online career question, concerning H-town and other Texan cities

[Kenneth]

I have more than 3 years of experience in web design, and once I got here I immediately secured a non-web job while building up my portfolio. Recently I started looking for web design/Flash related jobs in Houston via Craigslist, Google, and independent job boards. But I kept getting results from Austin and North Dallas. I did get results from Houston..but they were primarily limited to work-at-home SEO (Search Engine Optimization) jobs, whereas in North Dallas I found actual companies like Blockdot.com, Netsuccess.com.

I am NOT bashing Houston's local web design industry, but I am curious why there are more dot-coms in other cities like Austin and Dallas. This is what I want to do..I want to finish my education at U of H and find a job (if it's entry-level that's OK) at a dot-com that will offer a variety of work experiences for me. In my former city I worked at a dot-com as a production artist. I doing the tedious work of editing images for the developers, but on the flipside I was learning CSS and other skills of the trade. When I moved to Houston I thought it would be possible to pick up where I had left off, but it's becoming a challenge because I've searched through Craigslist, Hotjobs, Monster.com and Jobing.com with no concrete results.

Can anyone recommend company directories (online or print) for Houstonians skilled in interactive design? I wouldn't mind telecommuting with dot-coms outside of H-town but I would prefer to stay here.

Thanks!

[webdude]

I have more than 3 years of experience in web design, and once I got here I immediately secured a non-web job while building up my portfolio. Recently I started looking for web design/Flash related jobs in Houston via Craigslist, Google, and independent job boards. But I kept getting results from Austin and North Dallas. I did get results from Houston..but they were primarily limited to work-at-home SEO (Search Engine Optimization) jobs, whereas in North Dallas I found actual companies like Blockdot.com, Netsuccess.com.

I am NOT bashing Houston's local web design industry, but I am curious why there are more dot-coms in other cities like Austin and Dallas. This is what I want to do..I want to finish my education at U of H and find a job (if it's entry-level that's OK) at a dot-com that will offer a variety of work experiences for me. In my former city I worked at a dot-com as a production artist. I doing the tedious work of editing images for the developers, but on the flipside I was learning CSS and other skills of the trade. When I moved to Houston I thought it would be possible to pick up where I had left off, but it's becoming a challenge because I've searched through Craigslist, Hotjobs, Monster.com and Jobing.com with no concrete results.

Can anyone recommend company directories (online or print) for Houstonians skilled in interactive design? I wouldn't mind telecommuting with dot-coms outside of H-town but I would prefer to stay here.

Thanks!

I think the only notable web company in Houston was Wordpress but even then, Matt ended up moving it to San Francisco. If you want to work notable at web and techy companies in Texas, your best bet is Austin. Its a different industry here in Houston. energy, medical, sorry.

Its not just frustrating for you, but for the web companies here. Wordpress had to moved out of Houston. You need talent and other kinds of supporting factors to run a web company. Even for my little operation, I do hire a few independent contractors for web work, but they are all online and none are based here. Its hard looking for good web talent here.

If you want tech work in Houston, your best bet would be the tech departments of our industries, just not a web company.

[D.J. SAM OLD SCHOOL SINISTER]

try this company: www.williams.com forwad them your Resume. Good luck.

[editor]

If you want to work in computers and internet, head to California or Massachusetts. Just like if you want to work in finance you head to London or New York.

Or you could start your own company. But for the most part once most tech companies strike it big they move to California anyway.

[memebag]

I've been a computer programmer in Houston for over 20 years. The job market is pretty good right now, much better than after Enron collapsed. There are a lot of companies to work for. For instance, JP Morgan Chase moved a lot of its New York programming work here to reduce costs. They found it was cheaper than New York but more convenient than India. Other companies come here to snatch up underpaid NASA talent.

Web design isn't big business here, though.