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Techies Working for Peanuts
The San Francisco Chronicle has a story about laid-off techies getting desperate and going to work for, well, nothing. No offense to these people, if you're up against the wall you do whatever you can, but I hope they're aware that most of them are not going to get even the slightest compensation for their time.
Could it be more depressing to be about to graduate with a computer science degree?
If experienced people are having to work for nothing, what hope is there for a recent grad? Any advice?
a jobless friend of mine volunteered to work for free at a company that he desired employement with.
about 3 months later they hired him.
his work ethic got noticed, and a several people figured out he was too valuable to let go.
My opinion? I know a lot of techs with good work ethics...and I think that some of the managers now had a name and a face and they only had good things to say about him.
when a slot came open....instead of interviewing hundreds of hungry techs...they hired him.
Whilst I couldn't see myself managing for long without regular compensation, if I was out of work I would definitely consider voluntary/low-paid work simply to keep up to date. There is no easier way of keeping up to date with standards and new technologies than working in your area of expertise (xml/xsl + related in my case). I realize this is only applicable to those who work with technologies that change (I guess most of us here ?) but is still valid for others as its a great way of keeping the brain ticking and looks pretty good on the CV/resume too. Gareth.
In all honestly, these people - where they can, I recognise some have families with other major commitments etc - need to move to where there is work. Yes, salaries are five digits every where other than a few hot spots - but those hot spots (a) are effing expensive to live in and (b) don't have the jobs any more.
IT remains a growing field. The adjustments in the last couple of years were specific and related to a crash in one, relatively small but high profile, area of the industry. If you're prepared to work for options, consider instead casting your job searching net over a wider area.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I've hoped this has knocked some of the pomposity out of a lot of you; if so, this cloud has a silver lining.
2 years ago 95% of the people on slashdot were CONVINCED that they would never worry about work, since they were just so amazingly skilled that they could always get a job. Unemployment was for those other people, those liberal arts majors and all the people that made fun of them in high school and aren't we showing them since we're all rich and will stay that way. Oh, guess we won't.
Oh c'mon, just leave silicon valley. Move to a modest sized city with around a million people in it. Less crime, lower cost of living, and believe it or not, they do use computers.
I live in Omaha, NE, about 800,000 people in the metro area. Granted, we have a higher than average tech/telecom industry than most cities this size, but it's not too hard to find a job. I had my last day on one job of 4 years on a friday this august and started my new job on a monday. I spent about 5 weeks job hunting. I still get offers for jobs almost 5 months later.
You may only make $50k a year, but $200,000 buys a really nice house and $800 buys a really nice apartment. I live in a 3br 2500sq foot apt that takes up a whole floor, 2 blocks from a medical center so my neighbors are doctors and med students, and we (2 roommates and I) pay $1000 a month. Starter houses and not as nice 2 br apts are about $125k and $500/mo respecivly. You won't need to pack heat to make it from your car to your door either.
It's time to cut your losses and say you're willing to relocate.
Most of the laid -off people I have seen are in this category
- novice graphic designers (2 yrs exp). Most of them working some totally unrelated field then saw the dot-com boom, went for a quick diploma, and joined the 'hi-tech' companies
- marketting types..
- 'irritable' programmers, who think all programming is pressing that button in Visual Studio IDE. These are again the 'quick-buck' types, who doesn't know what a 'stack' is..
All my friends who are real techies (programmers / engineers / sys admins) are still employed. Sure they don't get 20% raises these days. But they still have a job.
This just my observation, I am NOT saying who ever doesn't have a job is not a real techie. What do other slashdotters think?
please no flames.