I graduated in 2002. It was devastating to my life and set my career back about a decade. Because I am from Appalachia, that only compounded the problem.
It took me 2 years to find a 'real' job as tech support with a starting salary of 28k/year. It wasnt until 5 years after graduation did I find a job I was really happy with as a DBA at a University making 40k/year.
I was still stuck, because here you have this east coaster from a no name university and their career hasn't grown much, not worth a phone screen. Things didn't really change for me until I got my masters at an Ivy league.
I was finally worth of a phone screen and risk flying to the west coast for an on-site. After that I have done really well as a data scientist for a top 5 tech, but it was not easy.
Given that I graduated in 2002, if someone finds out that I am not making TC 400k and worth millions, something must be really wrong with me.
If I made 100k out of college like many in tech do now, I would have been retired by now. At this rate, it will be about 15 years before I can retire - thats how far graduating during the wrong time set me back.
Will better days be ahead? yes. Did people graduating now end up winning a really shitty lottery? oh god yes, though probably not as bad as 2002.
Of all my friends from back in the early 2000's, we've all pretty much had the same life arc.
Some people got jobs as lawyers, some at banks, some were in a band, some were social workers, and then there was me - no fancy job, no money, and just a crappy car and a very friendly cat.
20 years later, we live all around the world but the circumstances are largely similar. A job which is ok, a house, kids - nothing much to complain about really.
One of the biggest learnings I've had is that people make decisions (some of which I wouldn't personally agree with), but we all end up in mostly the same place.
People who are going to struggle for the next year or two will be fine, but the future and the path they take might be a bit different to what they expected.
It took me 2 years to find a 'real' job as tech support with a starting salary of 28k/year. It wasnt until 5 years after graduation did I find a job I was really happy with as a DBA at a University making 40k/year.
I was still stuck, because here you have this east coaster from a no name university and their career hasn't grown much, not worth a phone screen. Things didn't really change for me until I got my masters at an Ivy league.
I was finally worth of a phone screen and risk flying to the west coast for an on-site. After that I have done really well as a data scientist for a top 5 tech, but it was not easy.
Given that I graduated in 2002, if someone finds out that I am not making TC 400k and worth millions, something must be really wrong with me.
If I made 100k out of college like many in tech do now, I would have been retired by now. At this rate, it will be about 15 years before I can retire - thats how far graduating during the wrong time set me back.
Will better days be ahead? yes. Did people graduating now end up winning a really shitty lottery? oh god yes, though probably not as bad as 2002.