Does lack of sleep actually energize you? Makes you more lucid with a hit on judgement? The less you eat, the more energy you have? Have you been very sad more than 3 times in the last year? Be very careful, and if you find yourself running down the street naked as the Son of God, try Lithium or any of the new mood stablisers.
and lets not forget, There's a backseat lover that's always undercover...
so I took a big chance at the highschool dance with [that] lady who was ready to play- it wasn't me she was foolin', cause she new what she was doin when she told me how to walk this way
And of course the anthropological studies of Bangles Labs who uncovered the ancient lost method of bipedal transportation common to the natives 6 millenia ago in the Nile Basin of Noth East Africa...
I don't know of any HS math teachers with a BS in Mathematics... They have education degrees. True math grads are usually pretty bright, just like there aren't too many stupid EE grads out there. And a CS grad working in IT is not a computer scientist because IT isn't science, its practice. But your point is taken... there's plenty of room in every discipline for stupid. And in states with unionized teachers, generally the education is superior to non-unionized states (because the money is spent on the teachers rather than the textbooks), so I think I miss your point there... or at least disagree.
Ah, no Flash, eh? This feature list just gets better and better. How did they keep Flash off of it? Apple figured out how to block it from iPhone, and if they could just figure out how to block it out of OS X, their marketshare would undoubtedly spike. I just wish those malware writers could find something better to do with their time instead of Flashing us with the 3rd Great Scourge of the Internet, after spam and viruses.
Everyone loves Adam, but let's face it, he's likely garden variety manic-depressive, and we only really see his hypomanic spells. All this means to us is that his history is suspect, that he's prone to exaggerate a bit, maybe even confabulate. This is not to say the man has done some pretty neat and amazing stuff, only that he's going to dress up the boring stuff because he's desperate for our acceptance and our love... which we seem to fall over ourselves to give. And if he admits to something being boring, it won't just be boring, it'll be mind-numbingly boring. Nothing the man does will just be ordinary, even if it actually is. This being said, its awefully lame of me to psychoanalize a beloved TV show host, but here's to Adam staying on top (but not over the top) of his mood.
You'd be surprised how much better higher-bit audio sounds on even the crappiest equipment. The one thing that's noticed almost immediately is the shrunk (almost barely perceptible in 24-bit) noise floor. Of course there's more to it than the end product simply being 24-bit... the source needs to be mixed from an equal or higher bit depth to realize the benefit.
Why do gamers prefer 75fps to 24 (regardless of the quality of the display)? The eye can't really discern the difference, right?
The difference may be subtle in audio, but it is there and it is perceivable. No, I don't go overboard on my own system (its a bose wave, just for convenience sake... and it was a gift... I probably wouldn't have paid for it myself if given the choice).
What makes DVD audio such a good idea right now is the ubiquity of the DVD-player. Just hook the RCA's to your receiver and you're golden, no new hw purchases required (well, there was a time when much depended on the quality of the DACs, but in these modern times, even the crappy ones are pretty good compared to the great ones 15 years ago).
$12hr PT IT job where a CS degree is required for consideration
When there are CS grads willing to work for $12/hr PT, that's what their skills are going to be worth.
Ah. So if you buy your wife a car as a gift, and she wrecks it, you won't care because, by this logic, the car is worth nothing because it cost her nothing.
This sort of babel is tossed around a lot these days. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might take what is legitimately an underpaid job, but that doesn't change the actual VALUE of the work... even if the pay is quite low. What the MARKET as a whole will bear sets the value, not what some employer sets his sights on mediocrity to save a few bucks.
I mean, do you seriously think that someone with a CS degree shouldn't be allowed to work for $12/hr, if that's what they want to do, or need to do in order to get a job?
If I buy a gold ring a twice market value, does that make the price of gold double? No, of course not. Its just the same with this example job. Just because the job pays $12/hr, doesn't even remotely mean that is the market value of the position.
Replace "CS grad" for a minute with "English major". We've all heard the stories about kids graduating with English (or Anthropology, or Sociology, or any number of other 'useless' majors) degrees and having to work at Pizza Hut, or working as filing assistants in some dank basement somewhere. It's understood that they're going to end up working for peanuts, because there are too damn many of them competing for too few really good jobs. So a few rockstars get the cool jobs in their fields, while the rest do scut work and dream of grad school. That's kind of what you get for majoring in a field that there's very little demand for.
Well, now you're being contradictory (even in your tangentalism). Those 'worthless' degrees cost quite a bit of money... and buy your logic... the cost is the value. In reality, many many other things need to be considered to evaluate the worth of an Anthropology degree (perfectly respectable discipline, btw).
There's nothing any different about CS: sure, it's a technical field rather than a liberal arts one, but it's not immune to saturation, either.
The market is hardly saturated. More likely, the dollar is down, costs are up, and taking what you can get sometimes is the only choice you can rationally make. However, this has sorta spread across the industry... the idea that everyone knows 'how to do computers' now, and this is the sort of sentiment that can be countered with strong unions, which can set standards as easily as some completely ignore them.
There's nothing about CS, or Engineering, or Physics (or anything else) that's supposed to automatically mean that you get a job after graduation. Universities have been turning out low-quality CS grads for years, and that's taken its toll on the market.
Ah... so what business does a Computer SCIENTIST have working in the Computer PRACTICE? As I've said before, this is like getting your M.D. because you want to be the best nurse you can be.
That said, there's still a huge demand for really good CS people (and really good engineers, etc.); if you're working one of the $12/hr jobs, either you're selling yourself short, or you're really not that good.
Weird. Why aren't there paralegals out there all pissed because they can't find work, because after all, we know there are tons and tons of lawyers. The reason, it seems, is because lawyers don't work as paralegals. So when computer scientists work in IT, its a similar thing... they're devaluing an expensive education, and the salaries of legitimate IT.
There is no magic solution to this. A lot of CS people got the idea in their heads back during the 90s that having IT skills should [...]
CS ~= IT Your attitudes are so part of this problem.
No you are not getting it, the salary will disappear if the market demand disappears.
Huh. So... why has demand increased... and the salaries gone down? (or do you think there are less IT jobs than there were in 2001?)
You can't force an employer to pay more for a service than it is worth any more than you can force a buyer to pay more for a product.
Um... you can. With consumers, a monopoly will indeed force them to pay more. With an employer, we absolutely can use unions to accomplish the same thing. But that's not what we want because that's one of the troubles with unions. What we want is a fair salary commiserate with skills and experience that increases over time as inflation and cost of living increases. What we are getting is the opposite... as cost of living and inflation increase, IT salaries are going down and will continue to be devalued so as long as we put up with it.
If someone is willing to do a job for $12/hr then that is all that service is worth, no matter the education level or value of that service the day or year before.
Hmm... that's a tidy little circular argument. If that someone is starving and homeless, is the service still only worth that? Or if that someone's only choice is to work outside the field for the same amount? Or could it be that we really are being low-balled because these days, every 12 year old kid has computer ski11z, and if we want to stay in our field, we have to put up with whatever is shoveled to us? There's a better way.
If the goliath UAW can't keep the automakers in Detroit, a tech union is not going to be able to force employers to keep jobs in this country.
UAW doesn't exist to keep automakers in Detroit. That has zero to do with a union's charter. The idea is to protect the worker from the company, to give rights to workers, right to fair pay, healthcare, pension, not protect the country from cheap imports.
We need to be willing to provide the service for what it is worth or move on a provide a higher value service.
Well, by your circular logic, all we need do is increase what they pay (by any means necessary, unions, associations or otherwise), and that will magically increase its value.
This is basic economics people,
um... no it isn't... what you describe is hocus pocus
nobody owes you crap
But if we work for free, how the hell is that going to help us? No, when I work, my employer OWES me my pay. Perhaps you want to brush up on that macroeconomics there buddy.
nice. But have you been to a mechanic recently? Proprietor mechanics seem to do pretty darn well... Granted, it isn't $50K for a valve replacement, and they still work on Friday's, but I am extremely happy when I find a place that only charges $45/hr labor. If I could go back in time, I'd skip college for a tech degree in mechanics, and would have worked to have my own shop. I'd be much richer by now.
That'd be great if the computer science grads knew what they were doing. It appears to me that people who want to learn computers get a comp sci degree. People who really understand the hardware and/or programming frequently don't. They'll gain knowledge in other areas to which they can really contribute with their IT understanding. Like the doctors who design medical devices or radiological algorithms.
Well, I'm sure many tend to specialize, while IT understandably is often a generalist. But c'mon... a CS degree is tantamount to a Mathematics degree (ignoring that 'Software Engineering' garbage buzzword, what are they engineering? Electrons and magnetic fields??), so its harsh to say they don't know what they are doing... although, considering one of my metaphors, nurses generally have a much better bedside manner than doctors, and also often save their asses and patients' lives by catching or preventing doctors' mistakes... still, I have trouble believing any CS grad doesn't know what he's doing in IT... I just want them to live up to their potential and stop competing with us.
And, BTW, DVD was supposed to have superseded CD by now.
That would be awesome, as CD tops out at 16-bit audio, while DVD beats even Sony's unfortunate and subsequent Superdisk of 20-bit. DVDs will reproduce 24-bit audio. The time is ripe for some huge artist to release a well produced record in full 24-bit exclusively on DVD. But most just aren't discriminating enough when it comes to high fidelity, and of course, piracyphobia (pronounced 'greed')plays a part.
If this were the case, couldn't they just claim the machine is NOT a laptop, but a notebook (ala Apple MacBooks) and easily avoid lawsuit? C'mon, this is Sony... what manufacturing run doesn't have defects?
Well, that's not all. Its worth noting that chimps and humans have more in common genetically that horses and donkeys, that our common anscester disappeared relatively recently.
Its amazing how many come up with this solution independently when dealing with unwanted bees nests. Spraying soapy water is FAR more effective, less dangerous, though admittedly, not nearly as cruel or fun.
Obviously, I don't know your situation, and I realize there are some very decent paying position out there... But I must disagree with your optimism of the future.
But assuming you are on payroll fulltime, and not contracting all over the place 8 months a year and taking 4 months off... Try pretending your co. went outta business, and try collecting equivelant offers. Its nigh impossible. If you were unemployed your self-confidence in your bread-winning talents will evaporate and you will be right where MOST of the industry workers are today, which is to say undervalued and underpaid (you gatta eat, right?) How long can you afford to not work and wait for the offer reflecting your full value? The longer you wait, the less the industry will be interested in you.
I hate unions too, but the bottom 80% of this IT pyramid deserves to afford transportation, housing, a family, a vacation too. And it can't be done well for $18K/year. Point is you are the exception not the rule... Will you be happy to be replaced by someone with less experience but will work for peanuts 3 years from now? That is the logical conclusion of your career as things stand now.
I don't think the status quo is good enough, not as good as it should be (and I'm not looking for windfall). If not unionization, SOMETHING... some kind of pay must be standardized for the industry before what you think you are so great and valuable at becomes a dime a dozen.
You have a point in that technology steadily advances... but I believe you are mistaken in you conclusions. Technology positions are easier to fill because 1 position with 10 candidates is easier to fill than 10 positions with 12 candidates, and NOT because the job is any easier intellectually. Just because tech advances does not necessarily mean the mind to operate that tech can be smaller.
And, for what its worth, I believe man-hours are man-hours regardless of industry, though certainly, education and experience should be more valuable than the opposite.
Yes, unions are imperfect. But right now you are making 60% of what the STARTING salary for your exact position was in 2001 (pre-9/11). In 4 years, you'll lose another 40%, experts predict. Something needs to be done, this problem needs to be addressed. You are probably twice as smart as a builder (custom homes), but you'll never ever touch his annual net, even if the housing slump never ends. We deserve better. What is your solution? Canniblize your peers? C'mon, you/we can do better than that. If anyone can fix unionization, we can. We are smart and honest, and employers are stupid and unscrupulous... I want to bet on us, but until we're on the same page, they win.
so... Will you say the same a few years from now when you are making only 60% of what you make today for the same job? Open your eyes... IT salaries do NOT follow inflation anymore, but have steadily been decreasing since 2001. In 2001, the job you now have paid almost twice as much. I can't believe this makes you happy. When an entire industry loses its market value, switching jobs only makes things worse for you (each jump will start you again at the new, even lower bottom with an ever decending glass ceiling).
You haven't been paying attention... IT salaries have been falling for almost a decade and will continue to fall for years likely because of the market forces.... Something needs to be done about the $12hr PT IT job where a CS degree is required for consideration. Just knowing these positions exist is anathema to anyone whose worked in the industry; IT is not unskilled mindless labor. This will not stand! I'm no Communist, but we need to stand together to fix the runaway disappearing IT salary. Maybe traditional unionization isn't the answer, but SOMETHING should be done about this before we're all competing for PT minimum wage jobs!
Slashdot Mirror
Does lack of sleep actually energize you? Makes you more lucid with a hit on judgement? The less you eat, the more energy you have? Have you been very sad more than 3 times in the last year? Be very careful, and if you find yourself running down the street naked as the Son of God, try Lithium or any of the new mood stablisers.
contrary to what the summary suggests, wifi doesn't mean internet connection.
it acted on the cold reality of what its creators portray as futile, cyclical, absurd modern life.
don't forget existential (though only the first season had that Fellini feeling)
and lets not forget,
There's a backseat lover that's always undercover...
so I took a big chance at the highschool dance with [that] lady who was ready to play- it wasn't me she was foolin', cause she new what she was doin when she told me how to walk this way
And of course the anthropological studies of Bangles Labs who uncovered the ancient lost method of bipedal transportation common to the natives 6 millenia ago in the Nile Basin of Noth East Africa...
I don't know of any HS math teachers with a BS in Mathematics... They have education degrees. True math grads are usually pretty bright, just like there aren't too many stupid EE grads out there. And a CS grad working in IT is not a computer scientist because IT isn't science, its practice. But your point is taken... there's plenty of room in every discipline for stupid. And in states with unionized teachers, generally the education is superior to non-unionized states (because the money is spent on the teachers rather than the textbooks), so I think I miss your point there... or at least disagree.
Ah, no Flash, eh? This feature list just gets better and better. How did they keep Flash off of it? Apple figured out how to block it from iPhone, and if they could just figure out how to block it out of OS X, their marketshare would undoubtedly spike. I just wish those malware writers could find something better to do with their time instead of Flashing us with the 3rd Great Scourge of the Internet, after spam and viruses.
Everyone loves Adam, but let's face it, he's likely garden variety manic-depressive, and we only really see his hypomanic spells. All this means to us is that his history is suspect, that he's prone to exaggerate a bit, maybe even confabulate. This is not to say the man has done some pretty neat and amazing stuff, only that he's going to dress up the boring stuff because he's desperate for our acceptance and our love... which we seem to fall over ourselves to give. And if he admits to something being boring, it won't just be boring, it'll be mind-numbingly boring. Nothing the man does will just be ordinary, even if it actually is. This being said, its awefully lame of me to psychoanalize a beloved TV show host, but here's to Adam staying on top (but not over the top) of his mood.
You'd be surprised how much better higher-bit audio sounds on even the crappiest equipment. The one thing that's noticed almost immediately is the shrunk (almost barely perceptible in 24-bit) noise floor. Of course there's more to it than the end product simply being 24-bit... the source needs to be mixed from an equal or higher bit depth to realize the benefit.
Why do gamers prefer 75fps to 24 (regardless of the quality of the display)? The eye can't really discern the difference, right?
The difference may be subtle in audio, but it is there and it is perceivable. No, I don't go overboard on my own system (its a bose wave, just for convenience sake... and it was a gift... I probably wouldn't have paid for it myself if given the choice).
What makes DVD audio such a good idea right now is the ubiquity of the DVD-player. Just hook the RCA's to your receiver and you're golden, no new hw purchases required (well, there was a time when much depended on the quality of the DACs, but in these modern times, even the crappy ones are pretty good compared to the great ones 15 years ago).
why not?
nice observation, even if the source inspiration is not even remotely insightful
$12hr PT IT job where a CS degree is required for consideration
When there are CS grads willing to work for $12/hr PT, that's what their skills are going to be worth.
Ah. So if you buy your wife a car as a gift, and she wrecks it, you won't care because, by this logic, the car is worth nothing because it cost her nothing.
This sort of babel is tossed around a lot these days. There are all sorts of reasons why someone might take what is legitimately an underpaid job, but that doesn't change the actual VALUE of the work... even if the pay is quite low. What the MARKET as a whole will bear sets the value, not what some employer sets his sights on mediocrity to save a few bucks.
I mean, do you seriously think that someone with a CS degree shouldn't be allowed to work for $12/hr, if that's what they want to do, or need to do in order to get a job?
If I buy a gold ring a twice market value, does that make the price of gold double? No, of course not. Its just the same with this example job. Just because the job pays $12/hr, doesn't even remotely mean that is the market value of the position.
Replace "CS grad" for a minute with "English major". We've all heard the stories about kids graduating with English (or Anthropology, or Sociology, or any number of other 'useless' majors) degrees and having to work at Pizza Hut, or working as filing assistants in some dank basement somewhere. It's understood that they're going to end up working for peanuts, because there are too damn many of them competing for too few really good jobs. So a few rockstars get the cool jobs in their fields, while the rest do scut work and dream of grad school. That's kind of what you get for majoring in a field that there's very little demand for.
Well, now you're being contradictory (even in your tangentalism). Those 'worthless' degrees cost quite a bit of money... and buy your logic... the cost is the value. In reality, many many other things need to be considered to evaluate the worth of an Anthropology degree (perfectly respectable discipline, btw).
There's nothing any different about CS: sure, it's a technical field rather than a liberal arts one, but it's not immune to saturation, either.
The market is hardly saturated. More likely, the dollar is down, costs are up, and taking what you can get sometimes is the only choice you can rationally make. However, this has sorta spread across the industry... the idea that everyone knows 'how to do computers' now, and this is the sort of sentiment that can be countered with strong unions, which can set standards as easily as some completely ignore them.
There's nothing about CS, or Engineering, or Physics (or anything else) that's supposed to automatically mean that you get a job after graduation. Universities have been turning out low-quality CS grads for years, and that's taken its toll on the market.
Ah... so what business does a Computer SCIENTIST have working in the Computer PRACTICE? As I've said before, this is like getting your M.D. because you want to be the best nurse you can be.
That said, there's still a huge demand for really good CS people (and really good engineers, etc.); if you're working one of the $12/hr jobs, either you're selling yourself short, or you're really not that good.
Weird. Why aren't there paralegals out there all pissed because they can't find work, because after all, we know there are tons and tons of lawyers. The reason, it seems, is because lawyers don't work as paralegals. So when computer scientists work in IT, its a similar thing... they're devaluing an expensive education, and the salaries of legitimate IT.
There is no magic solution to this. A lot of CS people got the idea in their heads back during the 90s that having IT skills should [...]
CS ~= IT
Your attitudes are so part of this problem.
No you are not getting it, the salary will disappear if the market demand disappears.
Huh. So... why has demand increased... and the salaries gone down? (or do you think there are less IT jobs than there were in 2001?)
You can't force an employer to pay more for a service than it is worth any more than you can force a buyer to pay more for a product.
Um... you can. With consumers, a monopoly will indeed force them to pay more. With an employer, we absolutely can use unions to accomplish the same thing. But that's not what we want because that's one of the troubles with unions. What we want is a fair salary commiserate with skills and experience that increases over time as inflation and cost of living increases. What we are getting is the opposite... as cost of living and inflation increase, IT salaries are going down and will continue to be devalued so as long as we put up with it.
If someone is willing to do a job for $12/hr then that is all that service is worth, no matter the education level or value of that service the day or year before.
Hmm... that's a tidy little circular argument. If that someone is starving and homeless, is the service still only worth that? Or if that someone's only choice is to work outside the field for the same amount? Or could it be that we really are being low-balled because these days, every 12 year old kid has computer ski11z, and if we want to stay in our field, we have to put up with whatever is shoveled to us? There's a better way.
If the goliath UAW can't keep the automakers in Detroit, a tech union is not going to be able to force employers to keep jobs in this country.
UAW doesn't exist to keep automakers in Detroit. That has zero to do with a union's charter. The idea is to protect the worker from the company, to give rights to workers, right to fair pay, healthcare, pension, not protect the country from cheap imports.
We need to be willing to provide the service for what it is worth or move on a provide a higher value service.
Well, by your circular logic, all we need do is increase what they pay (by any means necessary, unions, associations or otherwise), and that will magically increase its value.
This is basic economics people,
um... no it isn't... what you describe is hocus pocus
nobody owes you crap
But if we work for free, how the hell is that going to help us? No, when I work, my employer OWES me my pay. Perhaps you want to brush up on that macroeconomics there buddy.
nice. But have you been to a mechanic recently? Proprietor mechanics seem to do pretty darn well... Granted, it isn't $50K for a valve replacement, and they still work on Friday's, but I am extremely happy when I find a place that only charges $45/hr labor. If I could go back in time, I'd skip college for a tech degree in mechanics, and would have worked to have my own shop. I'd be much richer by now.
That'd be great if the computer science grads knew what they were doing. It appears to me that people who want to learn computers get a comp sci degree. People who really understand the hardware and/or programming frequently don't. They'll gain knowledge in other areas to which they can really contribute with their IT understanding. Like the doctors who design medical devices or radiological algorithms.
Well, I'm sure many tend to specialize, while IT understandably is often a generalist. But c'mon... a CS degree is tantamount to a Mathematics degree (ignoring that 'Software Engineering' garbage buzzword, what are they engineering? Electrons and magnetic fields??), so its harsh to say they don't know what they are doing... although, considering one of my metaphors, nurses generally have a much better bedside manner than doctors, and also often save their asses and patients' lives by catching or preventing doctors' mistakes... still, I have trouble believing any CS grad doesn't know what he's doing in IT... I just want them to live up to their potential and stop competing with us.
And, BTW, DVD was supposed to have superseded CD by now.
That would be awesome, as CD tops out at 16-bit audio, while DVD beats even Sony's unfortunate and subsequent Superdisk of 20-bit. DVDs will reproduce 24-bit audio. The time is ripe for some huge artist to release a well produced record in full 24-bit exclusively on DVD. But most just aren't discriminating enough when it comes to high fidelity, and of course, piracyphobia (pronounced 'greed')plays a part.
If this were the case, couldn't they just claim the machine is NOT a laptop, but a notebook (ala Apple MacBooks) and easily avoid lawsuit? C'mon, this is Sony... what manufacturing run doesn't have defects?
Well, that's not all. Its worth noting that chimps and humans have more in common genetically that horses and donkeys, that our common anscester disappeared relatively recently.
Its amazing how many come up with this solution independently when dealing with unwanted bees nests. Spraying soapy water is FAR more effective, less dangerous, though admittedly, not nearly as cruel or fun.
Thanks for the chat. See you in 3 years :P
Obviously, I don't know your situation, and I realize there are some very decent paying position out there... But I must disagree with your optimism of the future.
But assuming you are on payroll fulltime, and not contracting all over the place 8 months a year and taking 4 months off... Try pretending your co. went outta business, and try collecting equivelant offers. Its nigh impossible. If you were unemployed your self-confidence in your bread-winning talents will evaporate and you will be right where MOST of the industry workers are today, which is to say undervalued and underpaid (you gatta eat, right?) How long can you afford to not work and wait for the offer reflecting your full value? The longer you wait, the less the industry will be interested in you.
I hate unions too, but the bottom 80% of this IT pyramid deserves to afford transportation, housing, a family, a vacation too. And it can't be done well for $18K/year. Point is you are the exception not the rule... Will you be happy to be replaced by someone with less experience but will work for peanuts 3 years from now? That is the logical conclusion of your career as things stand now.
I don't think the status quo is good enough, not as good as it should be (and I'm not looking for windfall). If not unionization, SOMETHING... some kind of pay must be standardized for the industry before what you think you are so great and valuable at becomes a dime a dozen.
You have a point in that technology steadily advances... but I believe you are mistaken in you conclusions. Technology positions are easier to fill because 1 position with 10 candidates is easier to fill than 10 positions with 12 candidates, and NOT because the job is any easier intellectually. Just because tech advances does not necessarily mean the mind to operate that tech can be smaller.
And, for what its worth, I believe man-hours are man-hours regardless of industry, though certainly, education and experience should be more valuable than the opposite.
Yes, unions are imperfect. But right now you are making 60% of what the STARTING salary for your exact position was in 2001 (pre-9/11). In 4 years, you'll lose another 40%, experts predict. Something needs to be done, this problem needs to be addressed. You are probably twice as smart as a builder (custom homes), but you'll never ever touch his annual net, even if the housing slump never ends. We deserve better. What is your solution? Canniblize your peers? C'mon, you/we can do better than that. If anyone can fix unionization, we can. We are smart and honest, and employers are stupid and unscrupulous... I want to bet on us, but until we're on the same page, they win.
so... Will you say the same a few years from now when you are making only 60% of what you make today for the same job? Open your eyes... IT salaries do NOT follow inflation anymore, but have steadily been decreasing since 2001. In 2001, the job you now have paid almost twice as much. I can't believe this makes you happy. When an entire industry loses its market value, switching jobs only makes things worse for you (each jump will start you again at the new, even lower bottom with an ever decending glass ceiling).
You haven't been paying attention... IT salaries have been falling for almost a decade and will continue to fall for years likely because of the market forces.... Something needs to be done about the $12hr PT IT job where a CS degree is required for consideration. Just knowing these positions exist is anathema to anyone whose worked in the industry; IT is not unskilled mindless labor. This will not stand! I'm no Communist, but we need to stand together to fix the runaway disappearing IT salary. Maybe traditional unionization isn't the answer, but SOMETHING should be done about this before we're all competing for PT minimum wage jobs!