To be a techie today - means suicide

[Taverner]

Again, any profession does at this point....

Welcome to the dark ages of the USA....

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. Our country has thrown away millions of talented and educated people.

All in the name of saving money and destroying our R&D base, our manufacturing base, our artistic base, you name it.

(B.A. in biology and J.D. (law degree) here, never got a job with either one of them).

I wish we had a huge New Deal jobs program and that it included ARTISTS OF ALL KINDS.

I would love to be painting murals.

[RKP5637]

14. +1000, n/t

[hunter]

2. I make stuff out of trash. It keeps me sane.

Art, computers, cameras, all sorts of stuff...

The techie in me has to make stuff.

With a pile of trash, some solder, welding rods, portland cement, epoxy, open source software, etc., I can make all sorts of things.

My computer is trash, my cars are trash, my clothes are trash, my cameras are trash, and my art is trash.

I'd love to see a new age of innovation, of art, of education, of high speed rail, of high quality medical care for everyone... but until that happens I'm not going to sit around getting rusty,

[Odin2005]

3. I'm dreading that right when I get my Biotech degree they are going to outsource the jobs.

I'm thinking of switching majors and turning my linguistics minor into a part of a Foreign Language major.

[Taverner]

10. Wouldn't surprise me - we Americans require things like OSHA and overtime pay

Rather than slave labor...

[LibDemAlways]

4. The only jobs in my area are in retail. New stores popping up

here and there as others close. The question of who is supposed to buy the stuff those stores are selling remains a mystery.

Husband lost his software engineering job in January due to the closure of an entire division of his company. He's a first rate systems/software architect. Any organization would be lucky to have him. He's also pushing 60, and finding a job at his age is made doubly hard by the gray hair. The blatant age discrimination is sickening. One major company seeking to hire people with his qualifications and experience held a job fair recently. He first spoke with a recruiter over the phone who told him "You seem to be just the person we are looking for. Come see me at the fair so we can discuss where you might best fit." At the job fair the same recruiter wouldn't even look him in the eye. Took his resume and mumbled "We'll review this and call you if we're interested." Translation: We don't care about your experience or your expertise. We'll take our chances with someone younger and cheaper and hope they don't screw up too bad.

My daughter is in high school and is under tremendous pressure (school-imposed) to take the most challenging courses and get into the best college so that she can get the best possible job. And then she comes home and sees her hard-working dad out of work and disspirited. Talk about mixed messages.

You're right. This is, indeed, the dark ages.

[Skittles]

5. it gets worse

currently I have to work with the cheap overseas fucks who replaced people like your husband - let me tell you, there is NO COMPARISON in quality - they simply lowered the standards

[unhappycamper]

6. I was working at Verizon for 21 years before leaving in 2002.

The company was very proud of its new Verizon University in Mumbai, as well as all the cheepo H-1B imported help and the number of outsourced applications.

[LibDemAlways]

8. What my husband does requires government security clearances, so they

can't hire cheap outsourced labor. Instead they hire young kids right out of college and basically command the older guys to train their replacements. Then they let the older, more expensive guys go. Then, because the young kids don't know what the hell they're doing, they screw up and projects become hopelessly behind and way over budget. Ultimately, most of the work gets cancelled. Tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars. And the recruiter at the job fair admitted they were looking for 200 new grads to hire. Apparently the few older workers they invited were there strictly to cover the company's ass in case anybody sued.

[Taverner]

9. Despite the fact that its causing these comapnies to hemhorrage money

They are shipping their engineering departments to China and India

All in search of cheap labor

makes me sick

[LibDemAlways]

12. Also bringing in H-1B Visa workers they don't have to pay a decent wage.

Given the current unemployment rate, that practice ought to be outlawed immediately, but it will never happen. The sick repuke fucks who own the country don't give a shit if Americans starve as long as they are turning a profit.

[RKP5637]

17. So true. Initially it was manufacturing, of course, and they tried to sell us the

story it was just manufacturing, etc. I never ever fell for that line of crap. IMO this place is now on the road to sinking lower and lower. The exceptional knowledge base in this country will be history, and that is not something anyone can turn around overnight.

We are destroying our core competencies for this country. One of my friends, EE, MBA now flips burgers at McDonald's and feels fortunate to have found a job. He was well over 100k/yr for years. And I have many others in the same boat...

And if the RW fools gain a strong foothold again, this place is history. I guess we can all sit around selling hamburgers to each other and working as clerks at Walmart and the like.

[Skittles]

24. I have to deal with folk in China, India, Spain, Brazil, Panama, etc etc

you have no idea how sickening it can really be - seeing coworkers walked out the door and knowing who is replacing them

[Taverner]

25. Oh man - I can only sympathize

I'm in sales, because they will be the last man standing - hoping to make it long enough to either retire or get an OK job at Starbucks while I wait until 65.

But honestly - if our data centers and manufacturing are totally overseas - what's left? Honestly - it seems like our current batch of legislators is dealing with the branches, rather than the root of the problem

[IDemo]

7. Both sides of the story exist where I work

There was a large layoff last year and the manufacturing side has gone away, likely for good. But a couple of new divisions show promise and have been hiring for firmware and hardware development positions over the past year with no letup in sight.

[stray cat]

11. Those without an education are doing far worse....

[WinkyDink]

13. Oh, I'll bet there are jobs in insurance, private prisons, educ. testing, and Dollar Store retail.

[Taverner]

19. Funny you should say that

I keep getting recruiters trying to offer me jobs as an insurance salesman, despite me having NO EXPERIENCE or DESIRE

[RKP5637]

15. This period will go down in history as The Modern Dark Ages or something like that, and

I fear it will be many years, decades before this country recovers if ever, because the county is devouring itself with greed, cult religion, RW politics and many not giving a damn about people. And, the global competition is far different today.

There are, of course, very very capable people in other parts of the world not encumbered by the nonsense in this country. I think this country is going to be left behind financially, educationally and socially.

[Initech]

16. My parents think I'm nuts for not going into the tech sector.

[Taverner]

21. If you want to live in Mumbai its a great carreer choice

[paulsby]

18. any profession?

have you considered law enforcement?

[Taverner]

20. Nah I'm 40 now, and NEVER EVER wanted to do law enforcement

Even though I could - I come from a long line of cops (and preachers)

[paulsby]

22. two similar jobs

in that it's all about talking a good game.

communications skillz

[Taverner]

23. Yes but I don't think I could exist in the "Blue Man's Group" if you know what I mean

The Sales Group is tough enough