College Grads Un- Under- Employed

[movingforward]

Apr 26, 2012 23:07:05 GMT -5 formerexpat said:

Yeah, I would be a professional student if I could make a living that way. People think I am crazy...

I don't think you're crazy but most professional students I know are detached from the reality of life. They can't relate to real life too well; they have the ivory tower thinking problem. Things just don't work in real life the way they're taught in a text book.

That's why I would be horrible as a professional student. I'm too interested in the actual application of things learned in the text book and how it really works in real life.

I think your right about that. I just enjoy learning new things. I have two degrees and I would say that I have used very little of what I learned in college "on the job." I think both degrees; however, have contributed to my overall analytical and writing skills which are needed in my industry. My 2nd degree is in Hospitality Management and probably some of the business classes that were required might have helped but overall the internship I did was the biggest "learning experience."

[movingforward]

Apr 26, 2012 11:15:53 GMT -5 Firebird said:

Well rounded shouldn't just apply to academics.

Amen.

I actually think working while in college probably made me a more well rounded person. I learned a lot about time management, priorities and budgeting.

[formerroomate99]

Apr 26, 2012 16:29:38 GMT -5 @tbird said:

My mom used to work with a woman who was super secretive about everything so that when she was out sick, no one can find anything or figure out how to do it. She didn't file the rolodex (member those?) alphabetically, but by how she "thought" of things topically.....

Aren't you all required to keep procedures or protocols up to date for your stuff, so that if you were hit by a bus and in traction for a few months, the company would function?

Everybody at my old company was like that, but it didn't keep them from getting laid off. I knew the end was near when they finally got around to asking me to document my code. I did create documents, not useful ones, of course. My cool boss and I left at the same time, so I didn't have to worry too much about burning bridges.

[swamp]

I knew the end was near when they finally got around to asking me to document my code. I did create documents, not useful ones, of course.

What do you mean, "of course"? That's kind of douchey. You never know when you're going to run into someone from your prior job in the future.

The toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.

[thyme4change]

What do you mean, "of course"? That's kind of douchey.

I don't see a really good reason to spend a bunch of time doing a bad job at anything. Especially if it will be the only thing that survives me.

[Deleted]

some people underestimate how easily they can be replaced.

[formerroomate99]

Apr 27, 2012 14:27:24 GMT -5 swamp said:

I knew the end was near when they finally got around to asking me to document my code. I did create documents, not useful ones, of course.

What do you mean, "of course"? That's kind of douchey. You never know when you're going to run into someone from your prior job in the future.

The toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.

Well, I certainly wouldn't do that sort of thing again. But since absolutely nobody at that company bothered to properly document anything and this was my first corporate job out of college, I didn't think anything of it.

[thyme4change]

For a long time I overestimated how easily I can be replaced. But, the more people I meet in my field and the more I interview, the more I think any boss who has me is lucky.

[thyme4change]

But since absolutely nobody at that company bothered to properly document anything and this was my first corporate job out of college, I didn't think anything of it.

We all do stupid stuff when we are young. I guess I just don't get why it was (a) a given ("Of course my documentation was useless") and (b) something you seem to be proud of.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I guess I just don't get why it was (a) a given ("Of course my documentation was useless") and (b) something you seem to be proud of.

They only asked her to do it so they could hand her a pink slip when she was done. I probably wouldn't go the extra mile under those circumstances either.

[muttleynfelix]

Apr 27, 2012 14:27:24 GMT -5 swamp said:

I knew the end was near when they finally got around to asking me to document my code. I did create documents, not useful ones, of course.

What do you mean, "of course"? That's kind of douchey. You never know when you're going to run into someone from your prior job in the future.

The toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.

I wrote the company handbook on how to do stormwater design at my old company before I left....and I left it there. I wasn't about to screw my coworkers because I was leaving. They all eventually left as well, but I needed their recommendations to go for my Professional Engineerine's license 2 years later and I knew that was coming up.

That company went bankrupt in 2009, but engineering is a small world and when you live in a small city, you don't burn bridges because sooner or later you have contacts at every company in town. While I don't care for the owners of that company, when I see them at walmart or drive by there house I am nice because word gets around. I recently met an whom I had heard spoken about for the last 8 years. He was essentially retired, but we were at the same conference. He had actually heard of me when I worked at my old company - 6 years ago when I was a young kid straight out of school!

Impressions count for a lot. There is an engineer in town that I went to college with. Our freshman year, we had project together and I felt like he was a punk and screwed the rest of us on our team. I still carry that impression with me 12 years later! If he applied to work here and my boss asked my opinion, my opinion would be no even though he has a very impressive resume.

[Sum Dum Gai]

To give you an example, we have another company that landed a short term contract with our agency to build out some equipment. I was told by the agency to give them all the information they would need to complete that work. At the same time that company will be bidding against us for the long term contract I work on which is up this summer. The "engineers" they sent out to get the information they needed for their current contract tried to weasel all this info out of me to help them put together their bid for the longer term contract. Based on the kinds of questions they were asking I know for damn sure one of the guys has little to no technical background at all. I'm guessing he works in their contract department and writes their bids. You can bet your ass I wasn't giving them all the info they asked for. If it made their current contract slightly harder to complete, so friggin be it. If they want my job I'm not going to help them do it.

I imagine I'd have similar feelings if we lose our rebid and I'm tasked with documenting everything to turn over to somebody that replaces me. If they want what I know they can offer me a position and give me a salary for it.

[Firebird]

The toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.

People have toes growing out of their asses?!

[thyme4change]

Chorus
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord.

Verses

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone...


(I'm sure if I keep going we will get to the ass somehow.)

[commuter]

Wow...I read the entire thread. I need a nap!

[Deleted]

Its all about aptitude + interest

When I initially interviewed colleges I wanted to do a BioMedical Engineering Degree, but that degree didn't exist & would be a custom program, deemed unemployable by each college including MIT! Okay, so that was 30+ years ago but who knew better? It is NOT the schools, not even the best schools. If you have a brainiak kid, trust their judgment.

So I decided to pursue a traditional Electrical Engineering degree. Luckily I did a coop assignment in my first year - OMG how mind numbingly boring to sit in a cubicle and design circuitry for turbines. I decided this was not for me. I stayed in the electronics realm, but ugh it was boring work. Later in life I went back to school for a business degree, which is the thing that pushed my earnings forward.

If your kid wants to do a degree that you don't see as employable, you should ask them what their expectations and plan are. Maybe they have ideas that you hadn't thought of.

I feel like where I live & life experiences created limitations for my kids. For example, if we had moved to the LA area there would have been a plethora of creative based jobs based on the entertainment industry. I didn't have any awareness of that market or options for them and feel like they would have been better served if that was part of my knowledge base.

Parents may know a lot, but they don't know everything.

[Opti]

Rock It, great post. I think the lack of knowledge of what's out there hurt me as well. My summer jobs relating to IT or electrical engineering were better than your one Coop assignment but I knew it wasn't going to be thrilling. What I didn't know is I'd end up in the software side of things were expectations were constantly changing. I hadn't planned on giving up my life for work or working 24x7, 26 hours in a row, anything like that. I had anticipated being able to do some work from home but didn't realize that networks across the globe would get good enough that companies would prefer cheap workers from out of the country.

Its hard to know all the possibilities, but I wish I had known more.

[Deleted]

Optimist, come to Seattle where minimum wage is $10/hour and entry level jobs are $12-$14/hour. Its still HCOLA, but seems like there would be more opportunity than you are finding where you are now. I know, it costs money to move, but you should at least try applying to jobs out here. I can tell you that for mid-level positions I am not getting applicants (salary position) and I'm starting to wonder if people are just afraid to leave where they are & lose seniority or something. Or maybe they're all overpaid and know it ;D