Plan for future citizens of this country regarding money?

[Anonymous]

I am a bit older than you are but I am just as angry OP. I have worked since I was 22 and have been consistantly underpaid and have struggled for opportunity. My supervisor was leaving her position and called me and asked me if I wanted it. I could step into her role blind folded. Little or no training needed and I had equal education. The powers that be knocked the title from Director to Assistsnt Director so they could pay someone 60k a year rather than 90 or 100k. The job duties didn't change. While I know this comes off as a privileged example, they are pushing down wages as much as possible even as costs go up.

I also find it astonishing that people say to live with roommates like they did on the 90s like that helps. I always lived in fairly cheap places with roommates until I was 33 and got married. I saved for retirement and that is basically it. I never made enough to do more than that. And yes I ate bread and jam for dinner etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

[Anonymous]

32-year-old here. After I finished my master’s degree, I did several rounds of tough panel interviews for an entry level job. The woman (late boomer age) I would have been replacing said she felt sorry for me, because this is how she got the same job: Her friend applied and got the job, but decided she didn’t want it, so she just asked this lady if she wanted to take it, and she did! So, in the 80s, they were basically just giving that job to anyone that would take it, but in ~2010, I had to have a master’s degree, experience, and do 3 rounds of interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

NP here. I own a software company. We don't care about degrees at all. If you are a good software developer, I'll hire you. I know it's one of the few fields where degrees mean little, but that really is the case, at least ast smaller companies.

I've seen bigger companies where they put in useless degree requirements for no reason. I remember once years ago seeing an ad for a senior software developer with 10 years of Java programming experience. Clearly that ad was not written by a technical person -- Java had only been in use in that context for 5 years at that point! There was no one on this earth would could have met the requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My friend group is pushing 30. Everyone has at least a master's degree or higher. I am married and own a home and I recognize that I am blessed and unique in that way. Most of my friends are still living in group housing, literally scraping by. We have potlucks and game nights as entertainment rather than going out for drinks or to restaurants. We all have student loan debt up to our eyeballs. Many of us have been stuck in the same $30-40k pay band since we began our careers because we are competing with cheap Indian labor in the tech sector. We've all basically accepted the fact that we will work until we die, and a serious illness will likely bankrupt us.

Your friends must be incompetent if they are working in tech in this area and are only making $30-40k/year. Heck, we outsource some tech work to India because we can't find enough people, and the workers in India cost us $40k/year! I'd much rather have a local worker, and would gladly pay $80-100k, but they're just hard to find and the competition is hot around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

NP here. I own a software company. We don't care about degrees at all. If you are a good software developer, I'll hire you. I know it's one of the few fields where degrees mean little, but that really is the case, at least ast smaller companies.

I've seen bigger companies where they put in useless degree requirements for no reason. I remember once years ago seeing an ad for a senior software developer with 10 years of Java programming experience. Clearly that ad was not written by a technical person -- Java had only been in use in that context for 5 years at that point! There was no one on this earth would could have met the requirement.

Good to know this about software companies. I was thinking of going to Flatiron to learn programming and using that to move in to tech. I'm currently an accountant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My friend group is pushing 30. Everyone has at least a master's degree or higher. I am married and own a home and I recognize that I am blessed and unique in that way. Most of my friends are still living in group housing, literally scraping by. We have potlucks and game nights as entertainment rather than going out for drinks or to restaurants. We all have student loan debt up to our eyeballs. Many of us have been stuck in the same $30-40k pay band since we began our careers because we are competing with cheap Indian labor in the tech sector. We've all basically accepted the fact that we will work until we die, and a serious illness will likely bankrupt us.

Your friends must be incompetent if they are working in tech in this area and are only making $30-40k/year. Heck, we outsource some tech work to India because we can't find enough people, and the workers in India cost us $40k/year! I'd much rather have a local worker, and would gladly pay $80-100k, but they're just hard to find and the competition is hot around here.

+1 That ^PP is full of shyte, unless you got your "tech" degree from Trump U or you are a janitor in a tech company, there is no way they are making that little.

Even bookkeepers can make $30 to 40K per year. Might a suggest a career change?

And if you want to blame anyone, blame the decision makers (usually white male) in the company that decided to hire foreign labor, and not the guy who's just trying to earn a living like the rest of us.

-signed an IT worker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

NP here. I own a software company. We don't care about degrees at all. If you are a good software developer, I'll hire you. I know it's one of the few fields where degrees mean little, but that really is the case, at least ast smaller companies.

I've seen bigger companies where they put in useless degree requirements for no reason. I remember once years ago seeing an ad for a senior software developer with 10 years of Java programming experience. Clearly that ad was not written by a technical person -- Java had only been in use in that context for 5 years at that point! There was no one on this earth would could have met the requirement.

Good to know this about software companies. I was thinking of going to Flatiron to learn programming and using that to move in to tech. I'm currently an accountant.

DP.. it's a lot harder to get a job as a software programmer without any experience and no degree. How would you prove that you have the knowledge?

I started out in accounting (business background) then moved into IT as a business analyst. I took programming classes at night and learned how to write code.

[Anonymous]

Actually living in an expensive place really helps you save money if you live at home for a few years.

My kids can live in my house after graduation for free. I am in close in MoCo. Yet they will get paid more to account for high cost of housing with no housing expense.

I grew up near manhattan, I did not move out on my own till 29. I had a share situation and bounced back and forth between that and home till I got my own place at 29 for good. Yet I got paid more to offset Manhattan prices.



Live at home, dont buy a car

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

NP here. I own a software company. We don't care about degrees at all. If you are a good software developer, I'll hire you. I know it's one of the few fields where degrees mean little, but that really is the case, at least ast smaller companies.

I've seen bigger companies where they put in useless degree requirements for no reason. I remember once years ago seeing an ad for a senior software developer with 10 years of Java programming experience. Clearly that ad was not written by a technical person -- Java had only been in use in that context for 5 years at that point! There was no one on this earth would could have met the requirement.

Yup. VP here. We specifically, with intention do NOT require a degree for any of our positions. The only time we put in a degree requirement is if we are working on a government contract that requires one. From the top of management chain to the very bottom you will never see in our job req's with a degree requirement. We don't want to be hog tied. We are a 500 person company and have a fairly young workforce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

In 1996 I was 20 years old, kind of sort of going to community college. I answered an ad in the jobs section for temp work. I got a job at a telecommunications company doing admin work. Within 3 months I was offered a FT position as an entry level troubleshooter because I was a quick learner. Before the end of the year I was making 60k and had modest RSUs. I eventually switched jobs and moved up. By 2000 I owned my own home in Vienna woods, at age 23. Then shortly the bubble came crashing down , but it didnt matter, I had 5 years work experience in technology and a network of contacts. My peers who had spent time in college or grad school and now needed jobs weren't so lucky. Some opted to stay in school and are probably still paying down debt.

18 years later I still have no college degree, I'm a VP at a technology company, and recently sold that Vienna Woods house for a 550k profit.

No it is certainly not the 1990s. Those were the good old days. Things are very different. Though I will say tech is the one area that college can't keep up and if you are bright, you most definitely can navigate your way without a degree and I can say without hesitation that nobody is impressed that you went to an ivy or some expensive SLAC. If my company is looking for entry level new hires we often partner with George Mason.

Your path is no longer one that is available!* Why do you all refuse to see that? You don't get an interview for entry level without a degree, and a year or two of experience, while also stating up front before you even understand the role and benefits that you'll accept $35k/year. And then even if they love you, they still may hire a "contractor" they can pay less than that and no benefits.

*I take that back. If you're a connected white male, you can still probably do whatever you want.

I do want to add that I'm a Hispanic female. I also did not state that this path is currently available to anyone.

Yes you did. You insinuated that if people were like you (smart and hardworking) that they can navigate the tech industry withiut a degree. If you have anything to do with the hiring process, you know that isn't true. Your company isn't hiring kids out of high school. You cant even get an admin job without a degree and years of experience. How does one get experience now? Working for free or next to it. We're expected to do this while deferring monstrous loan debt.

NP here. I own a software company. We don't care about degrees at all. If you are a good software developer, I'll hire you. I know it's one of the few fields where degrees mean little, but that really is the case, at least ast smaller companies.

I've seen bigger companies where they put in useless degree requirements for no reason. I remember once years ago seeing an ad for a senior software developer with 10 years of Java programming experience. Clearly that ad was not written by a technical person -- Java had only been in use in that context for 5 years at that point! There was no one on this earth would could have met the requirement.

Yup. VP here. We specifically, with intention do NOT require a degree for any of our positions. The only time we put in a degree requirement is if we are working on a government contract that requires one. From the top of management chain to the very bottom you will never see in our job req's with a degree requirement. We don't want to be hog tied. We are a 500 person company and have a fairly young workforce.

Okay, and that's great for you and your company. The reality is that most companies DO require a degree and several types of experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a degree, roommates and cooked at home when I was in my 20s. That was the 1990s. Not sure things are so very different now.

Housing and degrees are more expensive now.

You missed the point, which is that it's normal to have room mates and cook at home in your 20's. Why do young people now expect own housing and going out to eat to be the norm?

I also had room mates until I was about 28 - I got my own apartment after finding a well paying job in a low cost of living area and it just didn't make sense to share housing anymore - even had a den in my apartment for my hobbies.

Having roommates and cooking at home in your 20's doesn't get you as far ahead as it used to because degrees and housing are more expensive.

But we also didn’t have home WiFi, Netflix, Spotify, and goodness knows what other subscriptions. We had a landline and antenna. No cable. Drive beater cars and fixed them ourselves (or traded services like cooking and cleaning with someone who could).

Kids now think they should have all the stuff their parents have as soon as they move out. That is not and never has been feasible. Toughen up, cupcakes.

What proof do you have of this? I see people keep saying this over and over again and it makes me think you're either gaslighting us or really dont get what we're dealing with.

My friend group is pushing 30. Everyone has at least a master's degree or higher. I am married and own a home and I recognize that I am blessed and unique in that way. Most of my friends are still living in group housing, literally scraping by. We have potlucks and game nights as entertainment rather than going out for drinks or to restaurants. We all have student loan debt up to our eyeballs. Many of us have been stuck in the same $30-40k pay band since we began our careers because we are competing with cheap Indian labor in the tech sector. We've all basically accepted the fact that we will work until we die, and a serious illness will likely bankrupt us.

No one is complaining because we can't have all the luxuries our parents can afford. We're miserable because we were told that a good education meant eventually getting to the middle class lifestyle they had. But everything has changed so much that none of the prosperity they enjoyed looks like it will ever be attainable for us. And instead of recognizing that we were legitimately f*cked over by the choices your generations have made, you're gaslighting us into believing we just need to eat more beans and be happy.

Agree.

Honestly, I'm a 20 something and I posted before on this thread. I'm not saying we MUST HAVE everything our parents have when we move out but damn, it would be nice to be able to have some nice things as a college educated adult!

The poster on the first page suggesting that we cook beans in a crock pot is so insulting. I did that as a struggling college student. Why should I have to struggle as a young professional. We as a generation are being told to keep our heads down and hustle till we are in our 40s by a generation that had it made fresh out of high school/college. We are all wondering what was the point of going to college if we graduate and can't find a job. I just did the job hunt and it was pretty quick by normal standards. 3 weeks from the time I interviewed until my first day but things are pretty tight. Everyone says "save money and don't eat out!". If I make just enough to cover bills and I have $15 left over every pay check, you can bet your ass I'm gonna get a bottle of wine with that, it isn't going in savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually living in an expensive place really helps you save money if you live at home for a few years.

My kids can live in my house after graduation for free. I am in close in MoCo. Yet they will get paid more to account for high cost of housing with no housing expense.

I grew up near manhattan, I did not move out on my own till 29. I had a share situation and bounced back and forth between that and home till I got my own place at 29 for good. Yet I got paid more to offset Manhattan prices.



Live at home, dont buy a car

Another person who doesn't get it. Not having a car might work in Manhattan but in most of the country, if you don't have a car you're going to waste time and money on public transport/uber. I'm a college student and I live 15 miles from campus, and 10 miles from work. Going on job interviews after class would have been a PITA if I had to do it on the bus and I wouldn't have been able to go to class and then get to an interview in 20 mins. Same for the days when my class ends at noon and my shift begins at 12:30. Also a lot of jobs ask if you have transportation and they don't count public transport as "reliable" so they completely cross you off for the position. My car costs about $30 every 10 days or so in gas, ubers or even metro fare would add up to $30 much faster.