You misunderstand my situation.
Yeah, it's 12:30 am. I'm wracked with insomnia lately.
Believe me, I'm quite aware of the 95%/5% ratio. I'm not just focusing on the Microsofts - I'm applying anywhere that will have me. What I'm seeing is either a) they're offering $10-12/hour or b) they want 12+ years of experience in Java development. (Okay, not that - but you get the idea.)
Warning: The following may contain some whining. It may also contain some valid questions. It most definitely WILL contain some personal information.
Here's my situation before I got laid off in January:
I was making $3250/month before taxes, with no benefits that I didn't pay for myself. $19.50/hour, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year (in theory).
My wife makes ~$2500/month. She's got a Masters in Psychology. That racked up some serious student loans, which are pretty nasty. Basically, her salary covers rent and her student loans.
My salary went to trying to pay down some extra debt we incurred when both of us had major car trouble a couple years back, and covering her new car, since her old one had pretty much died. We had almost no savings. Not having a car is Not An Option - unless you consider 3+ hour bus rides each way to and from work an option.
I'm not asking for a job that brings in $50-75k per annum - I'm looking for a reasonable, entry level job. Something that my wife and I can actually a) pay the bills and b) get a little bit ahead in, and maybe even c) start a family someday.
Now to venture into some Washington state esoterica:
1) If you want to have kids, you MUST have them supervised at all times, or else they will be taken away by the state.
2) Each gender of child must have it's own bedroom - if you have all boys or all girls, you can get by on a 2br apartment, but if you have a boy and a girl, you must have a 3br apartment.
3) Most people don't get much examination on this front, but since my wife is a registered mental health therapist who works with children, she's under much closer scrutiny than most people, except for possibly crack mothers and opponents of the current political regime.
4) If you want to live anywhere near Seattle, AND get an apartment that would allow the "having of children", you are looking at $1,500 - $2,000 a month in rent.
5) Why is living near Seattle important? Well, that's where pretty much ALL the computer jobs are. I think I've sent about 12 resumes to Tacoma (30 miles south of the edge of Seattle), and I haven't even SEEN one in Everett (50 miles north) for something like four months now.
6) If we're going to move, we have no savings to do it on - and so if we're going to move, I need to make significantly more than I was making here so that we can save SOME money for moving expenses.
7) Cars are a Must Have in Seattle - the transit system to the suburbs sucks. Once you get to a hub, it's okay - but it's either a 15 minute drive from my apartment to the nearest hub, or a 1.5 hour bus ride. :P
8) The computer jobs I'm seeing right now pay ~$10-12/hour. There are jobs out there I qualify for that pay more, but nobody's responding to my resumes, (I've had three interviews) and I'm making about the same on unemployment, so it's almost not even worth my time. Besides, if I took a job like that, we'd be back where we started - up to our eyeballs in debt, with no way of climbing out of it.
Now, I'm not begging for a free ride - I do agree with broomberg's assessment of business attitudes towards employment - but I'm trying to honestly assess if I should continue to hold out, or work towards changing my career. There is literally diddly/shit out there for work in my market, and it's screwing the prices all to hell. It doesn't help that we're massively in debt due to some Serious bad luck - and I'd like to buy a house in this lifetime, so I'm trying VERY hard to avoid bankruptcy.
Folks, I'm not whining about not pulling in $50-75k a year - I'm whining about not being able to break $25,000 a year WITH A FSCKING BACHELOR'S DEGREE. Hell, my WIFE barely breaks $25k with a MASTERS. Admittedly, she's in public service, which is why she's getting shafted, but HOW THE FSCK do they expect people to a) Pay exorbitant rent, b) save a little towards retirement, c) afford kids, and d) get to and from work?
And then I look at the firefighters - and they offer $50k/year plus excellent benefits, AT THE START.
All I gotta do is buff up.
THAT is why I'm asking the questions I'm asking. Not because I'm a whiny computer nerd who thinks he deserves a handout, but because I'm trying to figure out a way to pull myself up in this darwinistic heap.
Oh, and as far as sales goes? I'd do it if it was the last job availible to me, but I have a lower respect for sales jobs than practically any other work on the planet. Basically, it's some goober inserting himself between the producer and the consumer, and skimming his living off the top of it, without adding much real value. Yeah, I know there's more to it than that, but to me, it's not an honest living.
