Getting Started

This one hit me on ZeroHedge.

College grad can’t score a cush job right out of school.

If you recently graduated from college, good luck trying to find a decent job. What we are experiencing right now reminds me so much of the early 1990s. If you were a new college graduate in those days, it was extremely difficult to even get an interview for a good job. Sadly, we are now entering a very similar environment. There is enormous competition for any good job that is available, and mass layoffs are occurring all over the nation. – Economic Collapse Blog

I’d say more like the early 80s.

Aspiring computer scientists are sinking in a job market overtaken by AI, as a recent graduate who expected to make six figures could only land an interview at Chipotle.

Manasi Mishra, 21, was under the impression that if she worked hard in school and mastered coding, she’d have a prestigious tech job with a cushy salary lined up straight from college.

‘The rhetoric was, if you just learned to code, work hard and get a computer science degree, you can get six figures for your starting salary,’ the San Roman, California native told The New York Times.

I don’t think so. Even a few years ago.

First off, It ain’t AI. It’s the economy in general. At one point, my sister had to hire assistants. Her boss was denigrating the position, saying a monkey could do the job. She asked “Who’s going to train the monkeys?”

With AI, who’s going to train that monkey? It’s not perfect, far from it, and it needs to be checked. In addition, coders don’t make what she thinks they make right from the get-go. I know none that started at 6-figures. They make OK money to start, but not stupid money. I won’t even get into the DEI aspect. But, is she a citizen? They don’t say. That’s a factor too, these days.

And what was she doing during school?

You need to do internships when in school. One of my daughter’s friends scored that with Microsoft. Worked all during school, and they brought her on after graduation. My son did two or three. So he had work experience when he graduated. And still, he did OK, but hardly cush starting out.

Here’s the deal. You don’t go into tech, and especially into coding, in order to score a cush job. You get into it because you are interested in it. The best quote I’ve heard about computers is that you either get it, or you don’t. If you don’t, you can learn to work with them, but you’ll never get it. But you are competing with those that get it. You are competing with dudes, most likely Asian and White, that code for fun. They don’t see it as a job. It’s what they do. They came to college already having created apps to amuse themselves.

Key points:

• Not every job in Tech can be done with AI. Most can’t.
• You are competing with some really smart, talented people, that this is who they are.
• You need to do internships. If you didn’t do them in school, you’ll be competing with interns for intern pay.
• Tech companies are spilling blood. You are competing with others that have experience.

Back in the day, my day, You started at the bottom. My degree is in Broadcast Engineering. When I graduated, they deregulated the industry. So, you didn’t need an engineering staff, and with affirmative action, I was competing with pros. It took nearly a year to find a gig and when I did, I hated it. I worked a number of other jobs with similar technology – TV antenna systems, Cable TV, commercial sound systems, and landed in Telecom. Lot of shit sammiches eaten to get there.

I have a news flash for this crowd; Up until the internet boom that started with this generation – 1997, the norm was to start at the bottom. Unless you went into law or finance because daddy did it, it was understood that you had to start low on the food chain. How many stories have we read where the millionaire dude worked for free initially, to learn the business?

Then, He gets into the money sadness.

Young Americans continued to make up the largest share of those transitioning into credit card delinquency in the second quarter, according to a report released by the New York Federal Reserve.

I didn’t get a card until I was well into my 20s. It wasn’t an option. And it was an Amex, which I had to pay every month.

Your car breaks down on a Tuesday morning, and the repair bill comes to $500. If you’re part of Generation Z, there’s a good chance you have nothing set aside to cover it. A new survey from Credit One Bank reveals that 62% of Gen Z have no emergency savings at all, nearly double the rate of baby boomers. There’s a very clear widening gap in financial preparedness happening between generations.

Let that sink in.

Nearly two-thirds of an entire generation of Americans is living on the edge.

FFS. Living on the edge.

The oldest of Gen Z would be 28, if the interwebs are right about that generation starting in 1997. I got married at 27. By 28, we had a small savings. So no shit, nearly none of that generation has savings. It’s the way it is and nearly always has been. If my hoopty broke, I had to fix it myself. If it was major, I bought another $200 shitbox and moved on.

So as I see it, 38% has savings. That’s 38% more than anyone I knew when I was in my 20s, including me. I had some dough in my checking, and had no savings whatsoever.

Newsflash; I think the majority of Millenials and GenX are in the same boat, and everyone is seasick. It’s the economy, stupid.

Finally, at the end, he gets to it:

It is time to face the truth.

We really are in the midst of a substantial economic downturn that has been going on for quite some time.

Needless to say, I believe that the difficult times that we are experiencing now are not even worth comparing to what is eventually coming.

So we are all going to have to adjust our plans and our expectations.

The system that we have all depended upon for so long is failing, and we all need to start becoming a lot more self-sufficient.

No shit. It’s a cycle. I’ve seen many, and had more than a few bite me in my ass.

The difference is the Millenials and Gen Z came of age when things were booming. Now they aren’t. I agree with him to worry about what’s coming. It’s been due for some time. I don’t worry about the young fretting over cush jobs.

I’m set to retire just as social security goes insolvent. I worry about me, and my family and friends.

I’d gladly trade places with this woman.