
9M American men in prime working age can’t find jobs. I’m one of them - amyjess
http://www.vox.com/first-person/2016/12/19/13956666/unemployment-men-prime-working-age
======
goshx
What caught my eye is the fact that the author is surrounded by well paid
people in the same field but he is not leveraging the Network that is at his
disposal because he doesn't want to tell them the truth. To me this is the key
of the issue. Asking for help may bring you the help you need, while not
asking at all definitely won't bring you anything.

~~~
otoburb
The author acknowledges this paradox at the bottom of the article:

" _That’s where the irony lies. I know that the way you get jobs is by getting
out there and telling people you’re looking. Using your acquaintances as a
network and strengthening social connections is the best way to eventually
land employment.

One day I’ll work up the courage. For now, my desperation is a quiet one,
hiding behind school soccer pickups and the glow of a computer screen. For
now, it’s still my secret._"

------
hartator
> That’s when the distraction starts. I promise myself, just a quick glance at
> Twitter to see what’s going on in the world, and then I look up and it’s
> 1:15 in the afternoon. Twitter is my heroin — it’s endless content, and if
> I’m bored by one tweet, I just go on to the next one.

I think the danger of unlimited news is understated. The addiction is as bad
as other forms of drugs. Ok, maybe not as bad as heroin, but I don't think we
are far form that.

~~~
criddell
I think you're right.

Earlier this year, I read about the book _Deep Work_ in a comment thread on
HN. I bought the book and read it pretty quickly (it's an easy read) and it
really resonated with me.

The author, Cal Newport wrote a piece a couple of days ago on _digital
minimalism_ that I think the author of the vox article should read:

[http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/12/18/on-digital-
minimalism/](http://calnewport.com/blog/2016/12/18/on-digital-minimalism/)

My interpretation is that by compulsively refreshing Twitter (or HN), you're
giving away your most valuable assets - time and attention. I'm working on
spending my time more wisely and reading Deep Work is already paying off for
me.

~~~
hartator
Just ordered deep work.

And still. Despite knowing the issue, we are here commenting on HN. :)

------
flippy2
Honestly. If the author can't make it in SV due to having a rough ride they
should look outside the area.

There are plenty of companies needing IT workers across the USA and moving to
one of them sounds like a good way for him to get back on his feet.

~~~
M4v3R
He's not an engineer though, at least from what I read in the article. He
wrote:

> I was still able to get customer support position quickly, learning skills
> on the job

> My background in IT and customer support, both considered the bottom rung at
> most tech companies, meant that I was expendable

So it seems he didn't really have higher qualifications, working in customer
support, which is nowadays often outsourced and probably underpaid.

I feel sympathy for the author, but at the same time one thing that I miss
from the article is whether he tried to raise his qualifications in any way.
Did he try other market segments? Picked up any courses? Broadened his
education in any way in the time he was unemployed? The market is saturated
with unqualified workers so it's really not so shocking that people are having
hard time finding work.

~~~
DashRattlesnake
> I feel sympathy for the author, but at the same time one thing that I miss
> from the article is whether he tried to raise his qualifications in any way.
> Did he try other market segments? Picked up any courses? Broadened his
> education in any way in the time he was unemployed?

Raising qualifications usually costs money. He's tried when he had work. When
he didn't it sounds like money was so tight and stress to high that he
couldn't afford it and was focused on the immediate need to get another job.
Strategic thinking and action is actually a bit of a luxury.

He wrote:

> Often, the jobs I could get were so disposable that I was never given
> responsibilities that could help me grow into a promotion, no matter how
> hard I pushed.

> Even though my wife works a steady job, money has been tight — we’ve gone
> through periods where we’ve had only $30 to support a family of four for a
> whole week. Slipping into neurotic budgeting mode has become a well-
> rehearsed drill at this point. We cancel [all of the things]...

> [W]e’re still living paycheck to paycheck. We’ve cashed out most of our
> savings accounts, including retirement, and haven’t been able to replenish
> them.

> Every day involves endlessly scrolling through a list of jobs on Indeed.com
> and applying here and there with full knowledge that 99 percent of the time,
> I’ll never hear back.

~~~
M4v3R
> Every day involves endlessly scrolling through a list of jobs on Indeed.com
> and applying here and there with full knowledge that 99 percent of the time,
> I’ll never hear back.

That means he is literally wasting time, which he could use in other, more
productive ways. Sorry, but if I would be 99 percent sure that something I do
will bring me 0 benefits, I would stop and do something else.

If you don't have money to raise your qualifications you can still apply for
unpaid practice in many places. It will not help with finances immediately,
but will make looking for job easier afterwards.

~~~
DashRattlesnake
> That means he is literally wasting time, which he could use in other, more
> productive ways.

It's easy to judge someone from a distance.

~~~
funkyy
He says exactly how this sounds. Seems this guy is not doing everything in his
power to change his situation and he never really took step back and re-
thinked his strategy.

------
MatekCopatek
To anyone recommending different approaches that could help this guy get a job
- look at it from the other side.

There are 9 million unemployed men such as this one (according to the
article). This doesn't mean that there are 9 million job openings out there,
just waiting for someone with the right resume to show up. Sure, there are
probably some, but mostly, this simply means there are 9 million more workers
than jobs.

Educating the unemployed will only help individuals beat someone else in the
competition of scoring a job, it won't help unemployment as a whole.

~~~
yummyfajitas
This guy openly admits he could find work, but doesn't due to his pride. There
are lots of jobs out there that Americans (like this guy) "just won't do".
He's in the bay area, I know that Handy and Uber are hiring. It won't be hard
for him to find domestic labor for $12/hour.

After das trumpenfuhrer builds his wall and deports the illegals, there will
be about 10M job openings.

Lets be realistic and acknowledge that this guy will refuse to take every
single one of those 10M jobs.

~~~
stonemetal
Heck there will probably be 11M jobs, someone has to man the walls to repel
the ladders and pour boiling oil in the tunnels.

------
quickben
There is nothing embarrassing about manual work. When I was 17, at one point,
I sold toilet paper, on the street, in a third world country, to get some cash
for my PC. Various jobs netted me half the cash for my PC over 6 months. My
parents could scrape for the rest.

486dx-120mhz.

Right now I'm in a comfortable seniority, renting a townhouse ( Toronto is too
expensive to buy) and having a family. The c++ projects keep coming, I don't
have to work with anything other than my fingers. Life is good.

Would I, if anything happens, go back to selling toilet paper or digging
cannals to survive and strive? Without a doubt.

They raised me to believe there is no shame in manual work, and I still hold
that true.

~~~
jotato
You had Patents at 17?! Kudos! ;)

My parents taught me the same way. I have worked many manual labor jobs, and I
wouldn't blink an eye to go back if I had to. I wouldn't enjoy it but I have a
family to support and I do what I must

~~~
dagw
_I wouldn 't enjoy it but I have a family to support and I do what I must_

What if you didn't have to support your family, since your wife could to that
for you? Would you still feel the same drive to do so if it wasn't a "must"?

Personally I feel that that is the crux of the article. He knows he can get a
job, but he also knows he doesn't need to, and the sort of jobs he could get
won't make a huge difference to their bottom line, and he's having a hard time
reconciling all these things to himself.

~~~
quickben
Yes, I agree with you.

Feeling "useful" is subjective but can influence one's self esteem a great
deal.

On the other end, not having choices can also be motivational. For example,
surviving on a single slice of pizza every day ( because it's tax free if it's
a slice) will do wonders for motivation once you have a job.

So, it depends, happiness is subjective, but choices matter.

------
sharemywin
I think this focus in corporate america and startups on "winner take all" and
only hire elite is hurting the economy. Because we've allowed monopolies for
so long and they've multiplied, it's great for companies and investors,
horrible for the economy at large.

~~~
cabinguy
I agree. Capitalism is by far the best system, but its glory days (in the
U.S.) have passed us by. I drove through the downtown area of my hometown this
past weekend and tried to convince my wife that it was once a vibrant business
district. When I was a kid in the 80's, every storefront was filled with local
businesses bearing family names. Today there is only a collection of small-
town dive bars, a tattoo shop and a gas station.

Of course there is a Target, Walmart, Home improvement center & large
furniture store out on the highway that squeezed the life out of the family
businesses a long time ago. It's really sad.

~~~
sharemywin
Scary part is single point of failure. the more centralized a system is the
bigger the catastrophic failure is.

------
alvaromuir
Here's the thing.

A: in 7 years he couldve gone back to school to learn something else B: most
smaller schools I know waive tuition if your unemployed.

C: What's this idea of "stopped looking for work" ? And people say all of us
minorities are the ones who want handouts. I've supported a family of 3 on
$36k. In New York City. It wasn't easy but I had to do what I had to do.

~~~
mcguire
" _...most smaller schools I know waive tuition if your unemployed._ "

Could you provide a few examples? I've never heard of such a thing.

------
jondubois
Once you've reached that point, you can no longer afford to have pride. You
have to do whatever it takes.

You have to reach out to everyone you know for a job. You have to accept
people's pity and take whatever you can get.

If you don't have marketable skills, you need to switch to a low-ethics
industry - It's less competitive. Find the jobs are considered wrong or
unethical and which no one else wants to do - Those pay the best.

When I was going through a hard time, I worked for a gambling company and made
a ton of money. Making money feels good.

My philosophy is that if you're a poor person with no savings, you shouldn't
worry about how your work affects society; it's not your responsibility - Let
those who are wealthy worry about that; they are the only ones who actually
CAN do something about that. You do whatever it takes to get the money into
your bank account. If society gets worse, then you have to get worse with it.

If society degrades to the point that people are killing each other, you have
to be prepared to fight for your survival.

------
peapicker
Lots of people ask, here and on other forums, things like: "Should I
get/finish a CS(or other technical) degree? what's the point?"

If nothing else, it give you credentials to help avoid this sort of situation
in the field you wish to work in.

Not many employers look for humanities majors to run their IT when there are
many other applicants with credentials.

------
jimlawruk
I am sympathetic to the author. I know a few people who are very strong in the
Humanities, are well-read, and have a mastery of the English language, but
can't find a Humanities related job due to market saturation. My wife falls
into this category. She would be hopeless at learning a "marketable" skill
like HTML and JavaScript. Asking these people to serve as a cashier is a waste
of literary talent. I don't have any great ideas on what to tell them. There
needs to be a better solution than go work as a cashier or go learn
JavaScript.

~~~
jimmywanger
> Asking these people to serve as a cashier is a waste of literary talent.

How is it a waste of literary talent? To be crass, if they're currently
producing something society doesn't value/want to pay for, how is being a
cashier a waste?

------
mathattack
I've been unemployed. It's tough but sometimes you have to let your vanities
and pride take a hit and go for the job that's there.

------
tjic
I've met a lot of people who "couldn't" find a job.

What they usually mean is "they can't find a job in the area they want, in the
industry they want, doing the kind of work they want, at the salary they want,
working for someone else."

This is a highly overconstrained search. If / when people loosen one or more
of these constraints, they're opportunities open right up.

Like everyone, I prefer to get exactly what I want.

...but it doesn't always play out that way.

When I've needed work and my dream job isn't there, I've worked in garbage
industries, on crappy projects, at places that are long commutes, etc., and
I've been swamped with work for 25 years.

~~~
cijt
I've met a lot of managers who "couldn't" find anyone to hire.

What they usually mean is "they can't find an employee in the location they
want, with the credentials they want, with the skills they want, at the salary
they want, who's been trained by someone else."

This is a highly overconstrained search. If/when employers loosen one or more
of these constraints, candidates show right up.

Like everyone, I prefer to get exactly what I want.

...but it doesn't always play out that way.

When I've needed staff and my dream candidate isn't there, I've hired
imperfect people that I had to train, raise the rate I was willing to pay, put
together attractive relocation packages, etc., and I've never had a problem
hiring in 20 years as a manager.

(Both parties in an employment relationship may not have equal bargaining
power, but I take issue with the implication that employers have no agency and
workers no power.)

EDIT: A point I wanted to include or imply, but couldn't really shoehorn into
this inversion, is that just as employers set bounds on what they offer
employees, workers set bounds on what offers they accept. Sometimes it's
rational to hold out for the right role through an extended period of
unemployment (while focusing instead on finding the right role and acquiring
or sharpening marketable skills) than to take underemployment that leaves you
with no time for improving your position.

~~~
tjic
Wonderful counterpoint, and I entirely agree with you!

~~~
mcguire
They're both true. Sometimes the supply and demand curves don't meet.

~~~
tjic
I think this is incorrect.

Supply and demand curves _ALWAYS_ meet. It's just that the point where they
meet tells you what the market-clearing price is.

Sometimes this information makes one sad.

Managers who "can't hire good people" are sad because good people cost more
than they want to pay.

Employees who "can't find a job" are sad because jobs that match their skills
and other requirements pay less than they want to receive.

------
amiller2571
This article scares me more than any horror movie ever has. I'm currently the
sole provider for my family (thankfully, this will change in a few weeks), and
even though I have a decently stable job that pays well. Losing it and not
being able to get another is my worse nightmare (right after burning alive).

I know it shouldn't bother me this much. I have had 7 interviews in my life
and I only failed 2 of them. One of them being back in high school when I
applied to Pepsi for stocking shelves.

I know that if I would to ever actually end up in that kind of position, it
would most likely be because of feared it so much that I made it happen to
myself.

------
bhewes
The silver lining as I read this is how this guy even with all the trouble has
remained married provided for his children all while living in one of the most
expensive areas in the world.

And with offical unemployment at 4.5% as some else has mentioned jobs may not
exist for these guys given the current economic structure. The demand is not
there. Hopefully, no matter how imperfect, a large infrastructure investment
happens and stimulates demand for prime age male workers.

------
antisthenes
Well, HN never fails to to disappoint with the libertarian "pull yourself up
by your bootstraps" and "just learn how to code" rhetoric.

A slew of survivorship bias comments that seem to focus on the 1 sentence of
the article, where the author is saying they do not consider a manual labor
job to be practical, and neatly ignoring everything else.

Here are some things most commenters have willingly ignored from the comfort
of their privileged ignorance of economics:

1\. Depending on your health, working a manual labor job at 47 may be a net
negative value. Your body does not heal or recover that well from prolonged
repetitive tasks, so working long days for a $12/hr wage may actually be a
worse deal from not working at all. If this country had federal health care,
then it might have made sense, but since we have the for-profit approach, it
doesn't.

This can be true even if he's in perfect health right now.

2\. Ageism is more real than you think. Especially ageism when it comes to the
resume and job history. Since he's not an engineer, the thought process of a
potential employer goes like this: this guy is 47 and he hasn't held a
management job once in his life, nor progressed beyond basic tech support and
customer service. He also has a family, so he likely won't be willing to work
extra hours for free and be as willing to be exploited as someone who is 23.

3\. Applying for shitty jobs is more costly than applying for higher paying
jobs. The application process for a job is taking a certain amount of time
regardless of the job itself, but the since the payoff for a better job is
much higher, it makes sense to apply only for jobs that pay above a certain
threshold. This is especially true when you consider he is providing some
benefit at home as a stay at home dad (presumably). If he's providing $10,000
in value by staying at home, It will be 6x as costly to apply for a $15,000
job than for a $40,000 job.

4\. The social stigma and not being able to network: Networking works great
when you're a professional that is able to get job offers without networking.
It helps you get better jobs or more interesting jobs, but it doesn't suddenly
elevate you from a non-professional status (tech support + customer service)
to the status of a professional with the corresponding salary and benefits.
The only case where this work is very entrenched nepotism, where someone
unqualified could get a job for which they are not suited with compensation
higher than their "real" market rate.

Networking is mostly useless if you don't have the skills to back it up, like
this guy.

5\. The twitter sentence. I'm honestly shocked at some of the vitriol from the
HN community here. Do none of you ever procrastinate? If I'm not mistaken,
it's working hours right now, but most of you are finding the time to comment
here, on HN. If you had ever spent job hunting for a significant amount of
time, you'd know it's at least as mentally draining as any job, so getting
distracted or having some down time isn't unwarranted.

I could go on and on, but the gist of it is: show some goddamn compassion and
maybe step outside of your bubble for once.

The fact that this person is one of 9 MILLION should maybe at least tell you
that it's a systematic problem, and not just a problem of "not being willing
to work any job for fear of embarrassment" For every one unwilling to do
manual labor like this guy, there's another one who is (aka the other 4.5
million).

~~~
jimmywanger
> Ageism is more real than you think.

Citation needed. Most of my coworkers are easily over 40. The best programmers
I've met at most of my jobs are late forties/fifties. What studies are you
using, rather than your hypothetical "though process" of the hypothetical
employer?

> If he's providing $10,000 in value by staying at home, It will be 6x as
> costly to apply for a $15,000 job than for a $40,000 job.

It will be 6x more costly to accept the 15k job than to accept the 40k job.
The application costs are still the same. Also, by applying for the 15k job in
your example, you are able to a) spend 10k to offset the value you bring at
home or keep the 10k and let some chores remain undone and b) Keep 5k
regardless.

> but most of you are finding the time to comment here, on HN.

We are not the ones who have to stretch 30 dollars a week to cover expenses
for a family of four. If you have a steady job that doesn't frown too heavily
on some procrastination, go ahead.

> If you had ever spent job hunting for a significant amount of time, you'd
> know it's at least as mentally draining as any job, so getting distracted or
> having some down time isn't unwarranted.

We're talking about degrees here. I'm procrastinating right now, but if I
procrastinate too long I will end up unemployed, just like this guy. There's a
difference between getting distracted and down time, and taking weeks off
between interviews.

> show some goddamn compassion and maybe step outside of your bubble for once

From all accounts, this man who wrote the article is the one in the bubble.
It's all about how he feels, how his friends will hurt his feelings if they
figure out he's unemployed. He's the one that needs to step outside himself.

~~~
antisthenes
Cherry picking phrases out of my comment just like you cherry picked the
article.

> Citation needed. Most of my coworkers are easily over 40. The best
> programmers I've met at most of my jobs are late forties/fifties

Programmers. Programmers. Programmers.

This guy is not a programmer. He's not in a senior or even a middle role. Did
your coworkers all start coding bootcamps and get their _junior_ positions at
the age of 40 and over? If not, then your anecdata is equally as useless as
the example you're trying to disprove.

> It will be 6x more costly to accept the 15k job than to accept the 40k job.
> The application costs are still the same. Also, by applying for the 15k job
> in your example, you are able to a) spend 10k to offset the value you bring
> at home or keep the 10k and let some chores remain undone and b) Keep 5k
> regardless.

Yes, and he'll have to work 40 hours. You have no idea what his utility
preferences are, so suggesting to trade 40 hours/week of work for an
additional 5k of compensation is laughable. Especially coming from someone in
a position of privilege.

> We are not the ones who have to stretch 30 dollars a week to cover expenses
> for a family of four. If you have a steady job that doesn't frown too
> heavily on some procrastination, go ahead.

Irrelevant.

> From all accounts, this man who wrote the article is the one in the bubble.
> It's all about how he feels, how his friends will hurt his feelings if they
> figure out he's unemployed. He's the one that needs to step outside himself.

And by _all accounts_ you mean your account. Like I already said, someone in
your position lacks the perspective to understand what it is to be in that
position, not to mention the possible economic trade-offs available. So the
value of your _account /opinion_ is null. And no, just because you worked a
manual job at some point in your life doesn't qualify.

~~~
jimmywanger
> Cherry picking phrases out of my comment just like you cherry picked the
> article.

Wow, even when you set up straw men you can't knock them over.

> This guy is not a programmer.

This guy said ageism is big in the valley. He said nothing about roles.

> You have no idea what his utility preferences are, so suggesting to trade 40
> hours/week of work for an additional 5k of compensation is laughable.

Reading comprehension much? I said it doesn't cost him more to apply, just
that it costs him more to accept.

> Irrelevant.

Ridiculous.

See how you need reasons for your opinions before they convince anybody? Maybe
you should take some rhetorical courses before spewing nonsense.

> So the value of your account/opinion is null.

That's ridiculous. That absolutely negates all discourse, as you can simply
write off somebody's thoughts/reasons as not relevant, because their situation
is not exactly the same as yours.

You notice that the more examples your arguments can apply to, the weaker and
sillier they sound?

------
dbg31415
What I want to tell the author...

Buddy, you're in a rut. You're only 47 -- that means you've got 20-25 more
years to work. If you do it right and earn the ability to retire. What
happened yesterday is done. It's tomorrow you have to focus on. The only race
is with yourself.

You're letting the world get you down, and there's no reason for that. Every
day is a new day to reinvent yourself; learn a new skill, fix a character
trait you don't like / or that isn't working. Humans are fluid, adaptable.
But... if you don't constantly seek change by perpetually improving yourself,
you'll have to deal with change imposed on you by others -- making your own
choices is how you stay empowered.

Going to go through a bit more, point-by-point, and highlight why I feel this
article is a cautionary tale.

> While I majored in the humanities, I was still able to get customer support
> position quickly, learning skills on the job.

So why not learn to code? You lived through the dot-com boom... no reason why
you couldn't pick up a book and get more into technology. You've been around
technology longer than some startup CEOs have been alive. Stop standing still,
there are plenty of online resources and courses on how to learn new skills.

> Budgeting has become a well-rehearsed drill

Everyone should budget. If you don't have money you need to. If you have money
and you don't budget, well... you'll probably need to soon enough. Also...
move. Plenty of places that are a lot cheaper than California.

> The job hunting process is pure drudgery

See previous point... you need to keep working on improving yourself. The job
process is "drudgery" because the market is saying, "We don't want what you're
selling, go get something else and sell that." Additionally, if you ever get
to this point where you are feeling down and out and hopeless... why would
anyone want to hire you? Take the time you need to collect yourself, come back
fresh. Again... not so much a choice, you won't have success trying to apply
for jobs if your head isn't in the game -- so either you choose to take the
time to get better, or you continue in a rut.

> The days are long and boring

So, you have lots of time to learn new skills, new technology, new platforms,
or just read books? My mom used to tell me when I was growing up, "Only boring
people get bored." If you're depressed, and it sounds like you are, just focus
on moving. Walk as far as you can in a day. Try to beat your high score the
next day... until you feel like doing something else.

> There’s social stigma

There's a stigma around saying, "I'm a failure, I'm a failure." Look at
failure as an opportunity to learn. You talked about "being a consultant" and
there's no reason why you can't be a consultant... fake it until you make
it... all that. Maybe 1% of real SEO consultants know what they're doing...
they all seem to make money off it (and even to be in that 1% doesn't take
that much knowledge) -- an example of a non-technical job you can self-teach
yourself into.

Seven years off... I have to think there's something going on here. Possible
someone is enabling you to make shitty life choices that put you in a
depression spiral? You have the time, you have the ability, you the resources
(as most of them are free and just require a computer)... you just to start
taking small steps. Learn HTML + CSS, learn SEO, learn JavaScript... learn how
to install WordPress themes (literally no coding required), learn how to use
HubSpot, or Google Analyitcs, or any of the huge assortment of tools that
people can make a living off of using. And don't stop learning.

Set goals for yourself, and be wary of anyone who makes it easy to ignore
those goals... Yes, it sucks to fail... and it's nice to have a warm bed to
come home to -- win or lose... but when given the choice... skip the easy path
(rut), go for the challenge -- that's how you learn and grow. The solution to
your problems isn't on the easy path, you say you've been on that path for 7
years without success... time to try something new.

------
pavel_lishin
> _There have been times where I’ve wondered if I should just get a temporary
> service or manual labor job to help out with extra cash. But I’m worried
> about getting stuck in a position with even less room for growth than my
> previous jobs. And to be honest, I would be too humiliated. Our social
> circle, made up of mostly well-paid tech workers and professionals, has no
> idea how bad our situation has been. It would be exceptionally difficult to
> work eight hours a day hoping with all my might that a neighbor or friend
> wouldn’t swing by to see me working the cash register or pumping gas._

Seriously? You're living in a house your mother gave you, and you've got two
children to feed, and you don't want to work at a gas station because you'd be
_embarrassed_?

Is this a weird cultural thing, where ten years of Russian upbringing followed
by a decade plus in Texas, both rural in urban makes me incapable of feeling
sympathy for a man who'd be too embarrassed to be seen feeding his family?

How is that more shameful than writing an article for the world, admitting
that you're too scared of a bit of social stigma to get a temporary job to
help you get by?

~~~
lj3
There are more practical considerations. Would you want to hire a 40-year old
programmer who had just spent the last 3 months flipping burgers because he
couldn't find a job? The stigma is real and it's more than just pride. A fall
from middle class to lower class can become permanent through nothing more
than that stigma. With that comes a higher mortality rate across the board.

~~~
pavel_lishin
> _Would you want to hire a 40-year old programmer who had just spent the last
> 3 months flipping burgers because he couldn 't find a job?_

Would you want to hire one who spent the last 3 months doing nothing because
he couldn't find a job?

~~~
infosecdude64
I would sooner hire a person who is flipping burgers to support his family
than I would a guy who surfs twitter like this whiner. This guy sounds like
he'd be a pain to work with, I mean if you can't find the humility in working
a service job to support your family and help out, then what would you expect
him to do in the work place if given an assignment he felt was below him.

------
nikki-9696
"And to be honest, I would be too humiliated"

Oh, cry me a river. I put myself through school on retail. I am a programmer.
If I lost this job, I'd be back to retail in a heartbeat while I worked to
find a new IT job. I have a very hard time having sympathy for someone who
goes on and on about how bad he has it while he's not willing to work a job
that is "beneath" him. What classes are you taking? What are you doing to get
more relevant? Github is free. Resources are free. Many classes are free. Get
your StackOverflow on. Shit, I get offers from there frequently and all I have
done is answer some questions.

Your kids are hungry because you're too good to get a job at a freaking
grocery store??

