Quez
Footballguy
So here I am AGAIN unemployed for the 4th time in my life. I figured now that I have some free time I will document this journey with my friends here in the ffa.
backstory- I have 10 years of experience in the "growing field" of GIS. It's kind of like CAD, and was an up & coming field when I graduated from FSU in 2005. I had a job right out of school, and worked at a planning / engineering firm for 3 years. Laid off in March 2008, but luckily found a job a week later working for a small planning firm that specialized with eminent domain. Worked there for almost 1 year, until March 2009. Then I began a long stretch of unemployment until September 2010, when I landed a job at an engineering firm in Lakeland. Laid off in July 2012, but did some part time work for the rest of the year. Jan. 2013 landed my most recent position for an engineering firm, but my office is primarily environmental.
As far as my personal life, married w/ 4yo. Wife has a good job, so we aren't going to be on the streets in a week, but it's not like we can afford for me to not work either. Own a house $1600 a mo. mortgage, cars paid off, no student loans and no major debt. They gave me a 3 week severance, and I have a few weeks of vacation I will get paid out on.
I saw this one coming from a mile away. Work slowed down in October, the holidays were really slow, and it never quite picked up. They cut me back to 32 hours a month ago, and laid me back to a "bill time only" employee last Tuesday. I'm pretty sure they won't be calling me anytime soon. They likely completely part ways with me at the end of the month, but at least I have insurance still. My office was doing quite a bit of pipeline work for oil and gas, so the slow down with that has been the primary reason. If a republican takes office I would imagine they get busy again.
There aren't a ton of prospects out there, and way too many applicants. The current job I had I beat out 13 applicants, some more qualified than me. That job is gone, my last job doesn't exist, neither does the one before that. My first job had a department of 6 people, and now they don't even have an GIS guy in the office. The software has become much easier to use, and much cheaper. Instead of employing people with specific GIS skills companies are choosing to get by with engineers, environmentalist, etc doing there own GIS work. My latest fear is the outsourcing of jobs. My company sent out an email in November saying they want to move all IT jobs, drafting, and modeling jobs to "Value Centers" in Malaysia & India.
I have a few applications out there, but I'm actually considering a career change. I'm 33, and now would be the time to do it. The problem is I have no idea what to do. A 4 year degree is practically worthless. I don't really want to go back to school, and I don't even know what I would go back for anyways. I have thought about insurance sales. You only need to pass a test for that. I am also considering learning a trade. I have a relative with an electrical company I could probably go work for. I have a decent amount of experience doing construction, so I kind of know what I am doing. It seems crazy though to abandon a career path that requires a college degree to learn a trade. Any ideas would be appreciated.
backstory- I have 10 years of experience in the "growing field" of GIS. It's kind of like CAD, and was an up & coming field when I graduated from FSU in 2005. I had a job right out of school, and worked at a planning / engineering firm for 3 years. Laid off in March 2008, but luckily found a job a week later working for a small planning firm that specialized with eminent domain. Worked there for almost 1 year, until March 2009. Then I began a long stretch of unemployment until September 2010, when I landed a job at an engineering firm in Lakeland. Laid off in July 2012, but did some part time work for the rest of the year. Jan. 2013 landed my most recent position for an engineering firm, but my office is primarily environmental.
As far as my personal life, married w/ 4yo. Wife has a good job, so we aren't going to be on the streets in a week, but it's not like we can afford for me to not work either. Own a house $1600 a mo. mortgage, cars paid off, no student loans and no major debt. They gave me a 3 week severance, and I have a few weeks of vacation I will get paid out on.
I saw this one coming from a mile away. Work slowed down in October, the holidays were really slow, and it never quite picked up. They cut me back to 32 hours a month ago, and laid me back to a "bill time only" employee last Tuesday. I'm pretty sure they won't be calling me anytime soon. They likely completely part ways with me at the end of the month, but at least I have insurance still. My office was doing quite a bit of pipeline work for oil and gas, so the slow down with that has been the primary reason. If a republican takes office I would imagine they get busy again.
There aren't a ton of prospects out there, and way too many applicants. The current job I had I beat out 13 applicants, some more qualified than me. That job is gone, my last job doesn't exist, neither does the one before that. My first job had a department of 6 people, and now they don't even have an GIS guy in the office. The software has become much easier to use, and much cheaper. Instead of employing people with specific GIS skills companies are choosing to get by with engineers, environmentalist, etc doing there own GIS work. My latest fear is the outsourcing of jobs. My company sent out an email in November saying they want to move all IT jobs, drafting, and modeling jobs to "Value Centers" in Malaysia & India.
I have a few applications out there, but I'm actually considering a career change. I'm 33, and now would be the time to do it. The problem is I have no idea what to do. A 4 year degree is practically worthless. I don't really want to go back to school, and I don't even know what I would go back for anyways. I have thought about insurance sales. You only need to pass a test for that. I am also considering learning a trade. I have a relative with an electrical company I could probably go work for. I have a decent amount of experience doing construction, so I kind of know what I am doing. It seems crazy though to abandon a career path that requires a college degree to learn a trade. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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