Dear Paul,
I'm responding to your last letter asking about the job situation here in Denver. Over the
past several months, I have noticed a dramatic increase in the number of engineers,
technicians and assembly workers, that have called me looking for work. It seems to
average about 3 calls a day. Usually, they get my name from a small advertisement I have
in the Denver telephone yellow pages. At this time, the Denver area appears to be flooded
with many skilled people, that have recently been laid off from many of the local
aerospace companies. There are rumors that even more will find themselves unemployed this
spring. There have been a few new small companies that have emerged, some were started by
the engineers that were laid off and some by companies that moved into the Denver area
from California. But, collectively they will not be able to absorb the excess labor pool
that exists right now. I know of several engineers that have not been able to find
engineering work for over a year. Many companies that find themselves in a shaky
financially condition, are shifting from having permanent employees to hiring temporary
people for specific projects. But, when the project is over, the people are back out on
the street. In times like these, the consulting business can be helped and hurt. It can
help since a company may hire a consultant rather than a full time employee. Often a
company can finish a project in a minimum amount of time with the minimum number of people
by hiring an expert. It can hurt when companies don't invest in research or product
improvements that often require outside experts. I hate to see qualified engineers rust in
non-technical jobs. But, there is only so much I can do. My business is very
unpredictable. I go from working 60 hours a week on some crash project to not have
anything for several months. Usually, the months from October through March are slow. Last
year was a good year, but this year is any ones guess.
In past years, I have hired some temporary employees, usually as technicians. But, when
there were no contracts, I was finding I had to invent work for them. It was not a cost
effective way to operate. Like many other companies, I find it easier to hire an outside
consultant when needed (engineer or technician) and pay them for a specific task. Right
now, I know of several other consultants that would love to have someone with good
bread boarding and wire wrapping skills. I think any skilled person who can build things with
their hands, will always be in demand.
To keep my overhead low, I work out of my house. I have turned my living room into an
office and my dinning room into a computer center. My basement is full of parts, tools and
equipment. I maintain a large inventory of parts that enables me to build something
quickly, without any time wasted in ordering parts. I have the usual list of bench test
equipment, DVMs, scopes, a frequency counter, several signal generators and several power
supplies.
I will send you some information on some publications I have found helpful in
generating a list of potential employers and consulting clients here in Denver.
Sincerely,
David Johnson |
