Slashdot Mirror
Lifetime Careers in IT?
CyPlasm asks: "MSN Careers had this article posted the other day that asked about a "Lifetime Career in IT: Is It Possible?" Does the average Slashdot reader think they will retire (with a pension, benefits, etc) after a long and successful career in IT?"
Anyone need an overpriced mechanic who specializes in aircooled VWs/Porsches?
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
It's not as if you have to be on top of the game in IT. At least, not the government sector.. Most managers and senior support staff are in their 30's and 40's and completely ignorant of whats been going on for the past 5 years.
Let's see;
One week it's another company is dotbombing
Another week is a company replacing all technical people with Taiwanese made sock puppets
And now how we better think about something else if we want to not starve when we reach retirement age.
I can't feel the love guys, are you trying to kill us with more stress???
- sigs are for wimps.
I can't even get a week long internship in IT. How is lifetime possible?
And I don't see that being in computers makes it any easier or harder. Sure you've got to retrain every year, but we've got it easy compared to doctors, and even your average factory job changes enough that it's an issue there too. Stop learning and you die, first mentally then physically!
Delivering militantly anti-commercial music to all two people who care!
Asking a generation x geek today if they will 'retire from IT' might in 30 years seem as inappropriate a question as saying, "well gosh, do you think you could spend your career in education?"
The obvious answer being that of course you can spend your lifetime in IT work. In it's current manifestation, it is a new field. One that will continue to branch out in ways currently not imagined.
Cheers,
-- RLJ
Does the average Slashdot reader think they will retire (with a pension, benefits, etc) after a long and successful career in IT?
what about those of us that aren't in IT now??
you blow your brains out at age 30. This is the only industry I know of that eviscerates itself every few years and rejects the knowledge of its senior experts. I'm 45 with experience from design and assembly to sales to engineering to programming, and I've been looking for an IT job for years. Ever heard the term "gray-listing"...?
I'm skeptical of IT people who stay at the same job for more than a few years.
They tend to have 1 way of doing things because they've never learned other systems. Switching companies is a way to do that.
And to answer the inevitable "Not Me" posts, I know there are always exceptions.
Look into getting training as a BMW mechanic. I read an article recently talking about how technical it is. There are now training schools for this alone, and their graduates get jobs very quickly. I seem to recall you could make $50K and up doing it.
Some techies are pessimistic about their prospects, citing outsourcing of IT projects overseas and workplace competition from H-1B visa holders.
People have talked about this a lot recently, on Slashdot, in the news, and around my office. But I think people really underestimate the importance of having the developers around so they can be brought into meetings and have face-to-face meetings. When developers feel their responsibility every day, they gets projects done faster and at higher quality. As a developer, I better see the importance of my work by going to more meetings and interacting more with our clients. However, if I was reporting from around the world, I wouldn't feel the same way.
In fact, at my work we're actually bringing lots of QE in from India because we want them working extra hard helping our American-based developers. There's no way real development by American companies will move offshore.
my blog
You go through school, going deep into debt, to learn the trade. You get a job, where they work your nuggies off, for a "salary" that's laughable in hourly terms. Then, after ten years struggle, you're either RIFfed, or, if you're darned "lucky", they'll "reward" you by taking away the only thing that made the job even tolerable - you'll become a low-level manager, and never again be permitted to dirty your fingers typing in code.
Thanks, I'll take a pass on IT as a career. In many ways, I'm glad that I came down with MS *before* I got RIFfed, as it has allowed me the time to realize that my "career" had cost me my health, my social life, and one of the things that I enjoyed most - the joy of crafting a well-thought-out and well-executed program with my own two hands.
Pension? Get real! To get that, you have to stay in one company for ages. Fat chance of that, with companies dropping like flies all the time.
No, you might actually be better off if you skipped school, and stuck with your "You want fries with that?" menial job. At least you'd have some semblance of a life with that, and after paying off the student loan that allowed you to join the exciting and fast-paced world of IT, I'm not so sure that you wouldn't actually be ahead financially, too.
Lemon curry?
I believe the ones that will manage have the ability keep on for life. Manage their projects/staff/code/execs. Have strong staying power. I've been doing this since I was 22. I'm now reaching 30 and I feel old. But I know that if I control my environment and put my self in a position that has a lot of say and authority and understand the requirements I will see a long future ahead.
--Travis
Read this, paying especial attention to section 5, and then re-examine your questions...
Linux and OSS help me love my job. SOunds corny and it is... and it's true. That I work for a .gov helps that much more... lots of opportunities to learn and spread the good word, plus there's a lot of stability. If I wasn't having this much fun I would probably stop my IT career pretty soon.
"The cup... the drop... it's a YES!"
I think the key to this is maintaining a motivation level that will allow you to keep up with emerging trends, but not so high that you burn out.
I have been a unix admin for 10 years, but have been playing with perl, cgi, apache, mysql, and linux for most of that time also, knowing that someday I may have to rely on one or more of them.
keeping a broad scope is absolutely necessary, but not so broad that you master nothing.
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
My short answer is 'no', I don't think anyone can really be in a position to retire from an IT career if they are expecting things like a pension and other retirement-age benefits.
If you want to work in IT and you want to be able to retire you need to look into:
- Building up retirement funds in a 401(k).
This is tax deferred income and if your employer matches you contribute to the MAXIMUM percentage that your employer matches on. Just keep in mind NEVER EVER EVER touch that money (unless you're retiring, or need to buy a house). Basically pretend the money disappeared and you have no idea where it went.
- MANAGE your 401(k).
Watch those investments! Make sure that where your money is invested is continuing to grow and perform. If it isn't, the contact the company holding your 401(k) funds and move it into investments within the program that *are* performing.
- When changing employers roll the 401(k) into the new employer's plan (if it's a good plan with varied investments).
- Investing in land.
This is a tax shelter while you're working (since interest in a mortgage is deductible) and land always appreciates in value over time (even in Arizona <g>). When you retire you can sell the land and if you're over 59 you can skip paying the taxes (this is a one-time benefit). And if you invest in land by buying a home and you live in the home for 2 of the last 5 years, you can keep the gains from the sale of the house *tax free* up to 250k (500k if you're married). Go put that into some IRA's and life will be gooood come retirement age.
But if you think that pensions and social security are going to get you by in your later years, forget it. The only one taking care of you will be YOU. And the sooner you get started the better. GWB just said that most people age 50 are not anywhere *close* to being in a financial position (investments, pensions, whatever) and that's a real problem.
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
I do love my profession....but it's very demanding and I don't think I will continue like this forever.
:)
I'm not in a company with long term benefits as those company are usually big and I don't like working in a too structured and restrictive environnement. So, for me there's no long term advantage working in IT and I'm not looking for those. I prefer an higher salary that I can manage then money I'll get when old.
Also, I would never get the salary I have in a big company as an IT guy unless moving to a manager position.
As soon as I will have kids I will move to a manager position and maybe in a big company doing my 9-5...but until then, I use the 24hours in my days to have fun, enjoy my work and prepare myself for long term. These are my benefits.
I don't want to be seated in a box 9-5...I prefer being a free animal
I see the job market in general as coming full circle back to an environment similar to that of that of my great grandfather. In those days a person with a given skill set worked for whomever payed them the most and provided the most interesting projects. Experience is as valuable back then as it is today.
The days of working for a company for 30 years and retiring with full pensions are gone. Companies I see rarely offer pensions and more often than not you hear tales of them raiding pension funds anyway. At least with a 401K our money is out of their hands.
As an IT person(web primarily), I spend a lot of my personal time researching and learning new and different technologies. Partially because I have to, but mostly because I love to play with things on my LAN just to see how they work. Will I be doing the exact same thing 10 years from now as I am today? I hope not!
The IT field moves fast, as an IT person it is important to me in a job that the employer is willing to 1. Train me in additional skills and 2. Allow me to freedom to implement them however is best. If they can't offer that, then it's time to find one who will. Or freelance with someone who will.
Yes, times are dark now for the IT field. Things in the DotCom Craze swung so much out of control and the pendulum was bound to swing to the other extreme. God willing, things will balance out. Some great people have been hurt in the downturn in the IT field, but then again a lot have been flush out who had no business there to begin with!
I would say the longevity of a career in IT, considering the path its on now, is about the same as trying to be a musician. There are some one hit wonders, some with staying power, some that have made it and lost it, but most just trying to stay in but keep getting kicked back out after a few years to either regroup trying to do something else and trying again or going a different route in life completely.
I'm 30-year-old Java programmer now. Sometime before I'm 40 I'm going to become either a plumber or a plasterer, and start earning some *real* money.
Think about it. The MBA programs of 1000 universities are churning out cute little guys in suits whose ticket to the good life is figuring out how to squeeze out enough "new" money to justify their own million-dollar salary. Did you think benefits and pensions would escape their notice?
Getting up into management is one solution, but my feeling was it meant giving up the work I love (nerdy work) to do work I hate. Being so doggone good they don't want to lose you is one solution, that's the one that we all hope we can use. Some of us will succeed there and some...will not.
Sorry, just my grumpy $.02.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
I started out in Cobol, moved to Fortran and PL/I, and then Turbo Pascal and GW Basic. When I became a consultant, I had to learn C, csh, Borne shell, C++, Java, Perl, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, and VBscript. I've done some stuff that sounds pretty interesting in retrospect, although it didn't always seem that way at the time. (Imagine programing on a PC/AT at midnight in the middle of winter in Wyoming in a building where the sole source of heat is your PC and a single 100 watt light blub overhead!)
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
I agree, and I come from an almost exact same background. I've noticed that management tends towards expecting a lot with little investment. "I want this network to work is all! No we don't need any more infrastructure, I don't care if our switches came from K-mart, they worked plenty well at my last job. Don't tell me how it works, tell me what is wrong."
The most succesful IT people know how to reverse that tendancy, or feed off it. Better and more trickier to reverse it. I don't see myself in IT too much longer if I can help it. I'm pretty good at it, but like Methos in the Highlander series, the fights all but gone out of me.
I'd rather get into instruction, or more specialized CAD. If I don't find my way into actually being able to engineer this or another network, its just not worth it. I don't have the nerves to keep putting out fires, or wait for them to happen.
_________________________
OnRoad: Boldly reporting the SUV war from the middle of the road.
My dad, who was in one tech job or another since high school, finally gave in his last retiremnt notice at age 81. 5 months later, he passed away.
He had gone from radio repair, to manager at a major defense contractor (fighter jets), to nuclear power plant design. After retiring from the 'regular' job, he went into teaching programming classes at a local computer chain.
An "IT" job does not necessarily mean coding day after day for 40 years. Explore the various segments of the field. As you age, you'll find you some things better than others.
As long as I'm breathing, I'm going to be doing something.
It's been well documented that the average career of a programmer is about 4 years, before they get promoted, move on to something else, or go insane. People just can't take being a code monkey, with the insane hours, for longer than that. There aren't enough management positions for all of them to get promoted within 4 years, so a lot probably quit for something else.
Of course, it begs the question - why does this situation exist in IT? I think the answer is that there is such a flood of programmers (both domestic and "imports") that employers have 0 incentive to make them happy. Programmers are disposable - those that aren't promoted get used up.
I would say there are only a few ways out of this. Either educate kids how shitty an IT job can be, or close off the tech visas for foreigners. But really, neither will happen. So we get to enjoy generation after generation of programmers (and admins) get disillusioned with what they used to do for a hobby.
Happy life!
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Been doing it fulltime since 1974, Unix Admin, Multi-Language Developer, Software Specialist - always updating my skills and staying near the leading edge, but far enough back to not get swept up in the "latest craze".
I now find that I'm respected for my extensive knowledge and depth of experience - I get to act in advisory positions and get paid accordingly.
Retire? Maybe... When the travel gets old and the stock market gets it's feet back, but for now I'm doing "just fine" thank you very much.
"Straddling the sword of technology..."
One of the differences I've always noted between Latin America and the US, is that in Latin America people build and rely on relationships with other people, especially family. In the US, there's an ongoing illusion that you can trust money - that money is secure and will take care of you and all you have to do is make more of it. Countries that have experienced hyperinflation somewhere along the line know better than to trust money more than people.
Well, I won't bitch too much but the PX isn't the benefit it is made out to be. Everything has no sales tax (and that of course is a good thing) but Walmart would still beat their prices. The Commisary is tax free too but you still have to pay a surcharge which is used to pay commisary expenses and upgrades.Also, there are many states that have no sales taxes on groceries to begin with. Let see, what else, oh, you get to be separated from your family for months, if not years at a time. You DO NOT have a choice in how you spend your day. You don't get fired for screwing up, nope, you get confinement or demotion or worse. Let's not forget getting shot at if you go into a conflict. Then let's say you get peace keeping duty (oh joy, lets goto Kosovo where everyone hates us). Cops get shot at too and have much better pay and benefits than Military and they deserve it IMO. As for job protectionism, you obviously didn't hear about the drawdown in the 90's under Clinton did you (in fairness, it started under Bush). Thousands of troops lost their jobs. It was just fortunate that the economy was in good shape at the time. Now take all that and go live in pre Korean war barracks or family housing with the roaches. Oh, you live in a high income area? Go find a house without a Cost Of Living Allowance. Look, the Military ain't doing too bad but I certainly didn't do it for the money and the Men and Women in there now most certainly are not now. Many are thankful just to have a job. Of course then there are the reservist and national guard guys that the President called up. I bet you didn't realize that they have to give up their civilian income while they are gone. Hows that for F'ed up.
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
that 35-45% of IT positions in the U.S. may be outsorced, not that they will be eliminated. And just because the positions are outsourced doesn't necessarily mean they move overseas. I might also note that a lot of the managers they interviewed for the story on outsourcing didn't think it was cost-effective. Do you really believe that someone halfway around the world is really going to understand what your needs in software are? That's a tall order. It can be tough enough to make systems work when you are dealing face-to-face with a customer. I think career planning is helpful, but I think it revolves around the notion that you affirm that this is what you really want to do, and that you are going to commit to doing what is necessary to be gainfully employed, such as keeping up with new technologies and being open to changing employment arrangements.
Always look on the briight side of life! (whistle, whistle)
Another big benefit. The disabled veterans college fee waiver. 20+ yrs and you're qualified, even with 0% disability. Free college for you, your spouse, and your kids, for like 10 years at any public school in the state you retired in. This came in handy for my dad. 20 yrs in the USAF and 4 kids. And we all got through school for FREE.
I ate my sig.
...that 90% at least of those million that lost their jobs were the chaff of IT workers everywhere.
They weren't really IT people either, many were 'idea men' or whatever. Most people that lost a dot com job, and stayed lost, lost the job cuz they sucked.
Those that didn't found jobs in the real industries.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
I'm 33, have an M.S. in computer science, and got my first paying job in software development in 1990. While I expect I'll always be playing around with computers, I doubt that it will be my primary employment in the long-term.
Partly this is because of my growing frustration with the universality of poor management; partly it's because of the ceiling I see for techies who don't want to become managers; partly it's the threat of jobs moving overseas.
I'm a second generation programmer. My father started programming in the late 60s. He had a pretty good career going (a few rough times, but all in all pretty darn good for someone without a college degree) until about a year and a half ago. When the downturn hit, he found that no one was interested in hiring a 58 year old programmer/analyst. (What percentage of coders, designers, and analysts at your shop are over 50?) He's finally just about given up on getting back into the field, and gone on to take real estase classes, just passed his licening exam.
I've decided not to wait, but start laying the groundwork for a second career now. I've cut my day job back to 30 hours/week and will be starting classes in Shiatsu in a month. No rapidly changing skill set in massage and acupressure....
I hope that in five or ten years, I'll have my own bodywork practice, and do some computer consulting on the side.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Well, same applies in software development. 65k is about 50% more than what I made my first year working full time, and that with an master's in CS. (Of course, that was in 1993, pre-boom.)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Plenty of my friends and ex-coworkers have retired more than just wealthy...some are millionaires. Some got lucky and sold their stock or options at just the right time, others were overpaid to begin with and were able to invest wisely. I am well on my way, but, I am no fortune teller. Can it happen? You bet! Will it happen to me, well, I can only be so lucky.
A few comments on this entire idea that it is not possible to make a career strictily in IT: 1) Open source only makes it more difficult for IT guys to find work. The full blown idea of open source development is nothing new, it is essentially communism. Communism only works every everyone practices it. A programmer can't code for free but pay for health services. 2) That being said, virtually every employment report released says the hottest fields are in IT. I am not talking about reports 4 years ago, the department of labor report said 8 or the top 10 fields for job growth over the next 10 years where in IT. 3) The U.S. government does virtually nothing to protect jobs for IT professionals. We don't argue for this because most of us realize these jobs are going to people in countries that need them much worse then we do. The problem is that, like communism, this idea only works when it is applied to all professions.
My grandpa was an engineer. Pretty much spent his day doing a lot of what I do, solving problems. He was freelancing/contracting when he died in his 80's.
My uncle got into computers before I was born. Retired and freelancing.
I've been at this since I was a teenager. Every project/process I have used has long since gone away and been replaced by something more complex. The amount of available work has grown exponentially throughout.
What'll I be doing in 20 years? Retiring... and by that I mean shifting to part-time and being selective about the projects I do.
Do I think the specific work type I'll be doing will change? Yeah. Appreciably? Nah. I'll be teaching things how to do stuff. It might be computers, it might be lightwave-based tools, and it might be little microbes. Assembling logic-based tools is what I like, regardless of what the tool looks like. I/T, to me, is the epitome of wise laziness... rather than doing it all myself, I spend all day inventing ways to automate tasks.
-- advaitavedanta
You can't ignore the warning signs. What has happened in the manufacturing sector will happen now in the "professional" sector at an increasing rate. From a Business Week Online article
"This is a huge transformation--much bigger than what happened in the blue-collar world,'' says management guru Tom Peters. He estimates that as many as 90% of today's American white-collar and clerical jobs could be outsourced over the next 10 to 15 years. Some companies, like Caltex, are shutting down operations in the U.S. or moving whole divisions to new locations. Others, such as Verizon (VZ), are farming work out to subcontractors--from small software designers to large consulting outfits like Andersen Consulting, which has 550 employees working for multinational clients in Manila.
The global dispersion of work is sure to accelerate as new interactive software and telecom networks make it increasingly common for engineers, number crunchers, or researchers from China to Scandinavia to work on the same projects at once--as if in adjoining cubicles. As business functions converge onto the Web--and professionals adopt similar worldwide standards--financial analysts based in Mexico will be able to tap into the real-time data bank of, say, Finland's Nokia Corp. (NOK)."
So - Can you stay in the IT field - yes
At the same company - not likely
Continuing education, flexibility, and functional excellence will be key. Your only job security in the future will be your commitment to constant growth and a virtual global reputation for doing hi quality work.
At 45, I "retired" since the brick and mortor company (106 years old) that we worked at decided to "merge" (we said:sell out) with a competitor. Everyone got a years worth of salary, plus over the 6 months to merge the systems, we managed to doubled our 401k's. Stock went from $35 to 70$ with merger announcement--moved 401k from co stock to mutual fund, halfway though merger stock was back to $45/shr--moved mutual fund to co stock, Three days before actual signing/merger stock at $70--move stock back to mutual fund. Since most of us had been there 15 years of so, we all left with 6 or 7 figures. Took a year off and then went back into IT field. * Best part of story, a year later, the competitor co. merged to a Mexican competitor company for the same price ($70/shr)that fired most of the USA people. The stock price has since dropped to around $20/shr also. Good thing we were all forced in 2000 to sell our stock. :) :) :)
Meanwhile, those of us still doing development are watching in horror as we receive awful newbie-grade code from these off-shore super-genuises, projects slip as communications fail (verbal and connectivity-wise) or the foreigners simply go missing for hours or days at a time, delivery dates come and go and the apps still don't work right -- the stories go on and on.
Now, this isn't a simple case of us having just chosen the wrong company to contract with. As I noted above, we're an enormous company (Fortune 50). We have contracts with many companies in India, and in some cases contracts with American companies who employ off-shore resources in turn. So far, I haven't been able to dig up any success stories. I have been personally involved with (although thankfully not responsible for) quite a few ridiculous failures -- none of which would have occurred if we hadn't been chasing this magical off-shore solution. However, the trend will continue in big companies because middle management has no choice but to show (and therefore report) success, and upper management has no connection with what's really going on day-to-day which means they only rely on the falsely-rosy middle managers' reports.
I should point out that nothing I said about our experiences with the off-shore effort was even a little bit exagerated, either. I have personally been involved in these problems for the last seven or eight months. Here are a few examples I've seen in just the past 45 days or so:
Again, those examples all involve completely different off-shore contracting comapies, unrelated projects, and very different skillsets and responsibilities -- yet they are all characteristic of every report I've heard from co-workers and colleagues at large companies who are enduring this fabulous new technique for managing the bottom line, and similar examples are not hard to find if you go digging around on-line.
In a nutshell, so far it appears the only positive stories come from managers, and they mostly appear to focus on up-front costs -- not quality, or long-term costs. (And in a company this big, believe me, even the worst little application can have a lifespan measured in many years.)
I'll say this much -- it makes me miss working for smaller companies. Sure the pay wasn't as good, and the risk was greater, but at least mid- to small-sized companies simply don't have the option of sustaining the massive waste of exercises like the great off-shore push.
Now before somebody goes and labels me racist or a nationalist or jingoistic or whatever thesaurus.com spits out next, please understand I don't blame these off-shore guys in the least. If I could live on a few bucks a day (I read recently that the average programmer in India makes about $12K) I'd be undercutting the big boys too, and my skillsets be damned -- at that point I'm competing purely on price, and even the shittiest hack-job code still has a chance of running right; certainly business managers aren't going to review it. But so far, in my experience and in the considerable experience of many people I know, the basic quality and skills are sorely lacking, and success stories are few and far between. This is my opinion based on real experience. If my experiences change (and by god I hope it does, given the way our current project is spinning out of control and requiring the stereotypical "heroic efforts" of our now-scorned American programmers) then I'll gladly sit back and agree with the Wisdom of Management. But I've just seen too much failure to deliver in the Great Off-Shore Push, so far.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
well I used to drive semi trucks (loweries for you UK'ers) across the US ...long hual out a week at a time with 2500-3500 miles a week. Made great money, got injured now I make 1/4 of the money but get home nightly working on computers, I like it, it was my hobbie but looks like it will be my life now (I'm 32). There are many times I miss the big truck doing 70MHP on the interstates going all over, a litteral breakfast of crab patties in maine and next day dinner of shark steak in florida. Best part was the pay 40cents a mile (for the math 55 MPH (slowest speed limit on an interstate(communistic state of OHIO))times 40 cents is $22 an hour. The government allows you to work 60 hours in a 7 day time frame so $1320 a week is low ball run west and the speed limit goes up to 75 MPH and there are a lot of bonuses possable (unloading, loading, waiting in a dock for to long, even if the load gets dropped of at sevreal points...)) but for now it's back the the bench to build a few more systems....
First of all, you ought to boycott private industry entirely. They're shipping all of our jobs overseas, outsourcing our projects, bringing in cheap foreign labor... Corporate America is out to get rid of us, and we might as well stop playing ball with them. So that's a start.
Second, avoid accepting any debt at all. Don't build up huge student loans (trust me, I know, I'm paying one off right now), don't abuse your credit cards, don't buy expensive cars or other consumer crapola. Debt is the modern analog of indentured servitude. Why do you NEED a 100K IT job? To cover your expenses. Lower your expenses, and you don't need that job! Cut all your fixed expenses, especially debts. Live somewhere relatively inexpensive, buy a used car, get your computer equipment on ebay... Get an apartment instead of a house. Eat out less. And so on.
Look for a job where you have reasonable hours and no noncompetes or IP agreements to sign. Make enough to cover your expenses, and program for open source projects, contributing to the community. Make it FUN again. Instead of putting in that sixty or seventy hour week in IT for a bunch of asshole suits who don't care if you live or die, move out to the country, take a forty hour week maintaining the computer system of the county courthouse, and spend your free time out at the lake with a friendly, perverse woman (or, if you're like me and lean towards celibacy, get a tan). You'll be happier. You'll live longer. You won't age as quickly, and you won't be as heavy because you'll have time to cook real food instead of the vending machine crap you live on right now.
If you want to continue to work in IT until you retire, and then get a retirement, all you have to do is get a civil service job. The pay isn't as high, but the benefits are spectacular. The people are nicer, the hours are shorter, the job is more fun... I could go on but you get the idea.
I make in the high forties, I work only 37 1/2 hours a week, and I have benefits you corporate guys can only dream of. Plus, MY retirement is going to be almost at full pay (I've already done the numbers).
Think about what I'm saying. What do you really owe these corporate assholes, anyway? What have they ever done for you? Get a state or county job in civil service. Work for your neighbors instead of some asshole corporation. Help your community, not some greedy fat-cat in a Mercedes.
Seriously.
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!