>>Hey Tommy:
>>
>>Good to see you became gainfully employed recently, congrats!
>
>Thanks! The Good Lord provides in His own time..............
>
>>
>>Very few are entry level positions to answer your question.
>
>Slim pickings, to be sure!
>
>>However, I, just today, saw one at the top of the list on Monster that specified they ad entry level positions available ... it was in Northern and Central NJ ... not exactly the place I'd move to for an entry level position I have to add ... but hey, that's just me (I'm sure I just hacked off a couple hundred NJ guys and gals ... to you ... my most humble apologies) ... however, I do know about the real estate prices in Bergen County ... if one wants to live in a house there one had best be slightly above "Entry Level" in any job ... but I digress.
>
>Thanks for the congrats, again....
>
>VFP is indeed lacking for jobs..... .NET is the potential future (as by the statistics)... but it would be nice if one could apply for all those jobs without having to have "real world" experience in it BEFORE they apply when they don't have it yet (catch-22???). I mean, what is one to do, if they buy these expensive training programs, go through them, , make good grades, then can't get a job, because they don't have the experience?????
>
>Oh well, when this job eventually dries up, maybe I'll go drive trucks.... They will take you right out of training school!!!! (grin)...
>
>Tommy

Tommy;

When I was one of the 60,000 unemployed electronics engineers in Silicon Valley during the early 1990’s I had to do something different. Married with two children in grammar school demanded action, so I became a programmer.

How do you get experience in programming so you can be of interest to an employer? I wrote programs for our children’s school, the Diocese of San Jose, Adult Education schools, and the Sate of California EDD.

These programs were written for free with the permission of the person in charge and with one stipulation - I used the name of each entity on my resume with the name of the person in charge as the contact. I got my first programming job using this technique. Each of these programs was on a server and used by many people and they worked well.

Look at what the job market is doing and learn whatever is necessary to increase your knowledge accordingly. To be honest I find it easier to learn new things when I am employed (on my own time) then when I am unemployed. So my advice is to get busy, define what you want to do and learn something everyday. Look towards your goal of being able to do new things that are of value as a source of income.

The problem with technology is that it changes all the time. You have to make the decision what to learn and what will be of value to you. It can be a gamble but it is better than that guy waiting for the next dBase II position, who never did anything to upgrade his skill set.

Tom

P.S. Our son just graudated from college and our daughter has two years to go at UCLA.