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The Laid-off Techie
LazyBoy writes: "ZDNet News has this article entitled "The world of the laid-off techie". Yikes! Things have been bad in New Jersey for a while (telecom slump). How are they elsewhere?"
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If you're the greasy guy who works behind the counter in the "PC Repair" section of Best Buy, you should be laid off if you haven't been already. The industry is overrun with "technicians", a bumper crop of losers fresh off the boat with Sally Struthers School of PC Repair degrees, i.e. dime-a-dozen dorks with no formal training or experience in anything beyond building or tearing down PCs. You think you know alot, but, you dont.
Meanwhile, if you're one of the few who actually treat your career as a discipline, then you should have either held onto your job, or have found work by now. UNIX is a discipline -- If you have an O'Reilly book within 15 feet of your bed, count yourself among the lucky ones who decided not to ride the Win32 train. I know guys with Windows-only skills that haven't held a job in 8 months. If by chance you're still out of work, use your time wisely. Don't sit around and pick your ass. Get your certifications over with, register with ACM and USENIX, and start piling on the lines in your resume'.
Simple as that.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
I think that only the fluff jobs are in short demand.
People who are _actually_ useful (such as programmers and other true techies as you mention) can still find a job these days. Maybe they won't be at a place that lets them come in at noon and play foosball in their slippers, but they will still be able to find a job.
Excuse me, but boo fucking hoo.
Sounds like you made a lot of bad decisions in life, and now you're dealing with them. You got a degree in Spanish? What the hell kind of career is that supposed to prepare someone for? Something which can come close to paying back student loans? I don't think so. Especially Spanish... Bad decision #1.
So you were making $30k, and had a wife and kid... you had a mountain of debt and made a baby. Bad decision #2.
9-hour shifts with no lunch break? Illegal in most states. Or do you just not want to take the lunch break because you'd lose $27.50 a week? Why are you not reporting your employer to the state board of labor if they're really making it a requirement for you to go 9 hours without a break. Bad decision #3.
You picked a school where you can't test out of classes? What kind of moron with enough experience to excel picks a school where they don't have challenge exams? Bad decision #4.
If I were you, I'd learn how to change oil and brake pads and get myself down to an auto repair shop and quit whining. No matter where you are, cars need to be fixed, and you'll make more than $5.50 an hour.