Find solution
What are good engineering jobs in Chicago and are there any?

Finding A Job In Chicago Without A Clue

  • I would like to get a new job in Chicago. What are some things I can do over the summer to maximize my odds at finding employment in the windy city? My field is software engineering. A summary of my situation: I currently live in Rockford, IL. I've lived here for most of the last 3 years. I am 28 years old and graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering in 2007. I work in avionics where I mostly perform verification and validation of aircraft software although I did some development in the past. Right now I work on the 787. From what I gather my part of the project will be done around July. I think Chicago is the best place for me to go when that happens, because I like the city and it will bring me closer to where I grew up in Michigan. I'm willing to move back to Michigan I would just rather move to Chicago if I can find a job. The problem is, I've only ever had this one job! I'm not sure how prepared my job has made me for other jobs. I decided that I should spend the next several months working on skills to make me more attractive to the kind of development work that exists in Chicago. I don't know what I should prioritize to help me out. I consider myself pretty good with C, C++, and C#. I know a little bit of Perl and currently do a lot of my work in the scripting language Tcl. I don't really know any SQL except what I picked up after following some tutorials for a few hours. I have no experience with web programming. I don't have a portfolio. Most people I work with seem to think I'm very good at my job. I was tasked with helping two people new to the project get up to speed and dolling out work for several months which is the closest to managing I've ever done. So: what are some things I can in the next few months do to make myself look better? Sorry if my question is all over the place!

  • Answer:

    Are you on Dice? Linkedin? You will get a job without even TRYING.

Green With You at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Consider working for Northrup-Grumman. They have electronic warfare guys working in aviation just outside Chicago (Rolling Meadows, specifically). Therefore, anything related to RF signals would be useful. Note: they're Defense Contractors. That implies a lot of things which, I expect, you're already familiar with if you work in aviation.

aramaic

I'm in the Chicago area on dice and monster, and I get recruiter calls due to having C++ keywords on my resume (even though I'm a hardware engineer interested in chip design). There are plenty of companies in the area that do embedded software that you'd probably be well qualified for already. So clean up your resume and start putting it out there.

garlic

I'm on Dice, but I haven't gotten any contacts from it. Not that I can remember anyway. I should update my resume though, it's about a year out of date from when I briefly lived in Davenport, IA.

Green With You

I haven't done any work with wireless technologies (assuming RF means radio frequency). I guess if there are a lot of companies that do embedded sw in the Chicago area then my summer project can be to get a dev board and build something in my free time. My senior design project was never completed, I'm thinking I can probably do a much better job of it this time. Maybe even incorporate some wireless tech!

Green With You

Boeing has a location in Chicago. Do they hire software engineers? It's worth checking out. You'd be amazed how much stock people put in industry domain knowledge. You might think that writing software is the same no matter what it's built to do, but having a background in the aeronautics industry might give you a leg up in interviews.

deathpanels

A lot of algorithmic/quantitative trading firms and hedge funds are looking for C++ and C# programmers in Chicago. They seem to be recruiting very actively.

deanc

Boeing's engineering isn't really in Chicago, it's out in Seattle. The Chicago HQ is just business. The trading/quant firms love C++ programmers, but they're odd birds to interview with. I tried interviewing with one, and before I could even speak to someone in person they wanted me to take an online C++ test which amounted to an hour of obscure language corner cases and trivia. I guess the money is awesome, but I'm sure the pressure is immense as well. If you can do avionics, try RightHand Technologies. I think they're looking for someone in that area. Second on Northrup Grumman as well, they seem to treat their people well.

JoeZydeco

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.