Sure, although I don't wanna derail the discussion too much with my silly situation. I work at a Delphi 5 (!) shop in the Midwest. I spent about a year trying to get interviews in my strong field (C#/.NET, no degree though). I wound up here because it's the first and only place I could even get in the door. Not the most elegant position but I couldn't go on much longer working clothing retail.
Seriously, people will pay for you to move to one of the coasts, higher cost of living but better salary and ludicrously better time off, if you'd like help finding a place let me know - noah@noahpryor.com. Obviously there are tons of reasons for you to want to stay there, but if it's just financial/cash flow issues, companies will help with those.
(I'm a dev, not a recruiter, no financial interest in this).
Less than half of one--this is my first dev gig. I'm basically 'unproven' so I understand why it was slim pickings for me.
I'm hoping building some experience here will give me a better chance in the future, although I'm a bit worried that working with such an old tech stack might not work in my favor.
If you want to move to Portland, my company is hiring. We're converting some old Delphi legacy systems into .NET. And I promise you we offer more PTO than that. Shoot me a message on my LinkedIn (link is in profile) or gmail (same as HN handle)
Thanks. So---do not worry about your performance at the company at all. Work the lowest amount of hours you can get away with for a few months, and spend all your time upgrading your skills and hunting for better jobs.
Do you mind if I ask what kind of software/position? That sounds like a gulag.