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I work in IT for a large company. In my 25 years of IT work (starting in 1985 while I was still in college), I’ve worked everywhere from the federal government to IBM to Microsoft to a small private company that makes sparkling water. (I did take a 10 year break to start a business not even closely related to IT work, but had to shut it down because of the Great Recession). I remember how easy it was to find new jobs. I always had a constant stream of recruiters calling, emailing (now usually through LinkedIn). It was easy. When I got hired at Microsoft in 1997, things were a little different, but it was easy. I answered a job in the Seattle Times with a real resume and they called me back a few days later. I had never worked in the tech industry before. I literally had a job offer within two weeks of getting the call back. I worked there for six years doing some really interesting work. I might still be there today if I didn’t get the itch to do something completely different six years later.
Fast forward to about September 2011, my wife and I decided the business I started in 2003 had run it’s course, done in by the Great Recession. She was working at a large telecommunications company but with two growing boys we needed two incomes to simply afford to live and pay back the debts piled up on my venture. So, I…
