My CBC Interview

[imported post from an older version of mikebrowne.com]

Well today was quite a day. There was an earthquake, magnitude 6.8 South of Seattle. We felt it here in Vancouver too. The building where I work at Kazootek Technologies as a Web Designer shook for about 20-30 seconds. Pretty scary.

Also, today I bought the domain name Bluenozer.com (no longer mine as of this update) to use as a web site dedicated to former Nova Scotians, like myself, who get homesick and those who still live there to have a common place to go in cyberspace. Hopefully we’ll be able to build a home away from down home.

The coolest new of all is about my recent interview on 690 AM CBC Radio here in Vancouver. I got to go into the studio and sat on a panel of people who’s lives have been affected in one way or another by the “dotcom downturn” as part of an ongoing series.

Here’s the audio of the interview:
CBC Interview – Feb 2001

Here’s the article as it appeared on CBC.ca:

Caught in the dotcom downturn

The high tech job market is looking bleak in Vancouver, just ask Susan Pattinson. She’s been looking for a job since November when she was laid off as director of marketing at Saving-U-money.com.

Like many people, Pattinson didn’t want to think the dotcom bubble would burst.

“I could see something coming down the pipeline, but I thought I was immune to it; like everyone else I wanted to keep those blinders on,” she said.

Her background is in Internet publishing and before that she completed a degree in sociology where she studied the impact of technology on society. A year ago, at the peak of the dotcom craze companies were desperate for her marketing experience. Now things are much tougher.

Perspective employers are telling her she doesn’t have enough experience, which she finds a little ironic since “the industry hasn’t been around for that long”. And employers now want people to have a computer science degree and an MBA. “If I had that I probably wouldn’t be here I would probably be in the U.S.”

Mike Browne was also laid off in the fall. He was a web designer at Online Office, which went under like many others. He was lucky though, he found a job at another company after months of hunting. But he’s not sure how long the luck will last. The company laid off 16 people February 20, it’s down to half the size it was a month ago. Still, Browne counts himself lucky, he knows many web designers like himself who haven’t found any work. Some are even on welfare.

These are familiar stories to Steven Brouwer. He’s the branch manager for CNC Global an Information Technology search firm. He says since the market downturn, companies are holding off hiring and if they are looking for new employees there are so many applicants out there they usually find workers on their own.

But Brouwer said he wouldn’t discourage anybody from going into the high tech field.

“If you look at the salary perspective, the salaries are higher in the high tech industry. I think we’re in a glitch. But from the research our company has done we expect the market will pick up by the end of the year.”

And Pattinson has a word of advice for would be job seekers. “I would say be as technical as you possibly can but don’t focus on one position or one vertical market.”