Pii's Journal: Fear and Loathing in the Post-crash Economy

Back on New Years Eve, a few of us got off on a tangent about poor employers (My own in particular), the absence of good benefits, and the overall state of affairs in the tech sector.

I went on to describe that in addition to my company not paying for some training, not paying my expenses while at training, and forcing me to use my vacation time (which is far from plentiful to begin with) while attending training. To add insult to injury, I didn't have enough vacation time on the books, so they also docked me a days pay.

I did go on to say that I had a great salary, and that the salary was the single biggest factor in my decision to put up with their shennanigans.

It appears I spoke too soon.

Last Friday, my company asked me to take a pay cut. I know what many of you must be thinking... "Well, a lot of companies have had to cut people's pay in order to avoid layoffs... How much? 10%? 15%?"

Ha!

I just took a 33% pay cut. That's right, 1/3rd off the top. "Everyone took a 33% pay cut?" No, just me. I repeat... *I* took a 33% pay cut.

Needless to say, I'm not very pleased about this, and while I agreed (As my reduced compensation amount is still far more attractive than what I can expect from the unemployment line), I'm actively looking for employment elsewhere.

I think back to the heady days of the late 1990s when knowledge and experience were king, when there was a shortage of veteran technical talent, and seasoned professionals could afford to resign there position on Friday, and land a new gig cold the following Monday by lunchtime, with a 15% to 20% jump in pay, and a lovely signing bonus. I remember all of the start-ups, flush with venture capital, and the stock options that were worth a gold mine because nobody could imagine a technology based IPO that wouldn't shoot through the stratosphere.

I remember *turning down* a kick-ass job at eBay (I still have the offer letter, circa Summer '99) because my own company at the time made a delicious counter-offer for me to stay, and then a few months later, another company trumped them by a long shot.

Those were the days... In addition to competing on salary, companies had to offer all manner of additional compensation just to stay competitive. Signing Bonuses. Ridiculous amounts of Vacation. Mandatory annual Training. Stock Options. 401ks with 100% matching. Free Lunches. Free caffine of every sort. Recreational facilities (Video games, Nerf toys, Foosball). Quarterly and Annual bonuses.

How I miss them...

Today, the classified listings in the newspaper are few and far between. Monster.com gives me a couple of relevant postings a week (None of them in my region), whereas before, I honestly didn't have enough time to read through all of the results of my personalized search agent. No employment website has more than a couple of valid returns. The old results used to resemble a Google search on the word "and." Your search returned 64 trillion documents, items 1 through 25 displayed below. Jobs were so plentiful, Job listing websites were an industry unto themselves!

Fortunately, things are starting (just barely) to improve. My wife scoured several of the employment websites on my behalf, and managed to find 20 or 30 good jobs in the DC Metro area. If my Security Clearance were still active today, there would have been a couple of hundred worthy of my interest.

It will take me a while, but I have no doubt that I'll get another good job within the next couple of months. In the interim, I'll simply have to keep looking, all the while making a deliberate effort not to dwell on "the gool ol' days."