I grew up in NKY, finished my MSc in CS and Engineering and then moved back to Cincinnati to work and visit with my family for a year and a half before getting completely fed up with the IT market in Cincinnati and moving out to silicon valley. There are a few small consulting shops and the big players - citibank's new facility, kroger (I worked there), PG (I have done consulting there) and of course 5/3. The overall culture is very, very old school, there's lot of red tape and very few people doing new and interesting development. Speaking as a Cincinnati/NKY native, unless you want to land a permanent cubicle at one of the big companies, find a way to live elsewhere!!! Just because you are working at a startup does not mean you have an unstable source of income - just less stable than one of the big enterprises. I realize how negative I sound about this area... but having grown up there, went to school near there and worked there. IMHO your chances of sharpening your skills and having a rewarding and fulfilling career in software engineering while living in Cincinnati are slim to none. As a native, I strongly recommend reconsidering this now rather than 2 years down the road when it will just be that much harder to move - some imagined sense of stability is not worth your job being hellishly dull! Now, that does not mean some people are not happy in the cubicle and there are no good jobs in Cincinnati... it's just such a bad environment for development.

If he needs to be within driving distance of Cincinnati, he should move to Indianapolis. Indy has a healthier and more progressive business climate. It's only two hours away, but it feels like a completely different world.

I hate it when people answer a different question than I asked, but is it really, absolutely necessary to move to Cincinnati?

I grew up in the Midwest -- born in rural Michigan, went to college in Chicago -- and I couldn't imagine being a software engineer there right now with the state of the economy.

The stories I hear from my family, who are all still in Northern Michigan, make me very happy that I decided to move to the SF Bay Area as soon as I graduated from college.

I wasn't married, but I had no money in the bank, $40k in student debt, and was living with my girlfriend at the time (we moved from Chicago to SF together).

I don't know about your personal situation so I might be totally out of line.

That said, if your situation dictates you must live in or around Cincinnati, I think it's just going to be a numbers game. Hit the streets, send off as many emails as you can, make lots of phone calls, and leave no stone unturned. Apply for every single job you can, whether you think you're qualified or not. Don't be dissuaded by "senior" titles and such.

I'd plan for 1-2 months to find something solid.

I'm a software engineering manager for a smallish company in downtown Cincinnati (manage 5 developers). It is going to be very difficult to find a job because there have been a lot of high profile closings and layoffs in the region, Lexis Nexis being one of the biggest.

That being said, I do think you can find some good paying work in the greater Cincinnati area, IF you exercise some patience and really search all the surrounding areas (downtown, NKY, blue ash, etc.)

Don't be discouraged by the people saying that you will be working as a drone in some corporate machine. First of all, only the biggest places are like that. Second of all, keep in mind that you are not out there to redefine some fortune 500's development practices. Realize that it is not a sin to work a good well paying job during the day, and pursue your startup dreams with your spare time.

Once you've saved up some coin and have some 'enterprise' experience under your belt you will be in a much better position to quit your day job, and if that fails, get another one in relatively short order.

Good luck, and don't be discouraged.

MB

Be more specific throughout your resume.

For example, the years you attended school and GPA are probably necessary for a new graduate (5 years down the line, you probably won't need them, but now you do).

Also, these lines are useless (but they sound promising, so more details could help):

"Learn various programming languages and paradigms."

"Follow and contribute to various open source software and Linux distribution projects."

"Manage multiple web application, development, and package servers."

Considering my GPA is rather depressing to me (2.9ish, RIT is a tough school), I'm uncertain about how putting that on my resume would affect an employer's interest. Thoughts?

Mine is about that and I put it on my resume, otherwise it seems like you have something to hide. If your in major GPA is above 3.0, include that also...

Was your GPA in your major higher than your overall GPA? I had three GPAs on my resume when I was coming out of school: one overall, and one for each major which was just my GPA in the courses that were in each department that counted towards my major.

http://www.indeed.com/q-programming-l-cincinnati,-oh-jobs.ht... brings up 572 jobs for me. Since you're looking for a steady job, try variations. Also, you're not that far from Lexington and Louisville, so you may want to consider looking for jobs there.

I didn't know about that site, so thank you for that. Unfortunately, it seems that specific search is bringing up some things unrelated to software, but I can sift through that.

Secondly, since I'm actually living on the north suburbs of Cinci (Fairfield, to be exact), Louisville and Lexington are pushing at least 90 minute commutes, which is a bit much, IMO. I have however looked in the Dayton area, which is closer than Kentucky, but the situation seems much the same as Cinci: multiple jobs, but they all either require more experience than I have (senior level), or they are for people with hardware or testing experience... :(

I would never be stopped for applying to a job because it's "Senior". If you know your shit, it doesn't matter how old you are.

I'm sort of in the same situation here in Indy (albeit I'll end up with an AS + `green`) and am having absolutely no luck marketing my resume [pdf: http://tinyurl.com/cs9mbp] for entry-level opportunities. Note: you might want to include an active email address in your resume

One my friends suggested to me that I get up early in the morning and just start cold-calling companies or show up to their front-door (of their business) and ask if they're hiring. If they're not, summarize your story [get some empathy points] and politely ask the secretary if they would file your resume with HR.

Another method is go to more career fairs/conventions; I've found that I get more leads and feedback here than any job board or online application.

I have heard that the tech market is better in Columbus. It's only 1.5 hours away, so it's close to your family, but not too close ;)

The tech market in in Columbus is starting to grow quite a bit (I graduated from Ohio State). They've had 2 startup weekends, have a number of smaller web development firms, and also he could try to find an opportunity at Ohio State or with the state government.

skyline chili! if i moved back to the 'nati i'd get a job there. i miss it so... (the canned stuff doesn't come close)

Have you tried searching LinkedIn and Craigslist? Craigslist is definitely hit or miss and you'll be browsing through a ton of scams, but you might get lucky - some good companies do use it.

LinkedIn always seems to have interesting jobs, though I've never actually applied for one on there.

I grew up in Cincinnati - might try applying to GlobalCloud.net - they are a pretty big web dev firm in Cincinnati.

Have you looked for jobs at nearby universities? UC, MU, etc.?