InsideTech

Why isn't it just called the Raleigh Metropolitan Area? or is it the Durham Triangle Area? or is it the Raleigh-Durham-Cary-Chapel Hill-Carrboro-Knightdale-Wendell-Garner-Wake Forest-Apex-Morrisville-Clayton Metro Park?

There are some people who can really kiss ass w/ great writing and that's just about it. Those people always look down on the one who can't talk. Many of the gov people are purely bureaucrats who talk all days w/ their friends on the phone wasting tax payer $$$. Just because you are in doesn't mean you know craps. Pardon my languague, it just that I never like apple polishers who's making 6 figures while the rest being squeezed with their last drop of blood. FYI: I have been working for gov contractor like Lockheed Martin Defense System before, but I never enjoyed working w/ incompetents who take years to finish just a simple project while leeching on tax payers. That's why they are still running COBOL and mainframes. For your information, I am employed and have pride with honesty. Anyway, www.USAJOBS.gov is still a shitty site, and it will get you no where. If you are unemployed, consider this is a vacation for you, and you might want to consider your skills in this muddy market which BUSH administration gave us. If you skills are still in-demand, but not as potent enough for recruiters, consider beef up you skills even if you have to "pirate" sw to learn. If you must move to a new place, learn to survive and adapt for the ride out of this recession is going to be loonnnng. "If you can't beat it, join it!" We have gotten too many incompetent employees at the gov sites still won't even let go, and so does the financial and health care corruptions. I predict the next meltdown would be Health Care. Paying way to much, and we still got crappy service unlike the rest of the Europeans. After all, those MBA's people got us in this shitty economy, and who's protecting them? Of course the government, I hate to say it, but money talks as always. Therefore, just learn analyze your situation if you are still unemployed. Do and researches and put everything on the table, before making conclusion what you want to do. Remember in the end, your battle is to fit in this crappy situation. Since utopia doesn't exist and will never be, just do your best w/ the conscience in mind.

Hey Village Idiot, "Competent" is not spelled "competant". Guess you are not either spelling.
The USAF is doing some really interesting work, like getting their people killed in IRAQ. And you cant beat that $6,000 a year starting salary, good luck paying off student loans with that. If there are plenty of cleared people, why do they have cleared only job fairs three times a week? 30 -40 , not a few show up looking for cleared only people. My point again, which the Village Idiot again seem to miss, is the premise of the article! Reread the article. DC does NOT belong on this list. The jobs are NOT open to anyone, only to people who got a clearence 10 years ago when companies used to clear people before they got too CHEAP to clear people. If you want an IT job, don't move to DC. No clearence, no job, no exceptions. Dont fall for the lies that this article and The Village Idiot spew. Not 12 years old, but love to stir trouble.

wow, "ihatethis" and "ihateyou" seems to be some twelve year old who likes to stir trouble. Thanks for the laughs!

The Village Idiot misses many points. I will write slow and use small words so he can understand. It is NOT POSSIBLE for a super qualified technical JAVA superstar to get a security clearence today, now, not talking 10 years ago, talking today NOW. Got it? Today. I repeat TODAY. Companies will not let you sit while they clear you like they would 10 years ago. Thus all of these so called jobs that make DC a growth area are NOT OPEN to us who did not get a clearence 10 years ago. Every job in DC requires a top secret clearance. Go to rayjobs.com, lm.com, look at the postings. They even have job fairs for cleared people only. My point that the e village idiot misses completely is that DC does NOT belong on the list because most of use do not have the top secret clearence to get a top secret job. While you could get a clearence 10 years ago, these same companies are too cheap to clear people today, now, in the present time, not 10 years ago. To IT people I say do not go to DC expecting to find plentiful jobs. They will ask "do you have a top secret clearence" and when you say no, you will be deemed unqualified. The Village Idiot does not know what he is talking about, he is a clueless idiot or an HR hack stuck in the 10 years ago, lost in the now today, with limited reading comprehension skills.

No, I am not an HR Hack or HR Pinhead. Actually, I have a BS in computer science and 10+ years working for a defense contractor as an information systems specialist. I have a secret clearance. You are right, it is no longer possible to establish a one-person organization and get a security clearance. First you have to establish a company with a reputation for productivity. Then the company needs to get a contract, that requires access to classified information, with a government entity.The company is then actually sponsored by the government entity. The cleared company then hires individuals to perform the work defined in the task. If the employee has not held a clearance in last two years, then the employer has to apply for a clearance for the employee. This can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years -- depending on the level of clearance and the backlog. In the meantime, the employee can not have access to classified information. Once again, why should a company pay someone to do busy-work while a clearance is processed, when the same company has a vast sea of potential employees with solid technical skills (who do you guys think sets up the communications links and operates the cybertools in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc), a work ethic, a sense of service before self, and the ability to communicate without resorting to name-calling or having Mommy call the HR department to complain. Wanna play with the grown ups? Act like one.

I think that will depend of your experience. Find out the types of jobs in depend at the location you are considering and how your skills compare to them. Might be good or might be bad. Personaly, I hate to move but will do for the right opportunity.