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Very true, the perfect example is my nephew and his friends. Friend A had a full-ride, academic scholarship to one of the top business schools in the Northeast. He dropped out because he felt like he wasn't getting what he needed out of college. He now works at a fast food restaurant and lives at home. Friend B was attending college, blew off his classes and dropped out without telling his parents, wasting thousands of dollars of their money. He also lives at home. My nephew dropped out of college after one semester, works 20 hours a week for minimum wage and lives at home. Noticing a pattern here?
Yes, the economy isn't great. Yes, it's hard to find a good job nowadays, but if you aren't making good choices you really can't blame anyone but yourself if you can't get ahead.
Part of it is them but part of it is the college. Friend A, wasn't getting college and the nephew was either a bad student or wasn't engaged them self. I think the problem is we as a society claim college is a miracle elixir that can cure problems with work but it doesn't do that. We as a society have oversold college and now we are seeing the ill effects. You can get work without college and with college.
I think both drilling and mining are volatile and risky.
And when that happens, they move to other parts of the world, and will do this as long as gasoline is needed and there is a market.
When I was a real estate commercial/investment brokers, I had oil people as clients and did their investing for them. They were working in places like Iran when the Shaw was in power, to Malaysia. I am very aware of how they shifted around the world from first hand working with them. One would recommend me to another. Example: One time I found the ideal investment for an investor who was one of the top American oil people for the biggest company in the country. He was in Iran where we could not talk business over the phone. I had his mother call him, and he flew on the company shuttle plane to London and called me. Told me to go ahead and buy. I had his power of attorney to make the offer. One of his daughters was flying to Turkey to meet her parents for Thanksgiving. Another daughter met her at the plane with the paperwork, and the daughter hand carried the papers to Istanbul where he signed them with the American Ambassador to Turkey witnessing the signature. Overseas an Ambassador can sign as witness instead of a notary. She hand carried them back to me the same way they went over.
I have known a lot of big oil people, and big mining people over the years. Oil and mining are not as risky, as a lot of other businesses. In fact some of those companies are quite large (some of the largest companies in the world), and move to where they have to go to produce their product. I had clients that were working in one country one year, and then next year half way around the world always earning well into 6 figure incomes plus living expenses a long as 30 plus years ago.
Part of it is them but part of it is the college. Friend A, wasn't getting college and the nephew was either a bad student or wasn't engaged them self. I think the problem is we as a society claim college is a miracle elixir that can cure problems with work but it doesn't do that. We as a society have oversold college and now we are seeing the ill effects. You can get work without college and with college.
I agree. My nephew should never have been in college in the first place. He had zero interest in going, but my sister pushed for it and yes, he was a horrible student in high school. His friend was at the top of his class and my feeling is he couldn't handle being a small fish in a big pond and bailed. The high school they attended has this rabid obsession of wanting 100% of their graduates to go on to a university, whether or not they belong there is irrelevant.
Petroleum engineers will never go without work, but let's be real, few people have the aptitude for engineering. If many did, it wouldn't be a well paying job. Plus, many of the "perks", like being in Nigeria for six months out of the year, lead to untenable family lives. It is mostly a career for lifelong bachelors. Suggesting that people become oil company executives who can fly their daughters around on a private jets is not a realistic solution to underemployment. Shoot for the stars and all that, but there still need to be reasonable jobs for those who aren't first round draft picks. Or maybe there doesn't. Maybe it's fine to have a pampered executive class and a serf class fighting each other for limited low end work. Sounds like hunger games 2015.
Fact: They didn't except in rare cases, any more than they do now. And back in what you think of as the dark ages, it took just as much time and trouble for younger people to work up in their jobs into management than it does today.
Over the last 60 years I have watched the job market, there have been numerous times that the economy tanked, and there was high unemployment, etc. When I was a child, I lived through the Great Depression, which makes today seem like a huge booming economy. You have no idea of what rough times are.
I imagine the generation that was college age during the Great Depression did have it pretty tough. Since that occurred in the 1930's, most of those people are dead by now. Its going to be pretty hard to ask them to compare themselves to the present generation. In any event, that's so long ago, its an irrelevant comparison. I might as well make a comparison as to how young people fared after the Civil War.
Those who were children during the Great Depression and came of age during World War II are either dead or dying off. While none of use would want to repeat World War II, there is no question that it did create any number of opportunities for young people in their twenties at this time. The military opened many doors. After the war, a grateful nation responded by passing the GI Bill which paid for college and higher education for literally millions of veterans. I know this well. Both my parents went to college on the GI Bill. That boost from the government, boosted literally tens of millions into the middle class. So, that comparison is not valid. Student loans are available to young people today. However, this is nothing compared to the GI Bill which was a giveaway, but one directed at the millions who were drafted to serve their nation.
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They took degrees that has no demand for them. They took degrees that only pay about $30,000 or just a little more if they can even find a job in their field. Lets look at what degrees pay top wages and those that are almost useless.
Petroleum engineers can pick and choose who to work for, and start at about $100,000 per year. On the other hand, look at how many pay very low wages and benefits. Biggest reason for the differences: Low pay degrees have a huge surplus of millennials that took the easy courses, not willing to put forth the effort to get a degree that really pays off.
Oh for crying out loud. Does it occur to you that the reason there are so few petroleum engineers has to with the fact that most people simply lack the aptitude to be engineers?
Last edited by markg91359; 12-30-2014 at 11:17 PM..
Yes. I graduated High School in 1951, went on to get my Bachelor's in 1955, and worked a few years as a manager of a drive in theater before going back to college for my MBA (graduating in 1959). From there I was offered a senior management position at IBM which I worked part time while I completed my PhD in Psychology so I could be promoted to VP in 1963. Is that too complex for you?
What's your life story son?
I don't question that this is your life story, but...
A 26-year-old with an MBA in 1959 was a novelty. In 2015, a 26-year-old with an MBA is white noise.
You made a good impression on your boss, the person I presume who hired you. In 2015, you never get to meet the boss until your resume has made it past the resume picker algorithms, the HR rep who will spend 6 seconds (yes, that figure is accurate) reviewing your resume before deciding to send it on or reject it, a screening interview by an HR rep, and a second interview with a low level manager. You don't walk in with your shiny wingtips, new suit, and firm handshake and get put in charge of things anymore. That is so 1960s.
For better or worse, the economy that exists is the one the boomers and gen x created. While we were out stabbing each other in the back in our cutthroat competition to see who could get the most toys, we were teaching our children the exact opposite. Everyone wins, everyone gets a piece of the pie, and no one is left out.
In 2015, you never get to meet the boss until your resume has made it past the resume picker algorithms, the HR rep who will spend 6 seconds (yes, that figure is accurate) reviewing your resume before deciding to send it on or reject it, a screening interview by an HR rep, and a second interview with a low level manager. You don't walk in with your shiny wingtips, new suit, and firm handshake and get put in charge of things anymore. That is so 1960s.
Yes. I graduated High School in 1951, went on to get my Bachelor's in 1955, and worked a few years as a manager of a drive in theater before going back to college for my MBA (graduating in 1959). From there I was offered a senior management position at IBM which I worked part time while I completed my PhD in Psychology so I could be promoted to VP in 1963. Is that too complex for you?
What's your life story son?
Something sounds fishy with your answer. I'm younger than you (a Baby Boomer), but we always said graduated from high school, university, etc. We said that because it was (and is) correct English grammar.
How did you get an MBA and PhD without learning that?
State your case young man. So many millenials give up so young. When I was 25 and with a MBA in hand I was offered a job in senior management at IBM. You kids fail to make the world your oyster of opportunity and success.
You all are responding to nonsense.
IBM has never offered a "senior management" job to a 25YO MBA from outside the company with no industry experience. Never. Never, not even once.
Moreover, a senior manager (or any manager, for that matter) never works part-time at IBM, and never has in the past. Ridiculous . . . don't be fooled by this rubbish.
Last edited by Hamish Forbes; 12-31-2014 at 04:07 AM..
I do not see limited opportunities for today's younger generations. We are on the cusp of a change to a new energy revolution in alternative energy which will result in new cleaner, less fossil fuel-dependent power systems, distribution grids, innovative housing and development and transportation systems. This revolution will create númerous domestic and global opportunities to improve social and economic conditions and solve the challenges of human growth throughout the world. Healthy food, natural health alternatives and reconnectiveness of people to the natural world are also opportunities for improving people's lives. It is up to all of us to support our young people, listen to their concerns and encourage their passion to make the world a better place for them, their children and their children's children.
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