You Have to Keep Moving Forward

Nothing is more crushing than to have industry panelists confirm that nobody is hiring now, or that there are far too many people applying for the few positions that are open.  There are no “chances” now and they aren’t hiring under qualified or over qualified people.   The frustration was heavy amongst the crowd, but I think for the most part we’ve all accepted the situation.  Many of us are moving forward by learning new skills in continuing education programs and that’s a good thing.  You have to keep going.

I got a rejection e-mail  today for a job I really wanted.  I decided to let myself sulk in aftermath of that and the career fair only tonight.  Tomorrow I will resume moving forward.  I will continue to gain new skills, I will continue to apply for employment, and I will continue to enjoy my time between careers.  I thank the government for the “social safety net,” which without, my husband I would have become another statistic.  I hope the money the government is spending to get us out this mess works, whether I agree with the plan or not — and believe me, bailing out those Wallstreet and banking turds makes me sick to my stomach.  Despite everything, I remain hopeful because there is far too much that we could be doing.  It’s just a matter of getting the folks with the cash to invest in America again.  We all have to ignore the gruesome wreck and keep moving forward.

Lovely Items

“Lovely Items” is a concept that I got from years of watching anime and reading manga.  It’s the idea that a character needs a lovely item to endear them to the other characters within the story and with the viewing audience.  There’s a good discussion of this in “Ouran High School Host Club” in which the Host club tries to make the son of a yakuza boss more approachable.   The idea of a lovely item can be as abstract as a personality quirk and as concrete as a signature piece of jewelry.   In essence, a lovely item is something that gives an object or and individual a distinct personality and facilitates approachability.   And so, that is what I want to do with my Lovely Items website.  I want to share the lovely little graphics that I make with who ever wants them so they can add some personality and friendliness to whatever web or print project they are doing.

This idea was born out of a little discussion I had with my Dad last week.  I had just finished redoing my personal website and I was feeling very empowered.  I wanted to do more work on websites and expressed to him that I’m willing to do it voluntarily for the experience.  Our concern, though, had to do with my “cute affliction” in that if I can’t get passed it, the range of customers I can design for will be limited.  My feeling is practice, practice … but at the same time, I should get the most out my cute affliction and develop it.  So here are some short term and long term goals for myself with this website:

1. Give away lovely graphic items I design for web and print (practice makes perfect and spread the joy while building a portfolio and credibility as a designer).
2. Do some voluntary design work — web, print, and vanity books to get experience and recognition
3. On a limited basis take on web, print, and vanity book projects for actual paying customers.

This is something that I would like to do on the side while having full-time career.  I figured that now while I’m looking for a job and while jobs are scarce I should use the time to learn new skills and develop my innate talents.  I would love to do this sort of thing, too, for a company, focusing on the usability and visual appeal of web, web-to-print, and print-to-web projects.

So please stay tuned as my Lovely Items adventure begins.  One of my good friends suggested that I start by making some lovely wallpapers for mobile devices like the iPhone and cell phones … .

www.lovely-items.com coming soon to bring loveliness one pixel at a time.

Careers in Death and Taxes … those Ought to be Safe …

My search for a job has led me to think about sectors of the economy that might not be suffering so much right now.  I figured “death and taxes” should always be hiring … But all sectors are suffering I sadly found out (including the govt … not much hiring going on there and the cycles to get a job are 3 – 6-months …).  Anyhow, here’s a nice website I found for my friends in So. Cal that lists the biotech companies in SD.  I’m browsing for manufacturing jobs.  I see lots of openings for chemists and chemical engineers ;p.

link

As for the taxes … well, Intuit has job openings …

Give me a Break! Carly Fiorina

Buwhahahahaha!!!

She says the government should stay out of determining executive pay when a company receives a TARP bailout.  Ummm … OH REALLY, Miss-I-was-paid-$20-Million + to-leave-HP-after-failing-as-a-CEO?  Does she even understand how much R&D could have been funded with her “failure bonus”?  (And that goes to the rest of you tech CEO’s receiving millions in bonuses while cutting R&D spending and jobs …)

Buwahahahahaha!!!  Whooo!!!  My sides hurt!!!  I can’t stop laughing!!!!

Here’s a link to the nonsense that dribbled out of Ms. Fiorina’s mouth.

Getting a Job as an Engineer Might be like Winning the Lottery

I decided to do a thought experiment to discourage myself further about the prospect of finding a job anytime soon.  Here’s some loosey-goosey estimations for you:  The combined populations of LA and San Diego in 2006 are ~13-Million.   ~37% of those people are under the age of 18 or over 65, which leaves 8.2 Million within working age.  Let’s say 75% of those people want to work or are working, and, of those, 8% are unemployed.  This means there are ~490K people unemployed and looking for work in LA and SD.  Now let’s say 1/0 of these folks are engineering professionals (and yes, it could be true because this recession is more about professions getting laid-off than non), and that leaves 49K engineers looking for jobs.  Now, for the past 30-days, there are 1209 postings for Engineering positions on the Monster board.  This does not exclude the bogus listings for sign twirlers, pyramid scams, and hollywood extras along with duplicate listings.  So being conservative, for every job opening, there are ~40 engineers who can fill each req.  HAHAHAHA!!!!  And big business claims there’s a severe lack of engineering, math, science majors in the US.  I call “BS” on all of you!  So I wonder … which will come first, me winning something in the state lottery or me getting a job …

Here’s a link to Quick Facts from the Census Board.  Have fun!