Topic : Career Goals

I am 49 and have been laid off 5 times in my 20 year software development career.  I live in Austin, TX which is a mecca of high tech.  I feel your pain. 

I went back to school 2.5 years ago and got an ultrasound degree because I believe that medical is the next big thing in this country.  I graduated in Dec. 2005 and have not been able to land an ultrasound job (which pays half of what I was making before). 

You can thank the corporations who are outsourcing our work to cheap overseas labor markets for a lot of our ills.  I hate to bring politics into this but until the laws change to prevent our jobs for going away, you can expect more of the same.  

The rich are getting richer while the middle class slowly evaporates.  Become politically active and make your voice heard.  If we get rid of the politicians that allow this to continue, we'll all be better off keeping the good paying jobs in this country. 

For the past 3 years or so, I have been really trying to get into the flooring trade, specially ceramic tile.  I have worked with a couple of companies in my  town, but not long enough to advance.  I have gone through other channels trying to succeed in the field even started up my own business to try and achieve my goal.  Wondering if anyone out there either in Canada or The United States, would know if there is a course in the Flooring Trade that I would be able to take?  Thank you for your time.  

Steampacks 

For the last few years I have been trying to get into the flooring trade.  Have been hired on with companies, but not long enough to advance to being a tradesperson in the flooring/tiling field.  I'm wondering if there was a course anywhere that I can take? Either in Canada or in USA.  If there is anything out there please let me know.  Your advice would be appreciated. Thank you. 

Steampacks 

I just graduated college and i am planning on getting married in a year and we want to start having kids right away so probably will have our first kid in 2 years.  

I want to be a stay at home mom. I don't know what to do until then. I don't want to get into a career because in less then 2 years I will probably be very pregnant and end up quiting because I'm planning on being a stay at home mom.  

Any suggestions? 

I had a wonderful job in California before 1988.  I was earning $450 per week in CA., and was a valued clerical/office employee.  Then my first daughter was born.  My husband relocated us to Colorado.  Of course technology was changing every day, and I stayed home for 10 years.  Mistrust of daycare centers and increasing school breaks/days were daunting.  The schools were not in session so often that I felt unable to hold down a job.  However, I managed to find employment in 1998 at McDonalds and then to a clerical job by 2001.  In 2002, I was hospitalized with a staph infection in my pacemaker.  Complications with the medication caused me to be sick for awhile, so I just quit.  Breast cancer found me in June 2005.  Now all is fine - but I am 50, weak and unable to find work except for overworked/underpaid slave jobs.  That's the thanks I get for doing the noble thing of staying home most of 18 years. to be there for 2 lovely daughters.  I see by other postings that many people even have a high-level college degree and tons of experience - but they cannot find a job either.  It's not fair.  I feel I got trapped being a mommy.  Depression also set in and I did not keep up with training.  Now my older daughter is going to an art college, so even if I do find a good job, I cannot afford to get more school for myself! 

Hi Rayken, 

I haven't been on this board for a long time, so much has happened, but it's delightful to come back and read your post. We do seem to have a lot in common indeed, I have read a few of your other posts and smiled when I read that you know about perfectionnism and you'd like to have your own business. It's like reading myself, for I do too. 

I've tried finding your email address but I cannot see it in your profile. Have you perhaps marked it as a no-show in your preferences? Anyway here's mine, I'd love to get in touch and as you say, be there for each other. That's what life is all about, isn't it? caroline_abkar@yahoo.com 

Caroline 

I have been thinking about getting into another career... but then again I'm stopped. Not by laziness or lack of motivation, but discrimination due to the fact that I'm foreign.  And please, don't confuse me as an illegal alien because I'm Puerto Rican, born and raised, and Puerto Rico is part of the United States.   

I finished high school in a period that my female friends were becoming pregnant like a virus. I finished my Associates at a College, and got my first job 5 years after I graduated because it was very hard to find a job.  I came to this country with just one work experience in clerical 6 years ago and I was wishing that I should get into a high paid job to succeed. It was dissapointing.  The excruciating duty of filling applications, submitting resumes with not calls for an interview with my mailbox full of "we're sorry letters".  Did you know what's my first job when I came to this country? You guessed it! At Arby's.  Then, in a staffing agency, working in dead end jobs for 9 months. The following was working as a counter help in a fast food restaurant, and after 6 months unemployed, I was again, working as a cook.  I didn't give up applying for clerical job, going to typing tests, filling applications and I was keeping my hopes high.  Yeah right! My hopes high for then to crash into the concrete wall.  Now I know, even with my confirmed associates degreee, I would never gonna get a clerical/office job due to the fact that I'm hispanic. That's the real fact.    

When I moved to a small town in Idaho, in 2004 and became married. I thought I'm gonna get into clerical/office job but then again, I was wrong.  The first job I got for the past 1 year and 11 months, were Housekeeper at an inn.  I quit my job losing the faith.  Because of the fact that even thought I was reliable, responsable, on-time and a good worker, I didn't get the respect I need as an employee.  I was sacrificing my life and my family to bring food on the table. to be left with High Blood Pressure and Depression at 32.  And then after 11 days unemployed I got to be a housekeeper again at another inn because, they need personnel and they're desperate.   

During my 11 days unemployed again I went to the Job Service in that town and I got weird looks and judgements about my accent and color of my skin from the job coordinator.  Telling me that even with my good qualifications and skills they would help me if I would lose my accent, because they don't understand what I'm saying (even thought my friends, co-workers and others understands me perfectly). I cried that night and went to a severe depression, because of that. If my husband wasn't with me, I would be soaked in alcohol or something worst. I just left a "beautiful" insult to the job coordinator on Friday and that same day I got hired at that inn.   

Since I came to the states I only got only 5 days vacation which I was staying home because I didn't have the money to go out. By the way, my husband is disabled. By the way, I'm uninsured, overworked and underpaid.  I'm honest in my job, but at what price?  I never reported sick unless I'm in the hospital, at what reward? I even work my days off if they need me, for what?  I'm tired of being a slave. I got paid but the money doesn't last... We don't have our own home because we can't afford, and have a bad credit!!!   

You know what? I'm tired of shouting my lungs for justice or help and I'm drowned! I need a good quality of life for me and my husband! Can those racist bastards, stop judging me and lend me a hand? Or I should literaly quit this US Citizenship due to the fact I'm not welcome?