Posted on 04/23/2006 7:49:45 AM PDT by SmithL
One of my readers is an underemployed 59-year-old man from among us here in the South Suburbs. Call him Harry. He works in information technology. Slowly and wearily, he says: "Once you get past 50, I swear, it gets tough, it gets really tough."
For instance, Harry applied for a job with a city of Chicago department that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He got an offer for some contract work. There were no benefits, but it was a paying job.
A woman from the city called him one Monday morning and wanted to know if he could start at midnight. Harry said he'd like to give his current employer a week's notice. That wasn't good enough. The job was gone. The caller told him: "This is a brave new world. Learn to live with it."
(Excerpt) Read more at starnewspapers.com ...
new = next - mental typo.
I'm sorry but I don't buy the "be happy you're working, no how matter how much you hate your job" line. There *are* problems in the IT industry, big problems, and I'm not going to play the "don't complain or the GOP might look bad" game. Maybe where you live it's great, maybe you're one of the lucky ones who is either young and working in the hottest technologies already or who is lucky enough to have an employer who will let you keep up to date in addition to creating product. In this area, the IT industry is in serious pain. I talk to two recuiters weekly and development is dead here (and we're a top 10 U.S. city). You should take a look at Slashdot sometime. A lot of people are complaining about how the "skill set" mentality is pigeonholing vast portions of the IT workforce, and all we keep hearing is how employers can't find the talent they need and want more H-1B visas. Sorry but I call ***BS*** on that one. They can't find the 100% exact match talent they want and won't give anyone who isn't a 100% match the chance to meet their needs. The recruiters aren't helping things at all either because all they see is the list of buzzwords in front of them and they won't market anyone who isn't a 100% exact match for fear of not making their sell or for fear of sending the wrong candidate (and many of them don't know what a close match is because they don't understand the buzzwords they hit you with -- I don't know how many times a recruiter has openly admitted he/she doesn't know what they mean and has actually asked me to explain them).
I think you have discovered the key to lifelong happiness. ; ).
I'm in software and every word you say is honest-to-God truth. There are no breaks today, no opportunities where I sit. Years ago, I got my own break or two, and today I am not seeing anyone hired beside me getting a break. And that's a shame, because I'd like to pay back for my good fortune, but I can't. As you have said, they are hired now for their most recent experience in some esoteric and passing area, and never for their general skills. I think that in my working group, or maybe department, I was the last one hired for that (general skills), and the hiring manager was then new and European. A good guy, since then, he hasn't given anyone a break. If I were to lose my job today, not having the latest set of acronyms listed on my resume, would perhaps help me land a job like my first ever job: washing dishes at a Holiday Inn, if that!
You forgot: "They shouldn't have had so many kids and sent them to private school."
Free at last, indeed! I highly recommend it!
Just ratchet the argument up another step, and another, and another, and pretty soon he should have been a millionaire at age 20.
I just want to know how many here are not telling the truth about being millionaires and how many really are rich that are pretending to be poor:')
Just ratchet the argument up another step, and another, and another, and pretty soon he should have been a millionaire at age 20.
Only if he's lazy. With hard work and some financial savvy, he should have retired by 18.
Thank you for your comments. Yes, we had the bottom fall out a few times, but weathered it due to our conservative lifestyle and savings. Of what I've accomplished in life, I think I'm most proud that my two 20-something children have adopted the same principles, under withering criticism from their friends. If I had to reduce it to two words, it would be "deferred gratification."
Oh, the shame that we aren't all Bill Gates.
lol
Even Bill Gates isn't Bill Gates (the myth is less than accurate). Similarly, the mechanisms of hardship and struggle are more difficult to understand than simply placing blame.
Well talk to my husband. I announced this evening I was quiting in July. He's in shock.
At 43 I have 20 years in my biz and a large 401k and savings. I have no doubt that self-employment is the best option for me within the next couple of years.
Truth is that you really don't want to be in a position where you have vastly more knowledge and experience than those directly supervising you in the regular corporate world. Work on a skill set that you can use to acheive independence. I work everyday on serving my community, learning from my customers and reading up on being a better business person.
Too bad, so sad.
The same could be said for a certain occupant in the White House.
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