Probing the Job Market (Pullman, WA)

Sometime in the next 1-2 years, I may be looking at moving to the Pullman, WA area. I have been doing Perl programming professionaly and almost exclusively for about 8 years (plus an additional three years as a student). I'm a Perl zealot and I love Linux (or more specifially, hate Windows). I am currently trying to probe the job market in the Pullman, Spokane, Moscow area to determine what opportunities exist. Will I be able to keep doing Perl? I'm hearing things about Python and Ruby which make me curious, but without a real project (work-releated) to push me, I have no time to learn and explore these technologies.

Are there monks here that live and work in this region that can give me some insight on the job markets? What companies exist in the area that use Perl? I've looked at WSU job listings; they seem to be rather strongly weighted towards ASP/.NET <shudder>. I've look at the University of Idaho in Moscow; pretty slim pickings for IT-type jobs. I've looked at several of the job sites (certainly not an exhaustive search); few if any job listings in the area. Any insights? Friends of a friend?

Thanks.

Edit: g0n - moved from Perl News to Meditations

Comment on Probing the Job Market (Pullman, WA)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Probing the Job Market (Pullman, WA) by jZed (Prior) on Mar 31, 2006 at 18:30 UTC
Ah Pullman, ah the Palouse wheat fields. I did my graduate work at Pullman and really liked the isolation and the rolling wheat fields and the family of quail that was born under my trailer. This was back before there were such things as personal computers so I have no first hand knowledge of the job market there but some things never change. Pullman is a college town. The University and the wheat farmers and a few small businesses is all there is. If you want to do perl in person (remote telecommute is another option), then you'll work for the University. Get in touch with the computer systems folks, with the folks at the compsci dept., with folks at other departments you have an interest in and see what they're using. Moscow has more culture than Pullman (unless you consider Greek culture to be culture,and I'm not talking about Homer) so try the uni there too.	[reply]
Re: Probing the Job Market (Pullman, WA) by santonegro (Scribe) on Mar 31, 2006 at 17:19 UTC
I am currently trying to probe the job market in the Pullman, Spokane, Moscow area to determine what opportunities exist. Be sure to try dice, monster, net-temps, and jobs.perl.org (which also has a mailing list for job discussion) also.	[reply]
Re: Probing the Job Market (Pullman, WA) by blakem (Monsignor) on Apr 08, 2006 at 19:38 UTC
Look me up if you ever find yourself in the San Francisco area... We're always looking for good perl developers. -Blake	[reply]

Back to Meditations