The Most Selfish Generation

[Tupac Shakur]

My dad died at 56, about 6 months before he planned to retire.

He planned to retire at 57? Jesus what a lazy ****. Well, you know what they say: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

[giblets]

I'd let someone else look it up but I'm guessing 9,700 30 years ago is probably pretty close to 35-40 currently.

And i'll agree that there are a few degrees/schools that let's you deserve a leg up on others.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

What cost $9700 in 1980 would cost $25327.62 in 2010.

Though a few years before 1980 it was a lot more.

[Kidlicious]

@ Ming. Did you also walk 10 miles to school and back in the snow, both ways uphill?

[Kidlicious]

**** al this ridiculous whining about the world being worse. It's not. However, the boomers merrily saddled their children with public debts. That is what they should be apologizing for.

If it weren't for those debts you might be able to see that the world is indeed worse. It's borrowed time.

[notyoueither]

Actually, in my family it was people born before the war that were doing the voting that resulted in unsustainable social programs.

I recall I had a few rants for them as well. Each in our turn, I guess.

[KrazyHorse]

**** al this ridiculous whining about the world being worse. It's not. However, the boomers merrily saddled their children with public debts. That is what they should be apologizing for.

[MRT144]

So your generation really dropped the ball on providing a better world for your children where they don't have to work harder to get a job than you did. Nice way to hang your hat up there Ming.

[Ming]

I never went to college so I have nothing to whine about. But I don't see how you can fault my generation for doing things that supposedly lead to success and then blame them for laziness in a frustrating job market. It's like blaming coal miners for lamenting their situation, of being another day older and deeper in debt.

Its ****ing absurd and cruel

Sure sounds like whining to me...
The one thing you did get right was... "supposedly lead to success" with the key word supposedly.
There are no automatic jobs out there simply because you got a degree... To think the world owes you a good paying job simply because you got a degree is a joke.

[MRT144]

What a riot... "How cruel, I finished college so you OWE me a big money job". "It's my right, you PROMISED me one" "I won't have to work hard, because since I finished college, the money will automatically just roll in" HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA

Getting a college degree means the same thing now as it did back then... It qualified you to have a chance at a real job. Nobody promised us big paying jobs, the degree just gave us the opportunity. I also got a job that just paid under 10 grand when I graduated. That sure as hell wasn't enough to cover the cover the cost of education and buy a home in 4 years. I had to work hard, and prove myself before the money started rolling in. It took years.

It's just funny to think that some people think that since they have a degree, they should automatically be given the job of their dreams.
My daughter graduated two springs ago... she tried very hard to get a job in the industry she studied for. The job market sucked. She ended up being a bar tender, and took a very low paying entry level marketing position, having to work two jobs to help pay off her college debt. But she kept trying and working hard to get the kind of job she really wanted.
And now, in two weeks, she will start in an entry level position at the company of her dreams. She will still have to work two jobs at first, but eventually, if she works hard, she will have the career she studied and worked for. She understood that a college degree was simply one stepping stone on her path, and not some automatic key to success.

Like me, she had to take a low paying job coming out of college as a first step. After that, it required hard work.

So whine all you want how you are owed a great job simply because you spent the money to go to college... it helps prove a lot about you

I never went to college so I have nothing to whine about. But I don't see how you can fault my generation for doing things that supposedly lead to success and then blame them for laziness in a frustrating job market. It's like blaming coal miners for lamenting their situation, of being another day older and deeper in debt.

[MRT144]

I have to laugh. That's what I did, but now I am the IT Director. And I did it for 9,700 a year.

I said that mostly for your benefit.

[Dinner]

Science and Engineering degrees.

Getting great money right off the bat.

[Ben Kenobi]

I offered a job to a young person looking for entry level into the IT industry. The position would have been piece work to start and would pay $25 to $30 per hour.

He said he didn't get out of bed for $25 an hour.

Clearly I'm applying for the wrong kind of jobs...

I might get that for some of my contract work, but that's only because I've got most of the work already done. It's simple for me to update stuff I already have.

Is it programming, NYE?

[Ben Kenobi]

I've been interviewing people for 2 entry level positions and have been quite dissapointed with the quality of applicants that are fresh out of college and their opinion that they should be offered a job that you have to work less than 40 hours a week and get paid more than they're worth. One kid immediately dismissed our offer when informed that he would have to work in a open style cube. I'm sure he's still unemployed.

Seriously? I've done many different jobs over the years. I'd be thrilled with a job that I could actually sit down and do.

[Jon Miller]

My understanding that in things like engineering, the biggest difference is internships/etc. Those who get a basic 4 year degree without internships struggle to find a ~40k a year job. Those who do plenty of internships might take 5 years to graduate (or might not...), but should have job offers in the 60-70k a year range.

What do more senior people who hire think about the relative value of internships versus a degree?

JM

[Ben Kenobi]

God, you do just make crap up. By the way, the earliest BB turned 14 in 1960 so what does the 50's have to do with BBs working.

At least for the men, the boomers have reverted living standards to the way things were back then. That's the situation the kids are dealing with now.

Your father must have been quite wealthy to able to buy a house in a couple of years.

The house was cheap, 50k IIRC. Two incomes one nurse, one draftsman plus teaching and tutoring on the side added up. Took him five years from when he moved in to owning it outright. The land took somewhat longer.

My first job out of school (in 79) paid less then 10k a year.

To put it in perspective, that was the equivalent of 40k a year back then.

Do you pay entry level college kids 40k a year starting salary today?

4 months of that wouldn't make a dent in school debt. Yeah, I was just rolling in cash.

Well, I've managed to pay my school debt off several years ago. And I'm not making 40k a year, that's for sure. It cost me roughly 5k a year for tuition to finish up. Half of what I paid at UBC was scholarship funds, some of it was put aside beforehand, and the rest through working.

I don't own anything, but I don't have 40k in student loan debt hanging over my head.

I can't believe people allow you to teach children.

'allow'? I'm one of their best folks.They recruited me.