As I mentioned recently, I left my web design job in VA and moved back to New England in order to try and start my career up here - where I consider home. So I have been interviewing with agencies, applying for positions and generally going through all the typical job search processes.

The problem is most of the jobs want 3-5 years experience, very few want the experience level that I have - which is 1-2 years. On one of the interviews I was on, the recruiter had some interesting ideas on that. He talked about how because of the IT recession the last few years, these 3-5 years experience people everyone is looking for basically don’t exist. The people that graduated in 2002-2005 with me came out with little to no prospects. So many of them did what I did - bounced around to odd jobs trying to make ends meet. And the few that found jobs are so thankful for the opportunity they got that they are deathly loyal to their companies. I have a friend who found work during this and even though he works crazy hours and could get a lot more money - he’s a Java programmer which people are going crazy trying to land right now - he won’t jump ship.

So basically, if you’re looking for someone who is up on the newer web trends, knows how to hand code CSS and XHTML, loves making standard compliant and cross browser capable websites, and has worked on a family of major web sites - send me an e-mail. I could use the work.

Ideally, of course, I would like to do what most web designers/developers would - start my own company. Being a front end guy, I would like to start a design firm. Unfortunately, my Photoshop skills are not as good as they should be and my back-end skills - PHP/MySQL - are basic. So I would need help. I have a friend who could do the back end stuff, so if you’re a designer starting out who just wants to design mocks and slice web ready graphics - maybe we could figure something out as well. Now I just need some clients who are in the market for a new or updated website. Preferably something simpler/smaller to sink my teeth into.

Anyways, enough trying to find work. Just thought I’d share my experience and I’m curious if other people are running into the same problems in this field. There’s got to be some cool web companies to work for that aren’t in San Francisco.

Random Tidbit: Saw a nice article about how hackers are getting more slick taking control of people’s computers. Tech savvy or not, might be worth a look. Check out snapfiles if you don’t have, or have outdated, virus/firewall software. Also, I’ve seen some new sites on MySpace that use overlay code - like mine - but instead of putting a cool profile, they put login boxes that simulate those that MySpace uses. Basically, allowing them to gather username/passwords, then use them to post bulletins pointing to those profiles and get even more victims. I had an example, but luckily, MySpace has already taken it down. Just keep an eye out and don’t send your login info unless you’re sure it’s MySpace taking it - and if you think you’ve gotten taken, something any of us can fall for - change password ASAP.