[central_va]

I have a degree in an engineering field, so I'm one of a decreasing number of men who will likely be earning a decently substantial salary by my mid thirties or so if I play my cards right.

Unfortunately being in STEM you have been targeted to be replace by a H-1B visa holder at some point. The whole H-1B visa program is designed to keep you in check economically. I am an engineer also. The wages you start at will probably be the same as you make 10 years form now adjusted for inflation. Then again you may get lucky and not experience the joy of being replaced by a Pakistani making 2/3 your salary. The joy of having a mortgage, small children and telling your wife you've been laid off. Such fun. I remember the rush of happiness in her face when I told her. That is when my marriage really took a hit. Thanks globalism.

[metmom]

Mr. mm, in a STEM field, got let go from his job last fall and after looking as a few job prospects, decided to do what he always talked about doing when he *retired*.

He started his own consulting business.

His getting let go was the best thing that happened to our marriage. That job was consuming his life and since he was on call, we could not make ANY plans without being able to count on the phone ringing with a problem he had to go in and fix. And ring it did.

And yet, he would not quit and find something else. They *needed* him.

Well so did I and yet I was the one who took second place. ALL. THE. TIME.

And so the company he felt he couldn’t say *No* to, gave him the axe with no warning whatsoever.

And the new business is working out well and he’s FAR happier than when he was employed.

Losing a job is not the end all and should not result in a marriage taking a hit. The wife should be there to support her husband through it because it’s not their situation forever.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

It's a definite risk. In my particular field, software engineering, there are plenty of Indians being brought in. I figure the best I can do moving forward is to try to specialize in a skill-set that foreigners being churned through a program designed to meet minimum requirements set by larger US companies aren't likely to have. I understand that there is still a need for people who intimately understand architecture to maintain and update systems written in largely defunct languages, for example, and I doubt that gets much focus in Indian Java-mills.

I worked as a laborer for some skilled tradesmen to pay my way through college. Far and away my worst mistake in life thus far was being so focused on earning that degree (with all the job stability risks that globalism has brought on STEM fields) that I overlooked a golden opportunity to get into the trades. C'est la vie.