Non-microsoft computer jobs in Seattle?

• Blacklisted from Microsoft- filter: Can I still find a job for my computer skills in Seattle if I can't work for the 800-pound Redmond gorilla? I live in Seattle, and was fired from Microsoft a few months ago, for "NDA Violations"- basically, someone read web forum comments I'd made, which were unrelated to my job, and recognized my commonly used handle. I didn't think I had posted anything bad, and my annual review scores were always high, but despite the efforts of co-workers, my manager, his manager and others to keep me employed I was let go based on a decision from HR. The real kicker is that I can't work for Microsoft in any capacity until 2007. This didn't bother me much at the time as ironically I was thinking of leaving MS in about a year... but I'm in the Seattle area and it seems like any jobs I find at places like Monster or Craigslist that might fit my skill set are turning out to be contracting gigs... at Microsoft. I've been in the biz about 10 years as an Operations guy. My last job, besides a short stint on the Windows OneCare Live ops team (where I was when they let me go), was pretty much the lone Systems Engineer for a certain search engine at Microsoft for a few years, and where our footprint grew to about 8,000 servers. It was highly automated; I helped architect and build it- by no means alone, there was dev team to code much of the automation- and designed and/or created some of the tools to go along with it, crafted standards and naming conventions, etc. I made our very custom application and automated way of doing things integrate well within the larger MSN bureaucracy by coming up with standards around shared services like AD and networking and asset tracking, etc., that allowed us to be automated while the paper pushers were still happy. Of course as an SE, I also ran the live and beta systems too: app releases, patches, upgrades, sending physical systems for repair, etc. We hired additional people closer to launch to help out as well, but for a time I was the only SE running the new search engine as well the legacy search engine that was making money while the new one was being built and beta'ed. I thought I was a desirable employee, and I thought for sure I'd be able to find work easily... but I guess I'm in for a rude awakening. I'm open to telecommuting, but it seems my Windows skills are an anchor more than a help: jobs I'm finding locally or that allow telecommuting tend to want *nix skills, or are for such junior level sysadmin/ systems engineer positions that they don't seem to fit me. So I guess my question is: have I specialized myself out of a job? Are there no positions for skilled Windows/networking people anymore beyond "jr. systems engineer with 3 years exp."? Or am I just looking in the wrong places- are the kinds of jobs for people like me not posted at Monster/Craigslist, etc? I must admit that at 30 and an ex-Microsoftie, this is the first time I've had to look for work in several years and I'm armed with (what I thought was) a pretty good resume and experience level compared to the last time I went job hunting. I'm not really sure how to go about this.

• Answer:

  I just completed a successful job search in Seattle and the market seems _very_ strong right now (as strong as it was in the late 90's from a demand (if not pay)) perspective). Though I was looking for a senior java position so our experience could be a little different. Some companies that I ran across in my job search that looked interesting and had a fair amount of Microsoft focus: http://www.inrix.com is doing some really cool stuff with real-time and predicitive traffic analysis http://www.musicnet.com is the #2 provider of on-line and downloadable music (behind iTunes) and seems to have huge potential http://www.angieslist.com is sort of a yelp/epinions site that allows people to submit reviews for local businesses Some other Seattle companies that I ran across that were interesting, but I'm not sure how microsofty they are: http://www.adobe.com http://www.qpass.com http://www.actionengine.com http://www.hubspan.com http://www.idx.com http://www.wamu.com I'd also check out http://seattle.craigslist.com and put a post on http://www.monster.com. I added the craigslist rss feed to my feed reader and perused the job postings every day. This is actually the 3rd job that I've gotten through monster.com and I got a lot of response (though primarily recruiters) through it. A couple of other pages I found useful in my looking for companies: http://www.washjob.com%20 employer listing http://www.seattle24x7.com/dir.htm privately held internet company listing http://indeed.com%20 is a good meta job site search engine as well Good luck, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.