I live in syracuse, I found a job this year after being laid off in 2 months. It was a stressful time. Instead or 5-6 hours a week hed be better off studying C,C++ and Java and applying to places locally. Syracuse does not have a ton of web work, but there is a big defense industry here (Saab, SRC, Lockheed, AFRL) so there are things. Cornell, SU, UofR, I imagine are hiring fewer software engineers now though with the potus changes.
> but there is a big defense industry here (Saab, SRC, Lockheed, AFRL)
i hope things don't get so bad that my options are destitution or the defense industry, but i'm used to eating ramen.
There are also quite a number of medical device and pharmaceutical companies on the east coast (based in upstate NY here), along with defense industry contractors. So, there are some more options.
medical devices i am slightly more sympathetic to, as a user of a DMD. pharmaceutical companies, only slightly higher than "defense" companies. they exist in practice so that few may benefit from the misery of many.