Bummed...need consolation...will settle for Brew!

[bubbawny]

You ever just have one of those days? And then one of those days turns into one of those weeks? And one of those weeks turns into one of those years?

I did know where to turn to so I thought i'd post out here hoping someone might offer a word of encouragement.

They say when things chips are down, you're at your weakest. i've managed to "keep on keeping on" for about three years now while challenged (like many of you) in this economy to hold on to a means of earning an income.

Out of the last three years, on and off, i've been unemployed for 1 of them. 1 out of 3. Now, it seems, I'm reentering the unemployment space.

What's different this time is that I spent the last six months as a consultant doing work as DBA to make some income. Problem is, consultants can't collect Unemployment as was recently explained to me. Also different, this time around, my wife is also unemployed.

And, unfortunately, due to political turmoil at my ex-client, we're parting ways tomorrow because of office politics on their part and basically, 'unreconcilable differences'

So how do i find the strength to face tomorrow? Any passages of encouragement? ANy words of wisdom, optimism, or hope, to a worry-laden CTer?

I could sure use a pick me up.

thanks for listening.

don't want --> want --> but don't feel it...

 

[Shadowdancer]

I can empathize with you. A while back, my wife went through a period where she had five jobs in seven years. She kept getting laid off through no fault of her own -- companies just kept laying people off and/or eliminating her positions. Things got so bad she worked for about six months engraving trophies and plaques at a sporting goods store while she looked for a better-paying job.

But eventually she did, and now has held that job for almost a decade.

Things will get better, you just have to try to stay positive, keep looking for a job, and keep fighting the good fight. With your wife unemployed as well, it's going to be rough.

I suggest you both try to find some sort of work quickly -- even if it's part-time, or in a field that doesn't use your degree/training -- just so you have some income. Then keep looking for a better-paying job, or something in your usual field of work. Doesn't have to be flipping burgers if you don't want that -- maybe retail sales, maybe through a temp service. The important thing is to keep some money coming in to pay the bills.

I have a friend whose been out of work for more than a year now. He had a pretty good job as a computer systems operator with a state government agency. But he got fed up with his supervisor and quit with no notice. He can't draw unemployment. And he doesn't have a degree. He also has a disability that prevents him from doing any job that requires standing for long periods of time or lifting anything heavy. He's used up all of his savings, and is now living off his credit cards, which have ridiculously high limits -- with one of them, he could buy a new car! He just makes the minimum payment each month, and is now drawing cash advances from one to make a payment on another, etc. Things are really looking bleak for him; I don't know how he maintains a positive attitude, but he does.

Avoid this situation, though. Keep some income coming in, and keep looking. Good luck.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Yeah, life really sucks sometimes.

A word of wisdom? "Penguin".

 

[bubbawny]

thanks doods!

Penguin, huh? I'll have to think about that one! If there's any animal that should be an example of strength an perserverance, maybe it's them. After all, they sit there in the snow freezing their tushies off all year round except for that brief arctic summer!

My wife is one of those people who are just happy for no reason. Me...I worry to much. I feel like if I'm happy when things are 'bad' then i'm just lying to myself an others...like i'm cheating some how by ignoring reality.

but one thing i know is that brooding has a high cost. So maybe my wife, and the penguins, are the smart ones. Hey...it's buffalo, there's still snow on the ground. I wonder if i should go out doors, plop my butt down and 'ponder' like the penguin!

 

[Jame]

Look at it this way - you have a wife/girlfreind/significant other* to talk of such things to. (Oh well, at least I have a sometimes job...)

*If I've unintentionally opened wounds, forgive me. Not why I said what I said.

 

[jappel]

To add to the excellent advice above, you might consider checking into the services on Monster and other boards that allow you to solicit contract work. You might luck out and find an opportunity you wouldn't have otherwise, possibly a teleworking arrangement.

Best of luck,

John

 

[Spinward Scout]

I completely sympathise with you. I had to go back to school and get my CDL-A. I go for an interview tomorrow. August of 2001 I was making $20 an hour doing page layout for catalogs in Quark XPress. Before that, I did Tech Support for 5 years. I haven't been able to find anything over $9 an hour in the past 2 years. If you can get training - either through your State Job Services office or anywhere else, take it. It can't hurt.

I wish I had better advice for you. For some odd reason, the people in this country want to focus all their money and attention on some country in the middle east instead of helping the people that paid taxes and helped keep the economy going to begin with.

Good luck in your search,

Scout

 

[bubbawny]

You guys are great, thank you!

Sir Dameon Toth: I'm in the tech industry myself. being an IT pro in america is not a wise place to be. The last I saw, while national unemployment hovers at 5.6%, in the IT sector it was last reported to be closer towards 9%.

I fell from being CIO, to IT Director, to Contract Developer, to computer repair dood. (Computer repair is one of those few IT areas that can't be done from over seas. Gotta have some physical hands on in many cases).

I took an economics course and all the macro theories are running through my head about how Outsourcing can only benefit the american economy. By getting cheaper labor, it frees up capital businesses can use to apply towards other endeavers, which hopefully results in new economic opportunities resulting in economic growth.

But here's my question: with NAFTA, blue collar manufacturing jobs went OffShore, and now White Collar jobs are moving Offshore...
...what the heck is someone supposed to do to make a living? What's the next 'color' collar?

This dood on the news was being interviewed, an economist (most likely a democrat) because he was criticising the bush administration for losing 3-4 million jobs. Now i'm not that stupid to think that Georgie-boy caused the loss of those jobs(the world economy is suffering, not just the U.S.). But if last month the whole economy produced 21k jobs (500 per state avg.), that's not even enough to keep up with those entering the work force.

My wife says i'm obsessed, but i watch msnbc.com business section daily hoping for that "good news" when one day (hoping) the blurb comes across: "The U.S. Economy produced 400 thousand jobs this past month...."

 

[savage]

Bubbawny,

I hear your pain on this one. As an IT person your not obsessing at all. I've had a bad position for a few months each year over 2.5 years.

If they can outsource reporters, most of hollywood then very little is safe. How long are we going to put up with this rediculous trend?

I'd have several suggest from personal experience; 1. participating in any "professional" organizations through the unemployment office in your area
2. Participate in any local networking groups.
3. For information: Lou Dobbs -- CNN
4. Websites: net-temps.com, corporate jobsites is pretty decent.


Cheers.
Savage

 

[Romeo 113]

Bubbawny..Do what you have to do to make it...don't let pride get in the way..things have a way of turning around..it's tough but you can make it!!Sir Dameon..Good luck with the CDL! It's a tough life..I did it for 8 years..it's nice to have it to fall back on..want some advice? Hauling tankers is good work..especially if you have your hazmat endorsement..car carriers are one of the best paying driving jobs out there..over the road sucks..so if you have to go that way..I feel for you..good luck!

 

[Jame]

I doubt I can help, but I'll buy a metaphorical round for the house. Does that help?

 

[bubbawny]

It certainly does!

Thanks!

I'm over it, i think! that last brewski was good!

Time to keep the chin up and to begin the process of finding my 'better tomorrow'!

 

[GBoyett]

I am in the same boat. Though I lost my job when the company folded at the end of 3/2003, not from outsourcing.*

Here's several interesting facts I've learned recently. 5.6% is considered almost full employment. Full employment is 95%. In fact 5.6% is below what the average employment (5.8%) was from 1993-2000. One other thing, job numbers only give stats on "Traditional Employment", which is defined as most hourly and salaried W2 jobs. They don't include self-employed, freelance, consultants, and other 1099 positions. Those jobs have grown over 500,000 since Jan 1, 2004. It may not be much of a comfort, but it's a good sign the economy is not as bad a some people portray it. Trust me I heard the same "Gloom and Doom" during the last recession (1990-1991).

"Hey, barkeep! Another Coffee Juice and beer!"

* Here's something light hearted. The week the company folded had a large bit of other interesting things. Starting with the Children of Dune miniseries, we had beginning of the Iraq War, and the series finale of Farscape. So that was a very event filled week for me. The funny thing is I did more work that last month than I did for the last 18 months (Average day involved about 1-2 hours of work, and the rest of the day was personal projects and websurfing)! I still find the irony amusing.

 

[Burocrate]

bubbawny,

Hope this and the other replies help. I got this stubborn friend. He was pretty well set before the dot.bomb hit the bay area: new house, cars and plenty of toys for the family. Stubborn but not wise. When you cash in stock set Uncle's cut aside otherwise you could end up owing the IRS half a mill in back taxes. Did I say stubborn, picture mules getting in fights as to which one of them are most like my friend in the stubborn category. He refused to consider lower-paying or out-of-his-field jobs. Three years later the IRS is still waiting for penny number one to come their way and the job he was waiting for found him. Thank God for patient wives and supporting families.

Take care of basics: get a paycheck, put food on the table and keep your eyes and ears open.

Best of luck, take care of you and yours

 

[savage]

Those jobs have grown over 500,000 since Jan 1, 2004.

George, how do they come up this these numbers if they don't track employment of said positions. Actually, I've done a few brief 1099 projects. In all cases they're worse than fulltime employment. Prior to the downtrend brief 1099 positions were more profitable, and significantly larger quantity.

So, in our present market its cheaper to eliminate permanent positions and use temps to solve problems. Growth is in global infrastructure. I'd say this is very different that the 90-91 resession. In those years while other companies were laying off many were staffing up...

Savage

 

[bubbawny]

Yeah...I hear temping and self-employment is up. That's what i was doing: 1099 work for peanuts. Well, not quite peanuts. Hazelnuts, maybe!

Sometimes these politicians i think are talking out of an orafice that's a little 'south of the equator' if you catch my drift.

It was funny...it was just a few weeks ago that i think it was Bush's treasury secretary who rescinded an earlier statement he made about how confident the bush administration was that the economy would produce 3 to 4 million jobs this year. Then, the february numbers came out (at a WHOPPING 21,000 jobs.

So like...why do we have to work anyway...

i remember the day when i walked ten miles up hill in waist deep snow to play Classic Traveller all night, drink Mountain Dew and eat cold pizza only to get cut down by a plasma rifle at 3:30 am!

ahhh...those were the days! No bills...no job...no worries...pizza, Dew, & CT!

 

[Straybow]

Oh yeah, well in my day we had to walk ten miles in the snow, uphill both ways, with no shoes, and we had to carve our dice out of soapstone!

The only "jobs" were hunting buffalo or growing maize, what you call corn.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

In MY day we 'ad it 'ard. We 'ad to crawl 'undred miles through t' fires o' Mordor on us 'ands and knees, carve us dice out o' our own thigh bones, AND pay t' GM to run t' game...

 

[savage]

Wow. You guys had it tough!!! I got in my old 75' Nova drove down to my friends and played Travelelr and AD&D...or walked across a nicely plowed campus with a bit of slush. Eventually we graduated to T Weekends: Traveller on Saturday and Twilight on Sunday with a game of mini-golf somewhere in the mix. When we wanted to eat it was Pizza and Coke.

I believe that there is a significant population near retirement that are getting damn rich off of this resession through outsourcing and mergers. They'd rather see the middle class broke. And as for politicians. I write to them once a month and let them know my thoughts about them. I might
actually vote against all incumbants this time around...#%&!

And as for the anti-rhetoric. Listen to Lou Dobbs man. The guy is an econimist. So far none of these pro-outsourcing types can hold their facts up to anything.

What we really need is a serious method of measuring unemployment. A once a month Govt website where you enter your SSid, name, address and fill out a very brief status form 1 per month.

This would be appropriate. Trying to track anything through unemployment is a joke.

Savage

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

It's tough for IT types. Tougher still for rote manufacturing types.

I've parleyed my tech skills (AA degree, FCC licenses, BS degree) into a position that basically amounts to "Warehouse Manager" for a west coast state government's tollroad system.

When I not keeping stuff on the shelves, I'm cruising the net looking for Traveller outposts like this one...

... for $22.573 per hour (no o/t).