even my friend who went into IT, 50% for passion and 50% for the promise of good money, has been trying to find employment for months and just cannot, and he’s still a student (last year with a good portfolio) so whoever were to hire him would get tax breaks from the government
i vividly remember being a soon to be young adult deciding my future being told “go study IT! you won’t have trouble finding a job then, there’s always a need for more IT people”. i studied filmmaking, my friend is studying IT, and he’s struggling to find a job just as much as i am
My organization just listed 2 electrical engineer positions as night shift, pay below national average and we are in a high cost of living area. I’m convinced they don’t actually want applicants. It is a great job but the listing looks like shit.
Can you play the sound of broken dreams and incompetent IT manager promises? I kind of want Doomguy’s boss music when he enters a stage, but just the complete opposite of ass kicking; more like getting my ass kicked.
Yeah I lost my job a couple of months ago as a mid-level IT person and I’ve been struggling to even get an interview. I had one interview 1.5 months ago and that’s it. Heck I’m even starting to struggle to find positions to apply for to begin with, and I’m scanning as far as 100 miles away.
Since your friend is still a student, they should try to see if they can get in with your school’s IT department.
I started my it career working for my school’s IT department first answering phones, then doing desk side work. That job is actually what got me my first real job in the industry. Since then I’ve jobbed hob multiple times and have effectively quadrupled my original salary (6 figures), all in under a decade.
I work in IT and have no shortage of offers in linkedin. In hiring season it’s like 3 a week. I did go to the workforce with a masters though. 5 years of education in total. Also, tbh, I’m a senior dev now (+7 years of experience) so the playing field changes a lot.
Tell your friend to search for startups that don’t pay that well just to get the initial 2 years of experience, then jump up.
May depend on location and experience. I used to have so many recruiters contacting me on LinkedIn (1-2 years ago), I hid my account. Now, when I’m actually looking for a job, I get maybe 1 random recruiter contact me per month, and then ghost me even before the first call. I’ve probably applied to over 750 job postings, had maybe 7-8 interviews, and no offers. 14 yoe, mostly in web-dev at small companies and startups with unrecognizable names; my last role was staff-level. The city I live in is probably one of the most impacted by tech layoffs; was one of the cities tons of people and businesses flocked to during covid, now it’s shedding businesses, jobs, and software engineers.
I don’t really get the “city” sentiment since I only search for countrywide remote jobs (Spain), but country by country the experience will differ ofc. I also specialised myself really quick into a data based field which is needed since all the fucking banks want to update their 3 decade or older systems. And by the time all of them finish being updated they will need to be updated again sooooo… :)
Being in Spain kind of explains the difference. There’s a big push for offshoring US software engineering jobs right now, and I know Spain is one of the countries where some dev jobs are being offshored to (along with Eastern Europe, LATAM, and India). I’ve interviewed with a few startups, and their dev teams were in India, and they just wanted a US tech-lead/manager.
well, I wouldn’t say that’s my case since most of my job postings are of spaniard consultant companies that have projects for banks. Also, data engineering is kinda different from generic software dev, we build data manipulation pipelines, database migrations… etc. Not many end user facing applications or APIs or such, most input/output is databases.
Yeah, but it influences the job market; there probably are jobs you or your colleagues can get from US companies, and some may take, which results in a healthy job market.
You are correct that I’m a generalist and that may be hurting me; I have designed and implemented ETL pipelines, but I’m more of a “jack of all trades master of none” kinda guy. On the other hand, being a generalist can be beneficial at a Staff level (on another foot, US companies are all about “efficiency” right now, and purging their more senior, expensive employees).
To be clear, I’m not really upset about offshoring to most of those countries. It kinda sucks for me, but it’s fair game if you can do the job better than me. I can live in most of the US fairly comfortably with Spain salaries. The offshoring to India is what upsets me, because they pay and treat them like shit. One company I interviewed with “assured” me that the Indian teams worked US EST, and that’s just ridiculous to force software engineers to work night shift for such little pay or reason. And I can’t really live comfortably in most places in the US for what they pay Indian engineers (could make similar money as a fast-food worker in the US).
These days, you might be better served going to a trade school and learning a trade like plumbing, electrician, carpenter, etc… Millenials were pushed hard into college and there aren’t enough people in the trades now. They get paid well and are relatively easy to run your own business if that interests you.
Every job requires some level of contacts. The idea of a meritocracy is a farse. That said, I wouldn’t have that specific trade would be a job that is in high demand anyway. This is something that the US just doesn’t do well as we’ve leaned on China way too hard for factory work. That’s my completely ignorant viewpoint though since I don’t actually work in that field.
you might be better served going to a trade school and learning a trade like plumbing, electrician, carpenter, etc
There’s a college of the trades near me that has fucking free tuition - everything is paid for by its (very substantial) endowment. I don’t understand why young people aren’t killing each other to get into that place. I’ve always been a staunch advocate of a liberal arts education but my parents paid my tuition for me. I just wouldn’t see the same value in it if I had to shell out $75K+ per year. Learn a well-remunerated trade and fucking read books in the evening.
honestly, what field is hiring at this point?
even my friend who went into IT, 50% for passion and 50% for the promise of good money, has been trying to find employment for months and just cannot, and he’s still a student (last year with a good portfolio) so whoever were to hire him would get tax breaks from the government
i vividly remember being a soon to be young adult deciding my future being told “go study IT! you won’t have trouble finding a job then, there’s always a need for more IT people”. i studied filmmaking, my friend is studying IT, and he’s struggling to find a job just as much as i am
My organization just listed 2 electrical engineer positions as night shift, pay below national average and we are in a high cost of living area. I’m convinced they don’t actually want applicants. It is a great job but the listing looks like shit.
There isn’t.
Most of the job listings are just fake.
The rest are nepotism hires, or a ‘who can grovel and impress a narcissist the most’ contests.
Its time to invent or participate in an alternate or parellel economy, the ‘real’ one does not work.
Music major here. Please tell me you need a soundtrack.
if i had a job in the film industry maybe i would :(
Can you play the sound of broken dreams and incompetent IT manager promises? I kind of want Doomguy’s boss music when he enters a stage, but just the complete opposite of ass kicking; more like getting my ass kicked.
Yeah I lost my job a couple of months ago as a mid-level IT person and I’ve been struggling to even get an interview. I had one interview 1.5 months ago and that’s it. Heck I’m even starting to struggle to find positions to apply for to begin with, and I’m scanning as far as 100 miles away.
Since your friend is still a student, they should try to see if they can get in with your school’s IT department.
I started my it career working for my school’s IT department first answering phones, then doing desk side work. That job is actually what got me my first real job in the industry. Since then I’ve jobbed hob multiple times and have effectively quadrupled my original salary (6 figures), all in under a decade.
It seem technical skill hire good. Plumber electrical hand craft job.
It seem too many work too late retire late no room for new person.
Trade jobs pay well but they are starting to have people flood them in some areas and it’s only getting worse.
And if your middle aged or have a physical mobility issue. Yer fucked.
I work in IT and have no shortage of offers in linkedin. In hiring season it’s like 3 a week. I did go to the workforce with a masters though. 5 years of education in total. Also, tbh, I’m a senior dev now (+7 years of experience) so the playing field changes a lot.
Tell your friend to search for startups that don’t pay that well just to get the initial 2 years of experience, then jump up.
May depend on location and experience. I used to have so many recruiters contacting me on LinkedIn (1-2 years ago), I hid my account. Now, when I’m actually looking for a job, I get maybe 1 random recruiter contact me per month, and then ghost me even before the first call. I’ve probably applied to over 750 job postings, had maybe 7-8 interviews, and no offers. 14 yoe, mostly in web-dev at small companies and startups with unrecognizable names; my last role was staff-level. The city I live in is probably one of the most impacted by tech layoffs; was one of the cities tons of people and businesses flocked to during covid, now it’s shedding businesses, jobs, and software engineers.
I don’t really get the “city” sentiment since I only search for countrywide remote jobs (Spain), but country by country the experience will differ ofc. I also specialised myself really quick into a data based field which is needed since all the fucking banks want to update their 3 decade or older systems. And by the time all of them finish being updated they will need to be updated again sooooo… :)
Being in Spain kind of explains the difference. There’s a big push for offshoring US software engineering jobs right now, and I know Spain is one of the countries where some dev jobs are being offshored to (along with Eastern Europe, LATAM, and India). I’ve interviewed with a few startups, and their dev teams were in India, and they just wanted a US tech-lead/manager.
well, I wouldn’t say that’s my case since most of my job postings are of spaniard consultant companies that have projects for banks. Also, data engineering is kinda different from generic software dev, we build data manipulation pipelines, database migrations… etc. Not many end user facing applications or APIs or such, most input/output is databases.
Yeah, but it influences the job market; there probably are jobs you or your colleagues can get from US companies, and some may take, which results in a healthy job market.
You are correct that I’m a generalist and that may be hurting me; I have designed and implemented ETL pipelines, but I’m more of a “jack of all trades master of none” kinda guy. On the other hand, being a generalist can be beneficial at a Staff level (on another foot, US companies are all about “efficiency” right now, and purging their more senior, expensive employees).
To be clear, I’m not really upset about offshoring to most of those countries. It kinda sucks for me, but it’s fair game if you can do the job better than me. I can live in most of the US fairly comfortably with Spain salaries. The offshoring to India is what upsets me, because they pay and treat them like shit. One company I interviewed with “assured” me that the Indian teams worked US EST, and that’s just ridiculous to force software engineers to work night shift for such little pay or reason. And I can’t really live comfortably in most places in the US for what they pay Indian engineers (could make similar money as a fast-food worker in the US).
These days, you might be better served going to a trade school and learning a trade like plumbing, electrician, carpenter, etc… Millenials were pushed hard into college and there aren’t enough people in the trades now. They get paid well and are relatively easy to run your own business if that interests you.
I’m a millwright (red seal journeyman) who recently had to find new employment. It’s not easier in the trades if you don’t already have contacts.
Every job requires some level of contacts. The idea of a meritocracy is a farse. That said, I wouldn’t have that specific trade would be a job that is in high demand anyway. This is something that the US just doesn’t do well as we’ve leaned on China way too hard for factory work. That’s my completely ignorant viewpoint though since I don’t actually work in that field.
Yeah, it’s pretty ignorant. My industry in CANADA isn’t in the doldrums. They just are bad as any other employer.
There’s a college of the trades near me that has fucking free tuition - everything is paid for by its (very substantial) endowment. I don’t understand why young people aren’t killing each other to get into that place. I’ve always been a staunch advocate of a liberal arts education but my parents paid my tuition for me. I just wouldn’t see the same value in it if I had to shell out $75K+ per year. Learn a well-remunerated trade and fucking read books in the evening.