information  - Andy Meade will review resumes and schedule candidates for interview to be held in RVR 2006
Candidates will get a phone call or email if Meade Construction Group, Inc. is interested in interviewing them!

Join SJ Amoroso for Lunch in RVR 2018 at 12:00 Tuesday, March 25th!!!  

Info Session- 12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm - Interviews this afternoon - Sign up to interview at lunch!!! Lunch will be Served! 

DROP BY ANY TIME DURING THE LUNCH HOUR!!!

Interviews all day  

S.J. Amoroso will be in Riverside Hall 2006. 

They are seeking to hire for career and student positions- Construction Management or Civil Engineering majors.  Openings throughout California!

Resumes can be submitted to stafford@ecs.csus.edu or see Anyssa in RVR 2014.  Interviews will be scheduled at the time of resume submission. Interview Sign-ups can also be taken at the Info Session.  

If you are unable to attend the Informational Session or/and On-Campus Interviews, please email your resume to: 

CJ Der Matoian 
Recruiting Coordinator/Human Resources 
email - cdermatoian@sjamoroso.com 
Fax (949)454-1736

Hello Cici,

My team (GSTL) is looking for new grad hires and interns to work with the Roseville low-end server’s firmware team.  They would prefer candidates who have taken CSC 159.  They have actually ran out of new grads to interview from a nationwide pool.

The interviewer is a Sac state graduate and believes that we would have an easier time finding a new hire from UC Davis or Sac State (actual words from his mouth).  Understanding of computer architecture is desired (funny because I never took CSC 159).  Do you have any worthy resumes that I can forward to the interviewer? HP only wants to consider students with a minimum 3.0 GPA. Permanent Residence status is required.

I like the team and the majority of the team is in Roseville.  Great opportunity for C and assembly programming and to work in some really advanced stuff.

Thanks,

Lizandro

Zander de Leon
EFI Engineer

_______________________________________________________________________

The opening is for a Software Design Engineer (Entry-level). Students can use the job requisition #205179 to find a more detailed description in the hp.com career section.

Below is a description of the desired qualifications:

Education

Bachelor’s (undergraduate), Master’s (graduate), or Ph.D. (postgraduate) degree in a computer engineering, computer science or IT.

Experience and knowledge

Applied software development experience including VB, HTML/DHTML, and C++ in a PC Windows environment. Working with cross-functional teams as well as practical experience in all phases of the software development lifecycle. Must possess working knowledge (development and application) in multiple operating systems. Practical experience
with multiple programming languages and technologies such as Java, C, C++, Perl, Shells Script/Korn Shell, etc. is critical.

There will be a pre-interview phone screening and majority of the questions are computer architecture related.  They do want someone who is comfortable with Unix and Perl.  I believe this position will be part of our test team (I could be wrong).

The Great Valley Center is offering up to six internships this summer to current college students who are attending universities in the Central Valley or who will be home for the summer.  Students must be able to receive college credit for the internship.  Each internship will involve 400 hours of work at $10 per hour on one of the following projects:

Energy Issues and Action—Research and write overviews of alternative energy sources in the Central Valley and help local agencies and individuals adopt best practices to reduce energy consumption.  Learn the basics of an energy audit and shadow auditors to observe strategies that work in changing behavior.  May be a good fit for students with an interest in clean energy technology and engineering.

Education Indicators—Help design indicators of educational outcomes, gather data from public records and web sites, assist in interpretation of the information and draft summaries for a report to be distributed to community leaders, elected officials, school administrators and the media.  Strong internet and writing skills required.  Familiarity with Excel software preferred.

Land Use and Mitigation Strategies—Research preservation strategies for wildlife habitat and ag land.  Help develop a program for mitigation, and a curriculum for studying land use and mitigation.  Perform other duties as needed for the Central Valley Land Trust Council.

Sustainable Food Supply—Research and help design a regional food system that will reduce the amount of energy needed to deliver locally grown products to consumers.  Or plan the infrastructure for small and mid-sized farmers to provide produce to regional grocery stores.

Web Site Design and Content Creation—Help in the redesign of the Great Valley Center web site.  Create e-letters and other permission information and marketing tools.  Gather and create original content, including video streaming and blogging.  Other work may include creation of an online store or additional websites.

Blueprint Communication and Outreach—There is a regional planning effort in the San Joaquin Valley that has the potential to build consensus on land use, transportation, business hubs and housing mix.  This blueprint process for the future needs to be broadly communicated to the public and outreach is needed for groups and individuals who normally are not involved in community planning and action.  The work over the summer will involve writing and public outreach about the process, preliminary blueprint and next steps in the process.  Journalism experience or strong communication skills are required.  Interest in regional planning and action preferred.


Application Process:  E-mail a cover letter of interest, summarizing relevant experience and academic work to 
lori@greatvalley.org.  Finalists will be contacted for an interview by Lori Smith, Executive Assistant to the President, and the internships will be awarded by May 1st with a start date of mid-June anticipated.

Ricoh Innovations, Inc. is looking for a summer intern with Linux  platform-level skills, enthusiastic about embedded systems, open-source software, eager to google-up and learn new skills. This person will work closely with a team of system hardware and software designers.

This is a full-time, PAID, summer internship and is open to all qualified STUDENTS working toward a CS, CE, or EE degree at an accredited academic institution.

Sample projects:
Build a bootloader (RedBoot or Uboot) for a custom hardware platform, flash and debug it with JTAG.
Explore system migration issues for a new hardware architecture, kernel, toolchains and build system.
Configuring embedded Linux platform for a custom hand-held device: kernel configuration, device drivers, installed system-level software, and user applications.
Bring-up a new hardware component (WiFi module, USB Gadget interface) on a custom hardware / embedded Linux platform.
Desired skills:
kernel hacking, including compiling custom Linux kernel, modifying existing kernel modules, and designing new ones;
setting up cross-compiler toolchains and platform build environment;
application development in Unix environment, using shell scripts (Bash), C/C++, Python;
source versioning software: Subversion, git;
Working knowledge of Debian Linux, Debian software development process, open-source bootloaders for Linux, and experience with JTAG is a plus.

Work Environment:

The California Research Center (CRC) of Ricoh Innovations, Inc. 
http://rii.ricoh.com offers a unique opportunity to enjoy the  environment of a top industrial research laboratory.  We are a small group (about 20 researchers) that has been very successful in research relevant to Ricoh and the scientific community in general.  Located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, near Stanford University.

To Apply:

If you are interested in following up on this opportunity, please send your resume to notley AT (substitute the Ricoh Innovations, Inc. domain here, starting with rii.ricoh and ending with .com).

Hear from fellow students who have held internship positions through:

Blue Shield
The Washington Center (Washington, DC)
Sutter Hospital
The office of Governor Schwarzenegger
CA Energy Commission
Stantec Consulting
Gerontology Department-Sac State
															
All Majors & All Class Levels Welcome!

When: Wednesday – March 26, 2008 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Where:  University Union, Lobby Suite

Pizza will be served

Questions?
Contact: Candace McGee
cmcgee@csus.edu

The College of Engineering and Computer Science Needs Your Data

Please report any offers that you have received to ECS Career Services Web site:

 http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career  - click on the "Just Hired" link.

If you got a student position we need your data.  

If you have graduated in the past few years or if you are graduating this semester we need your data.  

The information you share is used for ABET reports and to help me identify trends in employment and salaries.

I keep your info confidential.  I only report the data!  I use your contact data to confirm and to keep in touch with you.

Employers are hiring from the resumes posted on our web site at http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career.  If you have not already posted your resume on the ECS Career Services Office Web Site, now is the time!!!  Just click on the Post Your Resume button!

Students are reporting multiple offers from using a combination of the resume posting service, the JETX job listings, and from Career Day 2008.  If you missed Career Day 2008 you can still access the hiring and contact information on the ECS Career Services web site at http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career.

Cool new feature!!!  Employers are able to search your resume now with key words!

I also send resumes out to companies so send me a soft copy in MS Word.  cici@csus.edu