financially hard times I talk to God every day like we're having a conversation, but I'm feeling super anxious that when I graduate from cybersecurity school, that I can't even get a job. I ask God every day for a chance to get better and to do better for our family, and we are blessed in a lot of ways. But we are financially now struggling. I bought silver, because that was all I could afford, but it's not nearly enough to get by. We're paying off debts, but our grocery and gas bills are skyrocketing, and it is not like we go out every other weekend. We have never flown on a plane together. We have never travelled to see this beautiful world, because we want financial security first.
I work in machining at a big company; the pay is stagnant, while the expenses are going up. I struggle to get promoted because the culture favors more visible people, and not those doing more work than them. I learned the machines that I needed to learn to get promoted, because I believed the people who lied to me. It is never in the budget for me to get promoted, after I have done the work. But some new guy that walks in the door makes higher pay than I do, with no experience. The carrot always dangles and we make airplane parts. We are a billions dollar company, and we all struggled to get just 3% raises this year, with record profits. I'm just tired of working for people who constantly lie to me and screw me over, but maybe my expectations are too high.
I can't leave my job, because I can't find anything that pays better, within a fifty mile radius, but I am a mass applying and trying everything I can to find something better. I have gotten one unsuccessful screening call out of hundreds of applications so far. And most of these are five dollars less an hour than what I make right now. I know I am not alone, i'm trying to figure out how to deal with it.
I decided to do something about it, so I am going to school to improve our income. But what if the economy never improves? How do we feed our families?
When two incomes in the household are both in manufacturing, which we aren't getting paid enough for now, how do we ever succeed in getting ahead? We just want to be able to save money and give our kids a future. My husband's employer treats him really well, but they don't have a position open for me right now.
I work overtime but I can only do so much because we have a little kid at home, and 2 older steps on weekends, and I am in school.
I know it's wrong to be envious and to look at what someone else has and want what they have, and i'm wondering what i'm doing wrong. Am I showing a lack of faith by being frustrated at our situation?
The first thing you do is count your blessings, thank God daily for all that you have. Know that there is always someone who would be thrilled to have what you have. A child is a blessing that not all can claim. Two jobs, ability to go to school, you have internet, a laptop or phone. Here's some tough love. Buck up and stop whining, it makes you a victim, and your bosses, and everyone else can sense that mindset. Be grateful. Sending love and peace to you.
I appreciate the perspective, I needed to hear that. I will stop whining, because clearly it is, re reading my post.
Agreed Vitamin G (Grateful) prescribed every night. Make it a ritual - Today I helped such and such person with their problem. Today I achieved a milestone. Today I received my certificate.
One needs to pat oneself on the back.
Trust that things will get better. No one is promised a life without suffering, pain or trouble, what is promised is all works out for your good in God's time when you surrender to his will. Sorry, don't mean to preach. Life can be hard but it is how we respond to the difficulty not what is meted out to us. God bless you and your family. And don't forget to take your Vitamin G. Kek!
Agreed. There is always a way out, and often the most scary changes have silver linings.
Brother, envy is a toxic emotion, get rid of it asap. I believe the economy is going to turn around shortly, so I encourage you to hang in there, do what you feel you need to do (education etc.), and just keep doing the next right thing. I'll say a prayer for you tonight.
Thanks brother. I feel the bitterness creeping, and i'm trying to not be bitter.
I really hope that you're right, and that it is not going to be a hellscape. I'm going to keep going and trying, but I just don't want it to be in vain.
A lot of it has to do with the news one consumes, or is forced to consume. Just remember the relative safety around the home: Food enough to eat, tick. Roof keeps water out, tick. Car is still running, and you keep it maintained, tick. Lots of warm blankets, tick.
There are micro adjustments you can make in your budget, (e.g. handwashing, home-cooking, etc.) and that is a survival skill. However, if you keep studying, even after you graduate, as a habit, just to keep your hand in -- at some time the dam will burst and you will find a niche, near home, not much travel time, etc.
I believe that hands-on skills are going to be in high demand, but also computer literacy - just as you describe. Having both is essential to rise above the rest. And then, consider taking some certificates in core skills - communication, negotation, conflict resolution, social media marketing etc.
Children take all your available time, and that's how it is meant to be. However, I remember feeling like I was mentally moving everything, one step in front of the other. And the lack of sleep was killing me. Especially small children can make one into a sleepless zombie.
The only advice I can give you is to teach your children well, and get a set of hearing protection if squealing is part of the kid's repertoire. The high-intensity noise will damage your hearing, and that can have profound effects, even at the time of injury. It makes for panic-decisions, or irrational anger. Once you put on the hearing protection they soon learn that it is not having the desired effect, you keep your cool, and you don't go deaf.
Something I've said a lot to my kids over the years, and it holds true in this situation as well: This is a season, it's not forever. It's tough now, but hang in there. You'll get through it and life will get better. Nothing lasts forever - not good things OR bad things.
Thank you for the encouragement.
God bless, fren. I'll say a prayer for you.
I think times have almost always been financially hard for most working families. There was a relatively brief moment from the end of World War Two to the mid 60’s where working people actually got ahead. Then stagflation set in for nearly 10 years.
My Dad was laid off for almost two years. He did just about everything imaginable to make a dollar. Even so my parents lost the house to the bank. We were lucky to move into a vacant farmhouse in exchange for taking care of the livestock kept on the property.
I honestly didn’t realize how poor we were until I was in my mid 20’s and serving in the military. There were six of us kids living in a small, drafty old farmhouse. My parents only had one old, used car. Our typical Christmas presents were a couple pairs of new jeans and tee shirts. And, I remember those times as some of the happiest moments in my life.
Eventually my Dad got called back to his job. My Mom and Dad bought a small house in the nearest town. I think it was about 8 years later they bought a second car for my Mom to use.
I don’t know if that helps to know working class people have always struggled financially, but I believe that is true.
My hope and belief is, President Trump will be successful in breaking this system that is stacked against working class families. I know it can seem far away when you’re struggling, but even if it takes the balance of his term, three years is not that long.
So hold on, better times are coming.
Thank you for this <3
I think I've had a pretty good compared to you. And a lot of ways. I used to live with ten other people in the same stucco house in wisconsin, because it was starting to get expensive, even back then.Twenty years ago.
Endeavor to persevere fren.
At one point in my life I had a similar situation to yours. Worked in IT (Network Systems Engineer). Company added four new people to our team paying them more for less experience (one of them was embarrassingly useless). No promotion path at the time. What did I do?
I took a deep breath and quit - went into a completely different field making less money per hour but almost unlimited hours were available. Worked my way up into being an independent contractor. Retired out of that life twenty one years later.
Hard work, long hours. Immense satisfaction. Totally worth it.
There is a reason things are the way they are. Change is coming. God is in control.
Heck, I might look into the exact same thing right now. Do you think it's a problem that i'm a woman doing that, if i do lol?
No way to know.
Attitude and determination (and some luck - right place at the right time) got me on the way. I had some certifications and a small amount of experience but nothing that proved I could do the job.
Company had an employee leaving for another job and I just happened to walk in the door during his last week's notice.
Pieces on a chessboard, we are.
Corporations hate us.
In the meantime the economy will improve and for now live like a minimalist, within your means.
Anything on the side you can add to do at this time? Facebook Marketplace is good for that! Summer coming. Clean a couple pools one a week for 130 a month each? That would take 1 hour a week 1/2 hour each pool. Neighborhood, and someone who has the vacuum pole and net already.
Study the stock market.
There is no future for software and IT.
I could crack open my investing for dummies books.
William J. O'Neil, "How to make money in Stocks" and his newspaper, Investors Business Daily (IBD).
This is a great resource in understanding how to purchase stocks. It's simple to read and teaches you about the different chart patterns, cup with handle, high tight flag, "W" pattern. Plus his newspaper has all the stocks that are at the moment having the potential to go up in price.
He also delves into when is the correct time to purchase the stocks, why they have that potential and other useful indicators as to why the stock will take off. Earnings, volume, and how big money guys are the ones who make the price rise.
The IBD shows charts and has research on different companies. It shows the market direction and how to use that to your advantage. It has a free two month subscription (or a nominal price). It might be worth your time to get both the book and two months of the newspaper for reference. I love them because it makes it very easy to pick the next potential winners.
Thank you!!
SaaS = Dinosaur AI = Asteroid
I'm with you on that. That stuff is total bullshit.
Much better money installing those parts you make.
Yes, I recognize I'm being paid well and I don't want to come across as ungrateful in the slightest bit, because it took me five attempts to get in the door. However, there are a lot of people on the floor that are just as unhappy, if not worse about the situation. In our area, it is hard to get a machining job that pays as well as i'm getting paid, and i've given up asking for more machining training, because I keep getting denied. Maybe that's a sign I need to go do something different now, i just have no idea what that is.
I went to A and P school 20 years ago,for the same reasons,but we have the emplyment here as well. My employer pays us the same as machinest, but we get gobs of overtime,and they don't....
And I feel bad for complaining, because I am allowed overtime to an extent. But they can't keep work for us long enough to even justify consistent overtime. It is frustrating when they say we don't make enough labor hours, but then they fail to disclose that they didn't give us the material in the first place. I don't care about their numbers, because it's all based on bullshit numbers on a spreadsheet. Lol at the circus. The aviation industry is at times very profitable, and I think that if you find a good spot, then you should just stay there lol.
I'm doing good,and I quit working the overtime awhile ago.my employer is separate from the industry and litterly prints their own money,if you know what I mean.
Mine too
Money and stock buybacks go brrrrr
Do you like what you do, the machining job?
Yes, but we need more money, and I am having a hard time advancing
Prayers for you T & L.
Thanks fren
I feel ya with the stagnation in salary while expenses keep rising.
I just got a modest raise. Didn't keep up with inflation, but put me at the highest salary of my career by a couple thousand. But I've been at this same salary point twice before in my career and had to take a huge cut to stay employed shortly after. Obviously I don't feel as comfortable as I was the last two times I reached this level because inflation has eaten up all the gains.
The job market sucks right now for tech jobs and I don't know if it will ever improve enough to employ the surplus people in the industry, much less new entrants. I've been looking for three years for something better and have had exactly one interview then ghosting. An old boss of mine who was a director was laid off for 18 months. Had to do door dash for awhile and eventually got an IT support job paying way less than he made managing teams of it support people.
I'm grateful to be employed and I work my ass off compared to my peers. I'm looking into other income streams but those are also a helluva lot of work and more than a little luck.
I hope we'll start to see a second Trump boom and bigger than the last. I'm not seeing anything yet in my life but hope is about all I can do.
I agree with TNBanjoMan that I think the economy will turn around soon. I’m waiting for Trump to declare victory and an end to the Iran situation, that, I believe will be the catalyst. Another thing to look forward to will be the successful vote (with a roll call, so we know which way they voted) on the Save America Vote. Thune might be thrown out, appears to not have a spine. Anyway keep your eyes open to alternative work. Years ago I was unable to get a job in Data Processing even with a degree in that, I did get a job in Computer repair and stayed in that for over 20 years. So keep your options open, even consider relocating if needed.
I thought computer repair would be awesome because I'm learning how to do that right now in class, and there are only two repair shops in town and neither of them are very efficient. I keep seeing things about how that's going to go away.But i'm always getting asked to help with people's computers.
I was with IBM, lots of travel to schools, lots of overtime, if interested and you don’t get responses to resumes, try to contact the managers in your area, the company is nationwide and actually worldwide, let them know your experience, schools you are in and that you are willing to commute to customers. It’s not a job for everyone, but, very rewarding. Also try other companies such as Hewlett-Packard etc. Best of luck to you.
I'm going to look into that right now, thank you.
You’re Welcome, I didn’t hear anything on my first application and applied again and got interviewed on my second application, so, if you don’t hear anything, apply again and again. You can never know when an opening is available and that’s why it’s great if you can just talk to a manager…call the service department, ask the dispatcher to have the local service manager call you, they won’t give you his number, but, they should call you back.
Start by posting on Craigslist or FB marketplace, that you repair computers. You lose nothing by placing the ad, and could gain a decent side gig.
Also agree that change is a' coming. Keep your chin up.
It’s challenging right now. Even my niece is struggling to get a new full time job. And she is wicked smart. But hang on; the economy is about to heat up big time and several Trump team members are focused on bringing down costs in their area.
You may consider looking for small businesses and being their part time cyber security, etc person.
The one phone call I did get was local, and they said they would keep my resume. I was one of seven that were called, out of eight hundred applicants. So i'm hoping that my odds work again with that same company, but it is hard to say
But I think you're right, and that's what I might do. I appreciate your advice.
I've been there my entire life bro. It gets better . Just know that you are exactly where God wants you. Look around and when you see a homeless guy trying to walk with everything they own in plastic bags, count your blessings. The meaning in life is the struggle. That's no joke , imagine what life would be on easy street. The world's richest people have the highest suicide rate cuz they have no struggle. Thank God for those sore muscles in the morning and the sunrise if you're lucky enough to catch it. I hope this helps. One love ❤️
You are in one of the fastest growing areas of computer. You will get a job.
I went into the field because I knew a I couldn't take cybersecurity, And in fact, it would create more vulnerabilities to watch over. Maybe I am being impatient