A relocation situation that I fear is all too common...

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I know dozens of people with degrees in things like Art, English, Creative Writing, etc. who now make six-figure salaries without further graduate school. Granted this is due to one particular industry (advertising) that seems attract a lot of these people, and I seem to only know the more successful tier of really hard-working people who actually made it in that industry. Secondly, the early years of the internet were such a free-for-all that it was easy to become an expert without formalized training. The people I know worked their TAILS off in their 20's, including 80 hour work weeks, tons of travel, etc to get in to roles as Creative Directors, Producers, Project Managers, Managing Directors, Account Directors, Technology Directors, etc... I'm not sure how a single mother could pull this off.

Yeah, getting into online work in the early days was pretty easy and that's not an option anymore. That said, I think there are are still opportunities out there if someone is willing to expand their job search beyond academia. I've been involved with hiring creatives and programmers based on their blog writings or personal projects, and we didn't care in the least what college they went to (many never completed college). I think there are still opportunities out there for people with creative backgrounds, but they need to be able to channel their creativity into something like editing or copywriting.

[one is lonely]

I think she's a victim of a screwy American economy. When you're that well-educated, you should be of some use to society. Her analytical abilities alone should translate well to a wide variety of fields. The impression I get is that before all of the outsourcing and H-1Bs, people with degrees could usually find a fit somewhere, even if it wasn't where they first envisioned themselves. Now you need 5 unpaid internships in one specific field before they'll even consider you, and you better have kissed butt at over a million "mixers" already.

Keep in mind, I'm not against foreign workers coming to America. I just don't like the way H-1Bs have been used to undercut wages and drive up unemployment for Americans. Workers with H-1Bs should have to be paid similarly to American workers. What's so unfair about that?

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I know dozens of people with degrees in things like Art, English, Creative Writing, etc. who now make six-figure salaries without further graduate school. Granted this is due to one particular industry (advertising) that seems attract a lot of these people, and I seem to only know the more successful tier of really hard-working people who actually made it in that industry. Secondly, the early years of the internet were such a free-for-all that it was easy to become an expert without formalized training. The people I know worked their TAILS off in their 20's, including 80 hour work weeks, tons of travel, etc to get in to roles as Creative Directors, Producers, Project Managers, Managing Directors, Account Directors, Technology Directors, etc... I'm not sure how a single mother could pull this off.

How is that saying: "I acknowledge luck helped me get where I am. The funny thing is the harder I work the luckier I get..."

I too know folks that have studied traditional literature / arts / creative majors and when they focus their energy in a direction that needs their talents when there opportunties they've built pretty good lives -- advertising does go in cycles and LOTS of folks got flushed out in the 90s.

While H1B employment almost certainly has had negative effects on the more technical aspects of web based advertising it seems unlikely that folks. even if fully fluent in English (which is not all that uncommon...) would really take jobs away from those with real creative talent...

I can't help but think of the situation, admittedly played up for effect, in TV shows like Mad Men, where folks that fancy themselves "poltical activists / authors / social critics" seem to not weather the business world nearly as well as those that seem a bit more realistic about what clients will actually pay them to do. In my mind the "Peggys" of the world that can come terms with these things are those that even in the "proto-gentrification" efforts at buying a brownstone and being a landlord demonstrate a more "grown up" mindset than others that try to remain extend their less responsible years...

[MassVt]

Youthful indescretions taken into consideration, she does bear some responsibility for all this. But there certainly were a few who helped to "push her over the edge". No doubt, she sat there starry-eyed, just gaping at everything the college professor said, regardless of whether or not it had any real value. He played the role of the Pied Piper, and she willingly went along. But the college professor, protected by tenure, likely just coasted into retirement, oblivious to the wreckage that he helped to create. It's disgusting..

[purplesky]

the article reminds me of an article which was subsequently published in a book of essays titled "My Misspent Youth" by Meghan Daum. Unfortunately, only an excerpt is available online unless you subscribe to the New Yorker.

In this article, she details how infatuated she became with New York due in partly to Woody Allen movies, but quickly came to the realization that she would spiral further into debt while living in a closet of an apartment.

She ended up moving to Lincoln, Nebraska, because they had apartments with oak floors and listened to NPR and she was able to financially thrive there.

My Misspent Youth - The New Yorker