Have any of these articles actually addressed HOW software developers are supposed to retrain for good jobs? Personally I have neither the money nor the years to go back to college to get a livable job.
Just like everyone else. I have a feeling your definition of “livable” is not in line with the reality that most people face. You share more in common with a stay-at-home mom going back to school to become a phlebotomist than you think. It’s just pride gets in the way
Not enough buffer to take 3-5 years to rebuild a career is not the same as no buffer at all. Personally I have about a year of buffer which is no where near enough to meaningfully retrain.
Even if you've saved enough for 1 to 3 years of university, there's a risk that you won't get a job especially if you're getting towards 40+.
Drawing down savings is a very high risk move, since you could easily never recover those savings because you may struggle to get a job that has a better ability to save as much.
Why are you assuming every white collar worker has got an inflated salary, or that they’ve had it for a while?
And actually no, I can’t afford to be unemployed for a year. On COVIDs cost of living it would have been easy. But the current cost of living I’m not able to save even with my “inflated” salary. And the savings I do have isn’t going to stretch as far.
I honestly don’t know how people save on lower incomes. I suspect they don’t. Which is why the debt crisis keeps worsening.
I’m lucky enough to have assets but once they’re sold they’re gone. And most people don’t even have that luxury.
I don't get it. Didn't you live way below your means so you can save up money for retirement? I've got enough money saved to get away with being jobless for about a decade.
Not everyone's had the luxury of saving for years and years. Some people just got into the industry (remember 'learn to code'? not to mention recent graduates), others had to work their way up through lower-wage roles (e.g. contracting) just to get to a place from where they could hope to save. Other people have family to take care of and can't just throw everything into their savings.
Even back when I had to make do with $400 a month I was saving. Live out of a van to save on rent if you have to. There's always a way to live below your means and save.
Of course there are exceptions, but I don't expect those to apply to anyone commenting here.
Live out of a van with children? Is that what you're suggesting people do? That's monstrous. You would rather put the weight of the world on a poor family's head than one iota of responsibility on the ruling class.
A bizarre perspective - you seem hung up on the virtue of saving but totally disconnected from the material implications - even if you saved 50% of your income for a year at that time, you’ve finished with $2400 in the bank - how long is that going to float you? About a week in my case.
It’s plainly true that for a significant number of people, even those who satisfy your moral sensibilities around money, they won’t have had sufficient time at sufficient incomes to have enough saved for a significant period of unemployment to retrain.
If you burn through $2400 in a week, there are lots of opportunities to make changes in your life to make do with less. I'm currently living off $240 a week and that includes going to a fancy restaurant, so I could cut that number down even more if I had to.
You have no idea what my circumstances or expenses are, and in fact they’re irrelevant. You seem still to have a strange inability to see beyond your own circumstances.
You told me your expenses are $2400 a week. I told you that it is easy to get this number down since it's unlikely that you have to pay $2400 a week in life extending medications.
If the stock market drops 80% and stays there for longer than a year it's Great Depression 2.0. Retraining won't do jack shit. There'll be breadlines, governments paying people to dig ditches and build trails in national parks.
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Whereas many of us can’t take a loss of income for months while we retrain.
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robocat · · focus · HN ↗
Even if you've saved enough for 1 to 3 years of university, there's a risk that you won't get a job especially if you're getting towards 40+.
Drawing down savings is a very high risk move, since you could easily never recover those savings because you may struggle to get a job that has a better ability to save as much.
TeMPOraL · · focus · HN ↗
queenkjuul · · focus · HN ↗
hnlmorg · · focus · HN ↗
And actually no, I can’t afford to be unemployed for a year. On COVIDs cost of living it would have been easy. But the current cost of living I’m not able to save even with my “inflated” salary. And the savings I do have isn’t going to stretch as far.
I honestly don’t know how people save on lower incomes. I suspect they don’t. Which is why the debt crisis keeps worsening.
I’m lucky enough to have assets but once they’re sold they’re gone. And most people don’t even have that luxury.
OroPla · · focus · HN ↗
achierius · · focus · HN ↗
OroPla · · focus · HN ↗
Of course there are exceptions, but I don't expect those to apply to anyone commenting here.
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achierius · · focus · HN ↗
jrek · · focus · HN ↗
It’s plainly true that for a significant number of people, even those who satisfy your moral sensibilities around money, they won’t have had sufficient time at sufficient incomes to have enough saved for a significant period of unemployment to retrain.
OroPla · · focus · HN ↗
jrek · · focus · HN ↗
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hnlmorg · · focus · HN ↗
It's usually best not to make assumptions about other people's personal circumstances.
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