I wonder what comes before “junior” or “entry level” when “2 or more years experience… and a University degree or 3 or more years experience” are required to apply for the role.
This reads to me like, “we want experienced professionals but we’ll pay only BOTTOM dollar. SOMEBODY will work this cheap in a shitty economy HA HA HA.”
There’s really no humour in this approach. I see this all the time in the IT sector and it sure burns my ass. You take a $40k education (or more) plus 2 years working experience (or more) and one should expect to earn less than what a part-time bar tender makes. WTF is up with that?
I think the IT sector needs a UNION!!!!! An international one. And NOW.
—Self Employed
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2009.
Stop looking for jobs locally and go overseas. Not only will you earn a lot more money, but after two years abroad, you can apply for non-resident status with Revenue Canada and thus not have to pay ANY tax to Canada on your international income. That’s what I did.
or you could become a (shudder) politition. they make big bucks for very little effort, and the perks are out of this world.ask harper about that.
“SOMEBODY will work this cheap in a shitty economy HA HA HA”
Yeah no, it’s pretty much always like that, regardless of the state of the economy. Welcome to the NS job market. It’s who you know or who you blow if you want anything that isn’t paying shit for experience.
And the fact that there’s a complete and total glut of IT personnel clamoring for jobs. Should’ve gone for a trade instead.
it seems like a lot of people think that attending and paying for a post secondary education is about the same as buying the rights to a high paying job. its not.
I agree totally, iypants. However, it’s partially the school’s fault. They don’t tell you that your field is over saturated with unemployed grads, and if they even hint that finding a job with a decent salary might be tough, they won’t mention it until you’re almost finished the course. They are continually pushing for more and more students, without considering whether there is actually a demand for people in that field. IT is a prime example of this.
I partially agree with the OP on this one. Its tough to find a job without experience but there’s no one willing to give you experience! Its a catch 22
hollah!: Shouldn’t it be up to the students to find out for themselves what kind of state the job sector they wish to enter is in? Why should it be up to the school to say to them “this job field is over crowded, but if you want to go get an education in another field, feel free”?? Shouldn’t the students be responsible for not only deciding what field they want to enter into, but also the viability of said field? So long as there is a demand for the education in a given field, why should the school care if there is a demand for employees in that field? Education is still a business, no matter which way you look at it. It’s all supply and demand. If there is a demand for the education they will supply it. I chose my field (college, not university) based not only on what I wanted to do, but whether or not it was a viable career here in NS. I chose the largest sector next to fishing/farming here in NS. Most people don’t even realize it, but Wood Products Manufacturing and Technology (custom millwork, custom woodwork, pulp & paper, etc) has over 1300 companies here in NS alone. My point is that everyone is responsible for their own careers and should know what it is they are getting in to. A little research goes a long way.
I agree Never Wrong, but it depends where you get your research… many colleges say that over 90% of grads have jobs within 6 months. But they don’t say whether it’s in their field, and they don’t say how well they’re being paid. When I graduated university, people were crying that they needed teachers, all these teachers were retiring and they’d have no one to teach their students. A few years later, we have lots of grads who did their education degree, and they have no students to teach due to declining population. Everyone thought IT was the way to go when I graduated high school. Yet now we see underemployed and unemployed IT grads. If the schools keep pushing too many students through their programs, it’s bound to catch up.
I went to community college after university and found a job after about 6 months. Now I have a job in my field, but every time I look for a new job I’m competing with my colleagues plus 2 years of grads after me. The only “new” jobs in my field in this economy are from people going on mat leave. It’s not going to sustain the amount of grads – despite the fact that when they started, the “research” said there were plenty of jobs in the field.
I think IT people contribute to the proficiencies and revenue opportunities otherwise elusive to their employer and, therefore, should be compensated based on that fact just like any other engineer or sales person.
I’m having the same problem: when I started my program at university, there was a high demand for people in my field and all the professors told us poor gullible students that “ohh yes, you won’t have much trouble finding work once you graduate, there’s a shortage of people in your field, you’ll be very employable, blah blah blah.” Now it’s a completely different and very frustrating story, mainly thanks to the shitty economy but also, I suppose, us being a bit naive as well. I’ve found that Catch 22 as well, where many companies are requiring you to have a “minimum two years work experience,” but how the fuck are we supposed to get this minimum experience if no one is willing to give us experience? I do have just over one year’s worth of experience through school co-op and busting my ass chasing people down to give me a chance at shitty pay, but it’s still not enough. Whose cock do we have to suck, really? Meanwhile, friends who have daddies or other relatives who know the right people don’t seem to be having nearly as hard of a time getting decent work, funnily enough. Yes I’m a bit bitter, so shoot me! Play your violins. Hasn’t stopped me from trying of course, but still, it’s a very frustrating situation to be in.
Listening to a school’s ad is not research. Use Stats Canada to see what the trends of most occupations are like and where those trends are. The private schools do nothing different than universities do, they all want a student’s money. Also don’t expect that piece of paper, wherever you got it, to put you at the top of any pay scale.
Compu-College costs 40 000$ ?
I agree with Swampdonkey that NS always has been a tough place to find a decent career regardless of global economic downturns and no doubt always will.
I doubt a union will help much in a field as over-saturated as IT. The real in demand jobs are the trades that are opening up as baby boomers retire from them. IT on the other hand will no doubt become more and more something just about anyone can do as technology moves forward.
I know I am gonna some blowback from this post, but here goes….join the Navy. Good benefits, you get to travel the world and get paid(a very good wage), a pension, job security and they will teach you a professional trade. Get the experience/education you need and get out. You looking for a rose in a pile of shit, then here it is.
armed forces IS a good way to go and excellent for gettign that debt gone… if you can tolerate it. I can’t, and was also told IT will be booming. only took me 1.5 months to land a job, though I now think I may have lucked out. It’s also not just if you can get one… but keeping one these days is kinda rough. a year ago, I could have given any it guy/gal interviews for jobs because our company wasn’t able to keep up with the personnel demand. Now, is quite a different picture.
They are out there, but when you get one you’d better be ready to bust your ass and suck it up for a while to prove that you’re in it for the long haul simply BECAUSE there are soooo many people ready to scoop your job out from under you.
Right out of school, you won’t be making much and it’ll seem like a shit load of debt… but it will get paid off eventually. As you get older, most things seem to get cheaper (car insurance being a big one) and you’ll get raises to help. the first few years are pretty tough (in my personal experience) but if you stick it out you should be just fine.
Totally random point to ad to this discussion, if anyone’s still checking in:
Some weird stuff going on with my projects this week.
Does anyone have any honest, sincere advice regarding the skilled trades? I am seriously thinking about welding or machinist. (I do have some brief experience with both of these things.)
I was just wondering how it works out as a paid proposition . . . Office cubicle or shop floor—any opinions, advice, cautionary tales?