I guess being jobless for almost 1 year out of college is not that bad

[CSoup]

The recession is much worse for laid off techies since they got accustomed to living with money. Poor college students though are just continuing the life they have lived for the past few years.

 

[Descartes]

This says it all methinks...



<< Less optimistic observers might wonder whether thousands of down-on-their luck techies aren't so much underemployed now but rather overemployed during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s >>

 

[CSoup]

<< This says it all methinks...


<< Less optimistic observers might wonder whether thousands of down-on-their luck techies aren't so much underemployed now but rather overemployed during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s >>

>>



Yes, I think this is very true. During the whole dotcom boom, these companiese were all expanding quickly, so they took whoever they could and paid them more than they were worth. This is one thing that led to the fall of the dotcom industry. Overspending, bad business models, and hiring of unqualified workers and management.

 

[wyvrn]

I am worried about the IT market. I don't have any clue if I will be able to obtain employement after I finish my degree, even though I have experience in the field. Everyday I get closed to just starting a business, the job market being too unpredictable :|

 

[JupiterJones]

Somebody is always hiring. Make yourself an outstanding candidate and there is no reason to be unemployed. You just have to outshine everyone else. The important thing is to stay in the industry, and sometimes be willing to accept employment below your capabilities.

I would be very cautious of hiring a computer guy who was neither in school or employed in the business for over a year.

Don MCSE, CCNA

 

[StageLeft]

<< Somebody is always hiring. Make yourself an outstanding candidate and there is no reason to be unemployed. You just have to outshine everyone else. The important thing is to stay in the industry, and sometimes be willing to accept employment below your capabilities. >>

I was going to say 'easier said than done', and then you saved me the effort:

<< I would be very cautious of hiring a computer guy who was neither in school or employed in the business for over a year. >>

Even by your standards somebody lacking in experience is poorly employable. Well the fact is that many thousands of people with experience can't get work now. IT is a total nitemare to find work for most people, since most people don't have more than a few years experience.

 

[CSoup]

<< I am worried about the IT market. I don't have any clue if I will be able to obtain employement after I finish my degree, even though I have experience in the field. Everyday I get closed to just starting a business, the job market being too unpredictable :| >>



When are you graduating? I hear that the job market will be better in 6-8 months. The employment market tracks the stock market by about half a year and the stock market has been improving recently. If you are not going to graduate until summer or later then you should have a pretty good chance at getting a job.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

I would be scared looking at IT now. It seems everybody is doing it now since the big dot.com boom and everyone saw the big $$. Gonna be a lot more people looking for these jobs you think?

Take a job...any job. I think if you don't do anything for that long companies start to wonder why you were not working.

 

[CSoup]

<< Somebody is always hiring. >>



While this is true. Not everybody wants to work in fast food. Some sectors of the tech industry right now are in a real slump and thus the majority of many companies in certain sectors are not hiring at all. As an EE with interest in chip design, basically I have to wait out the slump. Intel, IBM, HP, and Motorola all have hiring freezes on either throughout the company or in a majority of the groups. Many of the people I graduated with are still looking for jobs and it has been almost a year. Many are aiming lower than they would like, but are still not successful. SuperTool mentioned that one of his EE friends who graduated from the same school as I did could not even get a job at BestBuy.

 

[StageLeft]

<<

<< I am worried about the IT market. I don't have any clue if I will be able to obtain employement after I finish my degree, even though I have experience in the field. Everyday I get closed to just starting a business, the job market being too unpredictable :| >>



When are you graduating? I hear that the job market will be better in 6-8 months. The employment market tracks the stock market by about half a year and the stock market has been improving recently. If you are not going to graduate until summer or later then you should have a pretty good chance at getting a job. >>

I hate to be the naysayer but I have to say something. I got laid of dec 2000 and spent 6.5 months until I got a new job. Beginning of 2000 is when the sh*t started to hit the fan in IT. People were always telling me stuff like "It's going to pick up soon". I still hear it now. I've been hearing it for over a year and I just see absolutely no evidence for it whatsoever. Even if the economy is picking up the economy does not equal IT. IT has a hard road ahead of it in terms of opening up a steady number of positions for fresh graduates. Even if IT picked up right now all of the open positions would be picked up by the plethora of out of work people with experience. I think it will be a long while yet before the IT market really "picks up" to the extent that fresh grads can easily find work.

Even now some fresh grads can, but a lot can't.

 

[wyvrn]

Well I have been talking with recruiters, employers, co-workers, and classmates, all of whom are actively involved in the IT market. None of them has anything good to say about it right now. Yes the market could swing up in 8 months, but even if it does, do you know how many well trained, experienced workers there are looking for work? They will get the jobs first, and us guys with a few years experience and finishing our schooling will be left to pick up the crumbs. With the dot com boom (as the article stated), many people flowed into IT positions. Therefore, there is much more supply of qualified workers than demand for them. It is going to take another economic boom for the younger, less experienced workers to begin finding jobs pertaining to our training, imo.

BTW, I have worked helpdesk/desktop for 4+ years. I have MCP's, A+, and will have CCNA in a couple of months. My degree is in Unix Administration (and networking), and I have spent a few years in a 4 year college. After this semester, I will have 115 college credits and a broad range of certifications.

And I am still worried about my chances for employment in this industry.



edit: Skoorb beat me to the punch

 

[SuperTool]

<<

<< Somebody is always hiring. >>



While this is true. Not everybody wants to work in fast food. Some sectors of the tech industry right now are in a real slump and thus the majority of many companies in certain sectors are not hiring at all. As an EE with interest in chip design, basically I have to wait out the slump. Intel, IBM, HP, and Motorola all have hiring freezes on either throughout the company or in a majority of the groups. Many of the people I graduated with are still looking for jobs and it has been almost a year. Many are aiming lower than they would like, but are still not successful. SuperTool mentioned that one of his EE friends who graduated from the same school as I did could not even get a job at BestBuy. >>


Actually he was Mech. E
He is back in school now getting a masters. That's what you do if there are no jobs.

 

[wyvrn]

.

 

[RSI]

Is the job market in US different than in Canada? I keep reading about this crap on AnandTech but never hear people talking about it here. I've had several computer related jobs and I don't have any certifications, education, and only a little experience doing anything useful. I'll have my DEC in Computer Science in three years, and may or may not continue in University (DEC=college diploma). I'm pretty confident that I'll either have found a job before I finish CS, or Ultima's business/organization (which I am part of) will have made progress at least.

Now, I have to go write some worthless CS programs for tomorrow. Later!

-RSI

 

[CSoup]

<<

<<

<< Somebody is always hiring. >>



While this is true. Not everybody wants to work in fast food. Some sectors of the tech industry right now are in a real slump and thus the majority of many companies in certain sectors are not hiring at all. As an EE with interest in chip design, basically I have to wait out the slump. Intel, IBM, HP, and Motorola all have hiring freezes on either throughout the company or in a majority of the groups. Many of the people I graduated with are still looking for jobs and it has been almost a year. Many are aiming lower than they would like, but are still not successful. SuperTool mentioned that one of his EE friends who graduated from the same school as I did could not even get a job at BestBuy. >>


Actually he was Mech. E
He is back in school now getting a masters. That's what you do if there are no jobs. >>



Opps, I guess I should not have assumed he was EE. I already followed the M.Eng route since the job market was already bad when I got my B.S. and it was just so easy to stay another year for M.Eng. to wait for the job market to improve. Who knew it would get so much worse. I know people who got good job offers after their B.S., but decided to stay for their M.Eng and then ended up not being able to get a job later.

 

[StageLeft]

<< Is the job market in US different than in Canada? I keep reading about this crap on AnandTech but never hear people talking about it here. I've had several computer related jobs and I don't have any certifications, education, and only a little experience doing anything useful. I'll have my DEC in Computer Science in three years, and may or may not continue in University (DEC=college diploma). I'm pretty confident that I'll either have found a job before I finish CS, or Ultima's business/organization (which I am part of) will have made progress at least.

Now, I have to go write some worthless CS programs for tomorrow. Later!

-RSI >>

I can't speak for central and western canada which is always better than eastern canada for this sort of thing but eastern canada is WORSE than anywhere else I've heard of for IT. It's a cesspool of hellish proportions. Halifax I am speaking of in particular. All that happens in that city now is constant layoffs in IT and since everyone and their brother has a university degree there finding work in IT is an absolute tragedy.

Like I said though it's way better in ontario and western canada. If i lost my job in Alabama now we'd be going to ontario or alberta. I don't know how long it would take to find work but I know I'd never get an IT job in halifax again. The competition because of high education and layoffs has made it ridiculous beyond compare.

 

[RSI]

Well that sucks to hear, Skoorb. I'm Montreal here, not Halifax. I doubt it's hugely different though. Guess I'm moving away when I finish school.

-RSI

 

[gopunk]

i'm confident that the market will get stronger, though obviously not as strong as it was earlier, at least for workers.

it's interesting, a week ago, i interviewed a girl who graduated from havard with a bs in cs.... it's like a $8 tech support job...

 

[StageLeft]

<< Well that sucks to hear, Skoorb. I'm Montreal here, not Halifax. I doubt it's hugely different though. Guess I'm moving away when I finish school.

-RSI >>

Montreal is way better than Halifax Halifax is bad because it is a) Very small and b) Filled the brim with an unusually high percentage of university grads

 

[SuperTool]

<< Opps, I guess I should not have assumed he was EE. I already followed the M.Eng route since the job market was already bad when I got my B.S. and it was just so easy to stay another year for M.Eng. to wait for the job market to improve. Who knew it would get so much worse. I know people who got good job offers after their B.S., but decided to stay for their M.Eng and then ended up not being able to get a job later. >>



CSoup, YGPM.
email me back soon, I'll see what I can do. Your MEng helps in this market

 

[Sir Fredrick]

The tech job market is freaking flooded. Everyone thinks you'll be come rich if you get into this industry, so they're all trying, even though 80% of them don't know anything about computers.

If my classmates are any indication, the majority of the people with CS degrees don't know what they're doing. They all come to me for help with computer hardware or programming problems.

Unfortunately, until I have a decent amount of experience, there is no way for me to distinguish myself from my classmates. And with no way to distinguish myself, I'm not likely to get a great job.

It took me *three* months to find my current job, where I'm working as a programmer. This looks good on a resume, but doesn't really help me a whole lot since I'm more interested in networking than programming.

 

[StageLeft]

<< The tech job market is freaking flooded. Everyone thinks you'll be come rich if you get into this industry, so they're all trying, even though 80% of them don't know anything about computers. >>

It upsets me to hear that! I think you're right though that people STILL think they can go to school and come out with a great job. If you're nearing completion go at it, but if you're about to start an education in something like computers I'd recommend to anyone to seriously think it over before committing if money is your prime motivator. It's not the 90's anymore where anybody could go to school and make big bucks right away.

I think too many people entering IT educations are, for some reason, unaware of the way the economy is now and where it's heading. IT will never again be the quick and easy high paying job it was a couple years ago.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Yeah...it's not about money for me, but whenever I tell people that I'm majoring in CS, they start going off on how that's a great field to get into and how I'll probably be rich. Computers are what I do...I have no other skills. Been using them since I was about 8. When IT pays as well as janitorial service, I'll probably still be in the field.

 

[SuperTool]

CSoup, YGPM again.

Let me know if you got it. the PM window was acting weird on me because of the proxy.