I was chatting with a recruiter the other day, because they always call and ask if I'm interested in working for so and so. I usually say no, but lately with the volumes down (and also my own net PnL), I asked him how the placement in our business is. Supposedly, not very many people are hiring. There's exceptions for superstars, but otherwise, not much hiring. I, like many others in this forum, have been in the same business for several years now. But if our business collapses or slows down completely, where else is there to go, assuming we can develop software? Mobile or internet space? Where would you go? I was scanning the job listings for just software people, and the jobs outside our industry look really horrible. Anything truly exciting happening? I know some of you are part-time traders who actually have real software jobs. What industries are you in? The best of the best will always make money. I get that, but there's something to be said for taking the path of least resistance to money.
Depends on what you're interested in. Research settings (ie, national labs or universities) have interesting projects but pay is low. Developing mobile apps seems interesting if you dont know how to do it, but I just wrote an android app and found its not that challenging. I think most development jobs are dull after a while so I go for $. I think getting a few telecommute jobs is the way to go; you end up staying busy and make a lot.
I'm probably stating the obvious if you've been in the field for a while, but... Most corporate development jobs involve maintenance. There is nothing exciting about it, but it can pay the bills. Most new hires are not going to be given interesting work. Companies will either have their tenured senior developers do the work or outsource the work to a consulting firm. Regarding temporary contract work you'll either get quick and small jobs (building mobile apps for example) and/or need to compete with foreign contractors who will do the work for pennies. If you want to do interesting work you may have to seek out a job working for a consulting/contracting firm.
I think your post adds value to the thread, even if it is somewhat known. 2rosy had a good answer, but one thing about telecommute work is that most of the stuff is geared towards web stuff. C++ people are at somewhat of a location/telecommute disadvantage. My guess is that mobile application development is somewhat of a more natural jump-off point for trading system developers if trading stops being worthwhile.
actually you can get good telecommute C work developing drivers for firms. again, interesting if you dont know how to do it; same old same old if you do. Also, don't label yourself as a C++ person; you sound like HR. Either you can program are you can't, everything is free and can be found on google