How is the tech field? (insurance, attorney, buying) - Seattle area - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

jenlion · 02-12-2009, 10:25 AM

Hah! Great. Friend of mine worked at a company that went out of biz in October. He's been looking ever since and has been getting calls from recruiters for MS. First one was for a $65/hr position. Didn't work out, and he wasn't thrilled about a contract. Later he gets another random call for the exact same description, but this time, it's $45/hr. He tells her no, not interested. She keeps going. He says no, don't waste you're time, I'm not interested. She starts calling trying to connect for some on-the-spot qualification interview. He finally had to hang up on her.

Heiwos · 02-12-2009, 12:09 PM

He might've wished he had taken a rate of $130K/yr without benefits. (Then again maybe not, I don't know what his skill is.) When I'm looking for work, I always take the best I can get, whatever that is. Contracting closely adheres to free market principles. In theory you can't be underpaid or overpaid.

seattlenextyear · 02-12-2009, 12:48 PM

What if the best you can get is the most gut wrenchingly boring thing you can imagine? What if it doesn't advance your skill set at all? What if your coworkers are a bunch of jerks? There's benefits to jobs beyond the pay rate.

jenlion · 02-12-2009, 01:48 PM

He took a $52/hr contract-to-perm IN dallas the next week, so no need to relo, keep his house and GF, WITH benefits. Probably got the best end of that deal given that he really needs the health benefits.

And yes, benefits to job beyond pay rate. I'm very glad to work from home and with very flexible hours. Great thing is that it paid well too. Well, it did. Now it looks like our cash flow has cratered and we're not going to be paid on time. Yech. I'm not looking forward to looking for another job, especially in this town where professionally I don't know anybody, especially in this market. Oh, and a big mortgage on a house that immediately dropped 20% in value. OOPS! Guess I better get on that whole Dynamics thing now. And start looking for deals on dress pants and a pair of shoes, since I don't own much decent to go to an office in anymore. D****it. We're not gonna go broke on just hubby's income, but it'd be the end of daycare soon, and that would make me much-less-happy. :-) I sure miss the easy-money days, but at least we KNEW they were going to end and tried to plan for it best we could.

Heiwos · 02-12-2009, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

What if the best you can get is the most gut wrenchingly boring thing you can imagine? What if it doesn't advance your skill set at all? What if your coworkers are a bunch of jerks? There's benefits to jobs beyond the pay rate.

Is IT work ever interesting? My warm fuzzies come from the boss's boss's smile, when his or her customers are happy. I advance my skill set on my own time mainly; pretty easy these days with internet searching and free tools. Languages are so similar now that it's mostly about honing other skills that apply almost regardless of the technical platform (e.g. planning, debugging, communicating issues, etc.). I get along great with jerks! That's one reason I get paid the big bucks. I can be as deferential as a puppy in training, yet still the project will be a success.

Heiwos · 02-12-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenlion

He took a $52/hr contract-to-perm IN dallas the next week, so no need to relo, keep his house and GF, WITH benefits. Probably got the best end of that deal given that he really needs the health benefits.

Good for him, esp. in Dallas, where I presume it's cheaper.

One thing I recommend to everyone is to get their own private health insurance, so you can retain it when getting laid off or switching jobs, and without fear of henceforth being uninsurable for a pre-existing condition. With a high deductible, it's pretty cheap in WA.

Quote:

I sure miss the easy-money days, but at least we KNEW they were going to end and tried to plan for it best we could.

Same here. I wish you good luck on the other side of the wave!

seattlenextyear · 02-12-2009, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heiwos

Good for him, esp. in Dallas, where I presume it's cheaper.

One thing I recommend to everyone is to get their own private health insurance, so you can retain it when getting laid off or switching jobs, and without fear of henceforth being uninsurable for a pre-existing condition. With a high deductible, it's pretty cheap in WA.

Same here. I wish you good luck on the other side of the wave!

You must not have a wife and kids to insure. I can't wait to get off of private health insurance. Insuring 2 people on your own dime is prohibitively expensive.

My iPhone money is all going to the health insurance company.

Heiwos · 02-12-2009, 07:14 PM

Myself + child = $220/mo with $1750 deductible and $10K family maximum out-of-pocket. A lot less than the $700 one employer's plan wanted. What are you paying?

seattlenextyear · 02-12-2009, 11:21 PM

More than "free"

texastrigirl · 02-13-2009, 12:12 AM

Shoot, our COBRA was never less than $1250 a month for a family of four the 4 TIMES we had to use it in the early 2000's (hubby was in tech startups, one after the other after the other) but I was always scared to drop it due to the pre-existing disaster a friend of mine had happen to her when she had a gap in coverage and because we were in the having babies stage. What company do you use to insure with?