Update page 2 ? for Chicagoland/Illinois residents

[mamajoan]

Hi guys.. Dh has had a head hunter call him re: a position at a semi-conductor plant "45 minutes west of Chicago"... now I am not sure of all the suburbs West of Chicago..

Anybody know WHAT company this head hunter may be talking about?? not trying to scoop the head hunter.. just trying to figure it out... so if anybody knows any companies producing computer chips in that area.. could you clue me in..

And then what suburbs may he be suggesting by saying
"45 minutes West of Chicago"

Thanks so much for your help..

Joan... way out here in California while dh is in PR for a little longer...[
B]UPDATE pg 2[/B]

 

[WDWLVR]

45 minutes west of Chicago sounds like the Naperville area. This is the Chicago version of silicon valley. Could be one of any number of companies like: Lucent Technologies, Nicor Gas, BP Amoco and many others.

Here is a link to the Naperville website:
Naperville IL

Hope this helps.

 

[FINFAN]

DH suggested that it may be Motorola...they are in Schaumburg/Arlington Hts. Go t www.google.com and punch in that co. or schaumburg...you'll get a ton of links. I live in Naperville and Tel-labs,Lucent etc. are laying off tons...so I am pretty sure it's not them. PM me and I can fill you in on the area if you like...be glad to help someone out as I have rec'd much from others here. and good luck!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Concurring with those above, Joan. Hope to see you at the Chicago DIS meets when you guys move here.

 

[KimRaye]

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
Hope to see you at the Chicago DIS meets when you guys move here.

GOOD PLUG, DAN!! LOL

Oh, she'll be there, I KNOW!

 

[mamajoan]

Originally posted by FINFAN
DH suggested that it may be Motorola...they are in Schaumburg/Arlington Hts. Go t www.google.com and punch in that co. or schaumburg...you'll get a ton of links. I live in Naperville and Tel-labs,Lucent etc. are laying off tons...so I am pretty sure it's not them. PM me and I can fill you in on the area if you like...be glad to help someone out as I have rec'd much from others here. and good luck!

Those layoffs you mentioned are what I am worried about.

We are originally from Illinois.. dh was a Marine and we traveled the West Coast... ended up in the Bay area for the last 10 years..

So we have been Californians for close to 20 years.. DH and I are willing to move back east.. but the Teens in the Family are REALLY not liking the idea...

Thank you for all the ideas, keep em coming!!

This head hunter just started the ball rolling today.. so it is all just ""Looking ahead"" kinda thinking..
I am an overplanner...LOL

 

[Minnie824]

Geneva/St. Charles/Batavia is about 45 minutes west. Anderson consulting used to be there, and FERMI lab is there. Not sure what else it could be for the company but its a very nice area.

 

[Patrick IL.]

Another possible is Argonne

 

[Jeafl]

Come to Chicago, Joan...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!

Not too sure about Motorola though, they are laying off in the thousands.

 

[December99]

Another place is Connor/Winfield in Aurora. My mom use to work there on the line and they have many talented engineers. Although I know they have also done layoffs and things were slow but the engineers haven't been the ones laid off. But in that corridor are, like many others stated:

Tellabs (with a very new and gorgeous building)
Connor/Winfield
Fermi-Lab
Lucent Technologies (but they've had some massive layoffs)
Motorola (with also massive layoffs in the past)
Argonne but I don't know how many new hires they do - when peole are there, they tend to be there for life

There are also foreign companies that are in the area too. I thought Nicor shut down that building and they wouldn't be builders of semi-conductors. Hewlett Packard had a building in that area at one time as did SunMicro Systems. I don't know if those are still around. There are some smaller companies too that have been able to hold on so it might not just be a major company. The smaller companies make the semi-conductors that are sold to the larger companies like Tellabs, Lucent, Sun, Motorola, HP. I use to work in accounting at a plant in Sandwich, IL and that's what they made - semi-conductors, crystals, boards - and sold them to the larger companies who then put them in their products - televisions, radios, space shuttles, etc.

As soon as he has a name of a company, please let us know.

 

[FINFAN]

Called a friend at Lucent, and she said that even tho they are laying off like crazy, IT is looking and posted yesterday.....not sure if on Monster or what...she said it is nuts over there tho...job security is not a perk. Not sure of anything else, as 3 of her co-workers got the ax this week. Some internal re-hires going on, but possible it (job) may be for them. There are so many possibilities out this way...you are not overplanning...just being prepared and informed. Once these things take off you sure don't have much time to research. If it works out...I'll sell you our place We are 8 minutes from Lucent and I am bound and determined to get to Florida soon!
Keep us posted...I am figuring his military background is coming into play here...security clearance etc. If it is here in Naperville, we are up to around 140,000 people, and blends right into all neighboring towns...no empty land here, so I guess it's safe to say the traffic is real similar to California, and just about every restaurant/store you can think of.

 

[mamajoan]

You really are all very kind to respond in such a grand way!

There Economic/business analysts predict that have Silicon Valley-Bay Area will be coming back strong by 2005. So I am sure that the Central Silicon Valley areas will also rebound as well.

I love Ca. but it is far from our family in Illinois, Wisconsin areas.
When dh lost job last year we stronglly considered moving back to Illinois. Altho he is employed at the moment with a firm that is based on the construction industry. I think he would feel more comfortable back in the semi conductor field.

The head hunter is supposed to call him back today... we shall see if interview offer will be made. Then we shall see what may happen or may not happen.

The thought of being closer to our families and friends is a HUGE PULL to coming back to the midwest... but I have some other concerns that may keep us in CA.

again thank you for your kindness in my brainstorming! LOL
who knows by tonight it could be a mute point....

 

[laceemouse]

I live in Naperville and even with the massive layoffs at Lucent, Tellabs, etc. real estate is still hopping! Houses in my neighborhood are now asking 100 thousand plus over what we paid less than three years ago. We're talking 30 yr. old homes here! We had sticker shock coming from the south, I know Ca. is a different story. My point, someone must still be hiring and paying well! Naperville is nice, great schools and all, but we keep applying for jobs back south so we can be nearer to our families! Good luck to you!! Lacee

 

[Crissup]

Argonne and Fermi are both national research labs. They are not involved in semiconductor manufacturing. For any custom chips, they would use PLDs or farm the work out. I do not believe Tellabs is doing any semiconductor manufacturing either. They are most likely farming that work out. The majority of Lucent's manufacturing is spread across the country. It can't be in IT, because again, IT doesn't do semi manufacturing. My guess is Mother Motorola. Motorola corporate is just west of Chicago in the Roselle area. They have several facilities in the area doing semiconductor manufacturing. I believe they have a crystal plant in the Geneva area somewhere also.

Another possibility is Richardson Electronics in LaFox. Richardson is a major supplier of RF transistor and vacuum tubes. Not sure if they're doing any production in the area though.

 

[mamajoan]

Thanks so much..
Head hunter is still not letting loose of the the company name as of yet.. however it is certainly a semi conductor manufacturer who use a line of equipment called FREX200/300 from EBARA. Dh.. knows of this equipment but has not utilized it on the job. He has utilized a set of equipment which is more specialized etc. So we shall have to see what head hunter may offer next week. Dh has doubts that we will be headed to the mid west.. but is appreciative of all the info that I have told him from the responses to this thread.

Boy, oh boy I was kinda looking fwd..to those Chicagoland DIS meets which seem to be so fun!

 

[mamajoan]

UPDATE.... THE COMPANY; CABOT MICROELECTRONICS LOCATION: AURORA, ILLINOIS


Well.. ya just can never be sure! Headhunter called here today, I spoke to him a while.. nice guy.. I guess they all are.. but anyway...

He is VERY interested in scheduling an interview with dh. He liked the idea that we were originally from Illinois. And I cajoled the name of he company and the location of the job.

so we shall see what we shall see...

There is so very much to weigh in as to making a decision if the job is offered to dh.

Jake will be a junior in High School next year and he WILL NOT want to move and be very unhappy if we do. Cameo will be in 8th grade and again switching schools will be hard for her especially the academic end of the whole thing.

We just finished getting our house redecorated.. oh my...

and then there is a big question of Race Relations in Illinois. It is why we left over 22 years ago.. I know things have improved since we left but geez California is so very relaxed in that way...never a problem, question, or look, at least for us and the kids.

sorry to ramble on.. I know I am getting ahead of myself.. hec it is just an interview.. right?

ANYWAY.. DH AND I would continue to hear anything you have to say on the issue of Aurora and Cabot.

Thanks so very, very much.
Joan

 

[Crissup]

Hmmm... Never heard of them. However, I looked them up on the web. They aren't actually a semiconductor manufacturer, they produce polishing products used in the manufacture of semiconductors. They are located on Commons Dr. in Aurora, which is basically about a half mile west of Naperville, just north of the Fox Valley Mall (now renamed to something like Westfield Center). Because that area can essentially be considered Naperville, it's a very nice area. Naperville is home to Tellabs and relies heavily on Lucent Technologies and AT&T. Unfortunately, Lucent and Tellabs has been laying off heavily the past few years, so lots of techies hurting for work, but still a very nice area. Because there isn't a lot of semiconductor manufacturing in this area, you DH's skills are probably hard to find among the locals.

 

[FINFAN]

Hi Joan, That's great news that they are interested! After many "hopeful" situations here ourselves I understand the rollercoaster of emotions you must be going thru. O.K. I live 5 minutes from Commons Dr., it is a business park area mixed with the mall, fast food etc. Pretty nicely maintained IMHO. It is pretty much on the Naperville/Aurora border. All our towns run together here now...Rt 59 is the divider between the two. For a 4bed/2.5 bath/2 car roughly 2600/2800 sq.ft home you're looking at $325K and up to be close to business park. Coming from Ca we probably look like a steal! This area is school district Indian Prairie #204, served by 2 high schools. Waubonsie Valley in Aurora and Neauqua Valley in Naperville. The east side of town attends dist #203 also served by 2 H.S. i AM IN 204, BUT WISH WE WERE IN 203! More on that later if you want. You will be able to find every type of housing you like, and if you don't mind a 1/2 hour drive there are a ton of new communities going up in Plainfield just south of Naperville. Every store you can think of is within 45 minutes as you have access to 5 different malls in that time frame.Jewel and Dominicks are still the anchor grocers around here, tho Albertsons bought out Jewel about 5 years ago.Winter still gets ugly here, and always unpredictable, I have not heard of Cabot, but since it's not DH line of work.....there are so many co.'s out here I culd be driving past it each day and not realize! The H.S. in 204 are implementing Freshman Centers next year, where a seperate building is for freshman only and they will attend the main building for the following 3 years. 203 does not do this. It is being done to accomodate the # of students. I have yet to run into any issues of race...schools have zero tolerance of discr. of ANY kind and having lived here almost 13 years I have to say that I find quite the opposite here, that people are very accepting. The taxes are a little bit less in Aurora than Naperville, but are pretty high in both towns. I about fell over when ours came last week What area of Illinois did you live in B4? I will try and write more later. Best of luck with the interview. Heck, at least he doesn't have to travel up here in January!

 

[December99]

There are also two very good Catholic school off of Orchard Road and the Illinois Math and Science Academy that kids can attend, providing they are accepted once they hit the sophomore level and if that appeals to something they may be thinking about entering in college. This is also near the campus of one of the Catholic schools. There is also a Luthern high school, I believe it's still there, as well as the schools that FINFAN mentioned.

It is a very nice area and has changed a great deal in the last 22 years!!!!

I actually have heard of Cabot. When I worked in the electronics place in Sandwich they were one of our "competitors" that were vying for orders from Lucent, Tellabs, AT&T, Hewlett Packard, Sun Micro Systems, and Motorola. I just didn't think of them quite honestly. Those smaller companies sometimes are hard to remember.

Well I wish him much good luck.