Unemployed DUers, check in!

[scottcsmith]

Let us all bow our heads in prayer as we thank the Bush economy for the loss of our jobs. Amen.

Actually, I'm kind of glad to be out of corporate America. I used to work for Intel, which is a huge company, but they're shipping a lot of jobs to countries like Malaysia, China and India. I was a QA test engineer.

Now, I'm free to pursue my writing, which is much more enjoyable than slaving away at Intel.

[TlalocW]

1. I'm in my 4th week of training

For a tech support position, but I still call myself an unemployed computer programmer. Incompetent management trying to cover their collective ass as well as the Bush economy contributed to a 300 person layoff at my old company half a year ago.

During that time I've had the time to write some new websites (most for no pay) and work some entertainment gigs, but I miss my old salary. :)

TlalocW

[scottcsmith]

5. I hated tech support

I hope you're a patient person! I did tech support for Windows 95 when it came out, and I also did support for HP printers. I hated every single second I was at that job. That's not to say others didn't enjoy the job. One guy on my team really liked it. He was the kind of tech support rep. that would berate the caller, like saying "How can you be so stupid" and other insults. But apparently his call times were low and he solved a lot of problems, so management put up with his obnoxious (I thought he was a jerk) behavior.

[TlalocW]

6. Oh, I already hate it...

The trainer isn't prepared. There are sometimes up to an hour and a half where we're sitting twiddling our thumbs while he's setting something up or checking on something for us, and I have no desire to be on the phone all day with morons and their cell phone problems. I am searching frantically for any kind of computer programming job (there are a few possibles), and I keep an eye out any better "Misc" jobs (as they're listed in my paper).

On the other hand, I am being paid to surf the web a good part of the day; I've made quite a bit of headway in a card magic book I bought recently, and I've written lots of pseudo-code and sketched out ideas for websites I'm working on or will be working on.

TlalocW

[grannylib]

7. Sounds like you need a new trainer...that's what I do...where are you???

[TlalocW]

12. He's been on the floor taking calls for a year

But this is the first time he's been tapped for a training class. Don't get me wrong - he's informative, and in some ways we're ahead of the other training classes that started at the same time as us. It's just that he's pretty laid back and easily distracted, and I really need something to keep my attention, or I'll fall asleep. Also the company seems to be unorganized - the training versions of the programs we're going to use don't work half the time; the online tutorials are missing information - often pictures that would really shed some light on the subject, etc.

Anyway, I'm in Tulsa at DecisionOne.

[grannylib]

13. Ah ok...Minnesota here....bad training SUCKS, sorry to hear it's not what

it should be. Glad he's at least informative...
*sigh* I loved training.

[TlalocW]

14. I should also mention

That we're in one of the three towers of Oral Roberts' failed "City of Healing" across from Oral Roberts University. There's still medical facilities in middle tallest tower, but the promise (from the 900 foot Jesus that Oral saw) to make the "City" the premiere healing place - both physically and spiritually - never came true when they couldn't even keep the hospital beds filled.

There are quite a few ORU students in here. I've offended at least one of them so far.

TlalocW

[scottcsmith]

10. That sounds familiar!

When Windows 95 was released, Microsoft hired several companies to provide tech support. One of them is a company called Stream. They're based out of Beaverton, Oregon (where I live). I think Microsoft hired a total of six companies to do support.

There were sometimes stretches of an hour where no call came in (and other days where the phones were ringing off the hook with 30 calls in the queue) but there wasn't much of an Internet back then, so we spent most of our time staring at the wall of our cubicle.

One good thing came out of the tech support job: it was a stepping stone to my becoming a QA test engineer. I knew lots of people at Intel who started their careers at Stream. It's almost a prerequisite here to have done time at Stream before moving on to better tech-related jobs.

[grannylib]

2. barely keeping my head above water here, although I am glad to be

away from corporate malfeasance (the company that outsourced my job along with hundreds of others, is also fudging the numbers to make it appear to the shareholders that the out-of-the-country facilities are more profitable than they really are, so not only are the workers and the taxpayers taking a hit, the gamblers may lose too...of course, the poor gamblers may lose everything, and the rich will still have lots left, so big deal, right?) I loved my job and busted my ass and did it well and would love to have it back, even if it meant working for the scum at this point, because there is nothing out there at the moment that pays even as much as I am making on unemployment, let alone what I was making when I was working, so I will probably be working two shit jobs here pretty soon, and will still be falling short. Got laid off two weeks to the day after we closed on our house. Great fucking timing.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. Here in MA

where the unemployment rate is going up, not down!

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Here in Ontario, and our news just told me that Ontario has the worst

.
.
.

job outlook of all the Provinces in Canada

oh well

[grannylib]

8. try Chatham=Kent or Thunder Bay (far away from each other I know)

but that's where all the jobs from my company went, I think they are hiring still

on edit: that's one reason Ontario was chosen; high unemployment. Company thought it would have less turnover if jobs were scarce and that people would be more willing to work longer hours with less pay...and of course fewer bennies, due to Canada's health care

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. But I don't WANNA move, I'm in North Bay, and

.
.
.

I've been around here for over 20 years,

and me and my 4x4 are DEDICATED campers,

and with hundreds of old logging roads around . .

well here's a few mini-pics of how I spend my summers around here























Full-size pics can be found at http://groups.msn.com/Dcamper/pictures . .

see why I don't want to move ??

[grannylib]

16. Absolutely...can WE move there with YOU???? Looks beautiful...

we love camping too

[afraid_of_the_dark]

9. Checking in for my SO

He's been out of work for quite a while (going on two years), and hasn't had any good leads, even though he's sent out resumes for every job he can find. I'm happy for him, because he's had some time to work on some personal projects, but I'm also stressed out because my pittance from the university (I'm a student) barely covers our bills. He's even tried to pick up some new skills, but the IT job market has all but dried up in our area thanks to outsourcing.

I'm sure glad that our president says the economy is improving.... :nuke:

EDIT - spelling

[supernova]

11. Checking in...

Tech writer unemployed since Sept 2002. I really wanted to stay with that career. I liked it a lot... best job I'd ever had. :-( I even won and award, but I've been unable to find another position.

Sigh. I have no other choice but to go sign up with the temp agencies working for about 1/3 of what I was making. I have no SO to help me out.

Some days, all I can do is :cry:.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

17. Unemployed archaeologist here...

Been out of work since late December. I'm hoping that the work will pick up now that warmer weather is coming. I hope to move to some warmer climes by next winter so I can work all year long.