Discovered the joy of grad school vicariously (via my wife --she of the everlasting journey. Love ya hun). Her experience has been mixed. Could not believe how completely her future was at the mercy of one unstable person. Luckily, she dodged a bullet. Unbelievable.
Unfortunately, yes. And Gen-Xers trying to reinvent themselves.
(EDIT: to say I realized you’d said as much previously)
Those god-damn baby-fucking-boomers.
I’m a Millennial, and none of these really apply to me except the depression bit. Of course, that depression is exacerbated by feelings of alienation stemming from an ever-increasing inability to relate to people my own age. So, thanks a lot, cartoon.
And as someone who WAS one of those kids: getting praise all the time “just for showing up” doesn’t make you narcissistic, it just makes you stop listening to any praise from adults until they’ve proven they’re willing to give you honest criticism, too.
As for the rest of this…“If I had a nickel for every time the baby boomers complained about my generation, I’d have enough to buy a house in the economy they ruined.”
On the other end…
You seem to have summed up my exact feelings as a millennial too.
Add in the fact that growing up most adults spent half their time lying to me about things like “anyone can accomplish anything”, and “college will give you all kinds of opportunities” and “America is the greatest country on earth”. It turns out, most people can’t accomplish just the one thing they want to do most. It turns out a college degree doesn’t give you job opportunities, it just gives you more opportunities to be turned down. And if you look closely you may notice that America isn’t the greatest country on earth. That’s a meaningless platitude at best, and at worst is pretty easy to disprove when you look at the objective measurements.
Is the Frogurt still cursed, Barry?
Yes it is, Other Barry. Yes it is.
I always found the idea of taking career advice from someone whose job is career adviser somewhat questionable.
Eh it works the other way too. My folks were born in 56 and 60 respectively. So both boombers (though at the tail-ish end). My siblings and I were all born in the 80’s. Now at 30 I might be considered a millennial depending on who you ask, but often not (and don’t consider myself one). Though my younger siblings in their mid 20’s definitely are. None of us have kids. A lot of people in my home town in their rough age group (lets say 20-28) have parents older than mine. Well into their sixties and 100% definitely boomers. Those people in their 20’s do have kids. But all those kids are under 10. So in the case of my peer group “boomer’s children’s children” are frikin pre-teens and toddlers. Definitley not whats meant by millennial.
Its why the named generation thing is stupid. Outside of the boomers, who are a well defined numerical anomaly most of them are just easy labels for boomers to bitch about kids these days. 15-20 years ago it was gen x now its the even less defined millennials.Its basically just “kids these days” grousing. And seems increasingly focused on anyone under the age of 45-50. What hasn’t really changed is the people doing the grousing. Baby Boomers.
No argument about Stumptown, but this Cellar Door partisan respectfully disagrees about where it’s at.
Yes, the average career is measured in months, not years. Also, it seems to be up or out, so just not getting a super lucky break can send you on a long downwards trajectory. And then there is technology - no amount of experience is ever enough, but once you have every possible certification you are “overqualified.” The only people I haven’t seen this happen to is physicians, they aren’t getting pushed into the street after 5 years because technology has changed.
My GF used to ask why I drove a beater car and why I bought a small house. Well now I drive same car on a lumpy tire, and somewhere the roof has a leak, but at least I still have a house and a car. Treat every paycheck like it might be your last.
Don’t forget the “you’ve been in this postion for 3+ years without looking for another job - obivously you have no ambition, so we’re firing you.”
Said every Gen X ever.
We were being talked down to by Boomers first!
Meh. As someone born in a year that flips between Gen X and Millenials depending on who is setting the divisions, I think we can all agree that the Boomer generation broke bold new ground in the fields of hypocrisy, abandoning youthful ideals for money, self congratulatory narcissism, and blaming other generations for shit that happened while their generation was in power.
When their eulogy is spoken, their patron saints will be Brooks and Friedman. With their dying breath, they will look up to the spirit of their youth and shout “Save us!” and Lenny Bruce will look down and whisper “no.”
Don’t ask for training and get fired or ask for training and get fired.
I liked the old days when you could wander into an interview wearing only a Mexican poncho, fuzzy slippers, and a Viking helmet and get a signing bonus that day. And somehow stuff got done.
I just miss the days when you could get an interview. I’m led to believe they ended sometime between when my parents got their jobs by walking into the manager’s office and asking for one, and me graduating with my degree in CIS. I did manage to land a job. But only after two years and hundreds of quietly ignored applications.
The probably the most frustrating thing about trying to get your first job in your field is that nobody actually wants to hire you. If you have a job, you can get another one. If you’re fresh out of college you’re unqualified to do anything, and the only places that will hire you will make you a worse candidate for the field you got your degree in. Flipping burgers, or slinging coffee on your résumé makes you look shiftless and unemployable in a field where you can actually have a career.
Being silently ignored hundreds of times gets to you. Makes you feel worthless. Especially when you try to be charming, take initiative and call places or go in and try to submit an application. Out of hundreds of applications, not a single person thinks you’re worth the time to even confirm they’ve noticed that you exist.
ETA: all the best practices for job hunting are bogus by the way. No matter how florid your cover-letter is, or how much knowledge you demonstrate, nobody gives a fuck. I learned the hard way after six months that it doesn’t pay to expend any effort on a job application, because nobody is going to read it, no matter how many “keywords” you put in, and no matter how earnestly you explain how you deeply admire Acme Co. and specifically want to work there and think it’s really special and would totally let them do you in the butt.
And then they teach you in the job search classes about contract and benefits negotiation. As if that’s something you can actually do from a position of exactly zero leverage. Jesus tapdancing christ what a waste of time. Like a corporation would tolerate an applicant fresh out of college trying to alter any terms in the contract when there’s literally a hundred other people, equally (and often better) qualified who will swallow an unconscionable contract and thank the corporation for the opportunity to become a slave.
After about three years, I gave up on networking, and a buddy of mine is packing it in after about five years.
And social media was supposed to make finding a job as easy as breathing, right? The only thing it does is get people fired.
Eventually, I started my own company and had an income of $24,000 last year, which was the second real year of business. That’s actually beating the odds by doing better than just hemorrhaging money.
I talked to a career counselor but they instantly started with their shtick about how depressed and angry I must be. I said “not really” and tried to fast forward them to get to the point where they describe what they actually do, but apparently you’re supposed to cry for them or something. I declined to use them, and a couple weeks later that person quit.
Acme Co Hiring Manager: “So, why do you want to work for Acme Co?”
The “Right” Answer: “I have wanted to work for Acme Co since the day I was born. I can feel it in my bones. My whole life has been working up to this, and with my deep knowledge of your company’s operation and culture, I will make a perfect addition to your team. Of course, I’ll work 70 hours a week for minimum wage with no overtime.”
The Honest answer: “I don’t want to work for Acme Co, and I doubt anyone you hired actually wanted to specifically work for you either. I just want to have a job, and you’re the only company out of about 500 I applied to who called me back. With any luck you’ll pay me in valid American currency to do things. Maybe if I’m really lucky I’ll even get paid in regular and predictable intervals in amounts that are equal to or greater than my expenses.”
The problem with social networking is this:
People who will recommend you for a job, or vouch for you, or defend your character, decide to do so because of what they know of you in person, where your quirks are shown in full view, and where they can get at least a semi-accurate idea of your personality. Online everyone can pick and choose exactly how they’d like to appear to everyone else. This is true for the entire internet, and whether or not someone is skilled at projecting a chosen persona, they still get to filter it in their internet presence and everyone gets to look more like what they want themselves to look like, than they actually do in real life.
So networking with people online is basically meaningless to a Human Resources worker, because they’re interested only in your track record with other companies and possibly your level of education.
Literally nobody gives two shits about whether or not someone endorses you on LinkedIn, the world’s most impotent social network, next to friendster or livejournal. Your Facebook friends are worthless, unless you know them IRL.
They say when it comes to getting a job, it’s not what you know, but who you know. That’s basically true. You should network with as many people as you can, IRL, regardless of whether or not you’re sickened by these people. Even the most bigoted “nigger-fag-sodomite” hating asshole in all of Kentucky might be able to score you a sweet gig at a decent company with good benefits at a reasonable wage/salary.
Which means I’m too honest to work in corporate America.
1996 is squarely a millennial… technically I am too (1985) though I would consider myself on the Gen X border given how little I relate to my (significantly) older brother.
