Where Did the Opportunities Go?
That is a question I've been asking myself for the last 6 years. I literally had professors say "Oh yeah, the tech field is booming, dude bro. It ain't going away." Yet, no matter how many resumes, cover letters or references I put out there, all I get for my trouble is shit.
Employers want a drivers' license, certifications, experience with programs or obscure functions no entry level applicant would know about and a whole host of other things they put 'Preferred' next to when they really mean 'Required'.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aK4LnVudz4]
To make things worse, older folks I talked to at a family reunion seem to be living as though it's 1953, with all the jingoism of the classless society and opportunity for all attached to it. They also seem to believe that if we 'stop taking in immigrant caravans from shithole countries', we'd finally be paid what we're worth...but that's just one of the many contradictions of capitalism, something no 'Murican is willing to acknowledge no matter how bad things get. We'd rather blame external forces than admit our system was designed this way.
Maybe I'm just tired of playing the game. It's more stress than it'll ever be worth in the long run because no matter what I do I'll always be told to settle for 'less' by Voc Rehab, even though they were the ones who suggested college in the first place. Well, at least someone got paid for my trouble.
I've put in hundreds of hours, sent out hundreds more resumes, cover letters, references, etc, and I have nothing to show for it...and all some people want to tell me is 'people aren't defined by their job. I'd personally like to know what planet they're living on, because here in 'Murica, if you don't work, you're considered lower than shit.
Hell, one guy even suggested writeraccess.com...then he said he'd pray for me (no thanks). Of course, to even do anything through them ya gotta pay about 40 dollars a month. I don't have that kind of money and I'm sure as shit not willing to spend that kind of money when I'm sure the jobs there pay less than the upkeep.
So to ask again, where are the opportunities? Where are the paying jobs that actually allow people to make a real, actual living? Oh, that's right. We want Brad Goodman style instant gratification.
Comments
Space.
Is about to explode. Next decade, and the next, are going to be yuuuge Space decades.
Mars here we come! Give Elon or Bezos a call. They're gonna need IT people.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I'll already be considered 'untouchable' by then.
I'm already 34, so I'm basically fucked career wise.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
34? 34 ain't squat.
Ever hear "life begins
at 40?" Truer words were never spoken. The first 40 are just rehearsal.
Hell, if I had a small biz I wouldn't hire anyone under 35.
I know they actually need a job and will show up for work.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Actually, he's kinda right
My kids already getting the vibe his 2 year old degree is stale when there's new diplomas minted every year. He knew a woman who got her PhD in genetics and found most of the research money is gone, and the US is relying on China for most of it's tech. So she ended up a glorified salesperson for a Chinese company that makes gene sequencing equipment. I had read somewhere that only 3 out of 10 people with STEM degrees end up working in a field using their degree, and this big push for women in STEM is that they would work cheaper in an overcrowded job market.
It feels like those old Busby Berkley movies about breaking into Broadway shows. "I'll paint houses, wait tables, anything, and one day I'll get that big break and get to work for Apple or Microsoft!" I wonder if Apple has a casting couch.
Oh I agree college
degrees are about
worth the paper they're printed on. But that's by design. Spend $75,000 or more on your education, then spend the rest of your life working a McJob paying off the loan. I would have thought H.S. grads trudging off to college would have figured this out by now, becuz it's been the story now for a decade. College bound kids today are better off spending their college money on learning a trade. Or "day trading." Or buying paint. Or almost anything except tuition. TPTB want you to spend it on college knowing damn well there's no job for you after you graduate. One or two of the few fields left being Space and Health Care. We boomers need our meds.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
college
It's been that way for a lot longer than that. It was true as far back as the 1970's. Back then, the way in-field jobs were parceled out was to demand a recent, debtless degree in whatever field. Today, it's just a damn lottery.
The number of constant-value dollars is about the same, too. Using any direct expense, the roughly $10,000 debt I would have faced at the bachelor's degree level in 1980 equates to the roughly $50,000 in debt I'd face doing the same program today.
And that's at a State college, a public school.
And if they want a trade, they'd better go straight to it. In the late 1970s, most trade programs would not take students with college experience.
"buying paint" ?
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
To paint houses.
Back in the day
school teachers worked summers painting houses (or some other job) becuz teaching school didn't pay d!ck. That has long since changed, teachers now making a decent buck here in NY state, but I remember more than one school teacher painting houses back in the day.
College kids today might better spend their tuition on paint.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Hospitals, school districts and colleges
all have it departments. I know hospitals usually have to keep up with changes for medicare, medicaid and billing, and the diagnostic/imaging equipment runs on software. Schools and colleges have their own networks. They usually have real HR dept's and public transportation runs to them, usually. Hospitals don't pay great for non medical, but they have some bennies.
Yet they won't say two words to you without certifications.
Not to mention they're very exact on what they want for candidates. Like I said, I'm fuckin' sick of playing this game, but what choice do I have?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I know it does not solve your problem, but
you are not alone. And it is going to get worse for every one. And it is happening very quickly. One estimate is 2 billion jobs will be lost world wide by 2030. Translation, 50% of all jobs will cease to exist in less than twelve years.
Education does not necessarily guarantee the a job will exist for the grad. I have seen that the case with three of my nephews each with varying levels of education.
I actually wrote this relatively recent essay on this very subject. In that essay, one of the sources I referenced, Forbes, had published an article stating 73 million US jobs will disappear by 2030. That is about half of all the jobs in the current work force.
We are at a breaking point in this country with the impoverishment of our own citizens. I know it is frustrating to you and you are not alone. It is something our elected officials are failing to address.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
No doubt about it.
And the bourgeoisie will just have one half of the working and middle classes kill the other half, rather than simply sharing some of the benefits of the coming mass automation.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.