The Joel on Software Discussion Group

I'm working in IL for a university (moved from east coast 3 years ago) as a developer and my contract is gonna end in the beginning of summer 2010. My wife is gonna have our second child at the end of March 2010 and I am figuring out how to proceed in this situation.
Pretty much at work I have no more new projects and so I have all day to do job search or build skills or prepare for the interview.

Below are the options:
1) The department I am working will not be able to renew my contract. I have talked to another department and they indicated they "might", although I feel they will not be able to pay the money I can command with my experience.

2) Wait until the baby and then move to the east coast ( I have 3 months of paid leave accumulated) and search for jobs and then once confirmed move the family back to east.

3) Go to the east coast now and look for jobs and then once confirmed take the offer after the baby arrives.

How would you proceed in this situation?
Thanks!

Do not move until you have a job. 

Why is moving to the east coast your only option?  Have you looked in your current area?  Sourcegear is located in central Illinois.  I imagine that Chicago has a pretty healthy tech market.  37 Signals is based there.

Do you have other reasons for wanting to move, or is that where you think the jobs are?  With two kids, living expenses, commute, etc might be much more of a concern than they were the last time you lived there.

Thanks for the reply!

Well, my wife is from the east and so we are planning to move close to her family since it will help with the second child. Right now its almost a 10 hour drive from IL to her family, so moving little closer will help.

I have also considered NC, FL, TX (warm weather) but East would make sense that way its closer to her family.

1) Start looking for a job now, don't move, don't quit your job. You can look east coast, west coast, central illinois. If you get a number of interview offers, if they won't fly you out then you can batch some together, fly out, do a bunch of interviews, fly back.
2) If you get one and they want you to start earlier, see if you can get out of your contract and move right away.
3) Don't break up your family.
4) Don't move until you get a signed offer.

Leaving your pregnant wife alone while you go look for work is a last resort.  You would be paying for that for years.
But in general, this isn't an issue until summer, and you have 3 months pay on top of that so that means fall.  December is one of the worst months to look for work in and it's likely to give you a false idea of the job market.  There is really no reason to look for work before 2010.  Unless you're going home for the holidays and want to network then.

Well, since your bring up the baby. Then I need to ask do you have a support system for when you are gone for an interview?

I would look for a job now.  Do not quit or move until you have that.

I do like your idea of taking 3 mos after the baby is born. Spend at least 2 weeks with your wife and newborn. And then get to work finding a new job! But, make sure you have help for your wife if your going to be out of town for a day or 2 on an interview.

Moving when the baby is a few months old isn't a bad idea. I moved when ours was a few months old. Sure it was stressful, but I did it so that I could get home at a decent hour.

The most important thing right now is maintain insurance coverage until after the birth. In the rare but not unheard of case of premature birth or any of a thousand other things, bills can reach a million bucks. Not the time to be uninsured! Most likely every thing will be fine, but this is one of those times where you need to have insurance.

I would not offer any advice on this until after I understand the insurance situation. You also need to take this into account wherever you are moving to has different state insurance laws, and the company will be different. If you have to self-insure, there is no chance you'll get coverage with a preexisting condition.

Also, I would not mention wife's condition in job interviews since most companies will not hire just because they know their pooled insurance rates will go up.

Currently I have full insurance coverage for my family at this job until my contract expires (June 30, 2010). The Insurance is what is keeping me at this job, otherwise I would have moved somewhere to a bigger city where there are more opportunities.

Also, I am interested in working in the financial sector since I was taking finance and econ classes while working at the university and got a good grasp of it.  Of course I am also open to taking any general development jobs too.

I think larry wannabe is spot on...