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I feel sorry for him but the point in time has to come when he is able to just get a job. And abandon his dreams of being a successful engineer. That's the hard part, giving up on your dreams.
We were lied to. We were told to get an education and the world will beat a path to your door. No money, no worries. Sign right here for your student loan. You'll be able to pay it back in no time with your 80K salary as a new engineer. In the meanwhile, all those great engineering jobs went to people willing to work cheaper in other countries. And companies love the H1B visas that let them bring their cheap labor to the US.
This poor guy is 27. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee. And get a job as a house painter. At least that's something they can't outsource. But I'm pretty sure there are lots of crew of illegal aliens in this biz.
I'm a scientist I have tattoos, my company has engineers that have tattoos. It's not this terrible thing or something. I have one you can't see on my back, then a tiny one you can't see (on my wrist) if I'm not wearing a bracelet, nobody blinks, nobody cares. I won't lie, when I've had interviews I wear a bracelet to cover it up because I don't want to be judged on my tattoo. But when my boss eventually saw my tattoo he didn't even blink lol.
If I were not employed I'd take a job doing anything, and I have. In fact BEFORE I had ANY tattoos I had a job washing dishes in a lab to put food on the table, after about 5 months I found a MUCH better job.
I think whoever this kid was, he was dumb to not take the job, a job's a job and if you are employed it's always easier to find work, tattoo or not!
Last edited by beera; 05-18-2014 at 09:12 PM..
Reason: typos
My sons are in that age bracket, both are engineers and working in engineering positions (one is works outside his education background, but still in engineering). other than they both take time off without pay for a couple weeks ever year (another thing I don't understand), they are well employed and building careers. I consider myself fortunate.
We have a lot of friends with college educated kids (usually liberal arts majors) living at home and not working because they truly expect to start in middle management with a $100,000 salary, and they have this concept in their heads that the boss doesn't "do anything" but gets paid more than workers for doing nothing. They all seem to be looking for a high paying, fulfilling career where they "do nothing" not realizing "high paying" and "fulfilling" generally come with time, skills, and effort, and no one gets paid to "do nothing." Anything less is simply "not suitable work" in their minds.
On the tattoo thing (and gauges etc.) in 30 years when these kids figure it out and are in management positions, it may not be a big deal to have them, but business professionals are expected to look professional, not like a punk rocker from the London scene. He might want to wear long sleeves to interviews, etc.
I have been in management positions most of my career, and while I can point back on a couple of truly remarkable achievements, most of my work was the mundane and thankless task of keeping everything on track, on budget, and on time - i.e. problem solving. These kids would say I "do nothing", but it's been a heck of a lot work!
I work in the Finance and Banking industry. You would be surprised by the number of younger vice-presidents and senior vice-presidents in their 30's and 40's with tattoos at Fortune 500 companies. It's not uncommon nowadays. I have seen tattoos on ankles, arms, or back of the neck. They don't advertise to the older and more conservative crowd.
The guy would rather sit on a bar stool than working until the right job comes along. He is more interested in being a bystander than doing something. That's his problem.
We were at a pub. He was a smoker. He was drinking $5 beers. His arms were sleeves of tattoos.
He told me that he spent his days on line filling out resume's and going to job fairs.
He's been unemployed since graduating low in his class.
I offered him a job with my business (contracting and painting) but he had no interest in "manual labor".
What are your thoughts?
He's 27, likely single and without kids, and he was clearly able to afford the tattoos, the smokes, and the $5.00 beers. So, why should he have taken a job he didn't want, when he's obviously got money coming from somewhere? Work is good to have, don't get me wrong, but it might also cut into the amount of time he can spend chasing jobs he'd really like to have, or further schooling if he goes on to get a graduate degree. I doubt he got a degree so he could do manual labor - no harm in him taking some extra time to find a job that uses his degree and that he wants before he starts looking for other opportunities.
He's 27, likely single and without kids, and he was clearly able to afford the tattoos, the smokes, and the $5.00 beers. So, why should he have taken a job he didn't want, when he's obviously got money coming from somewhere? Work is good to have, don't get me wrong, but it might also cut into the amount of time he can spend chasing jobs he'd really like to have, or further schooling if he goes on to get a graduate degree. I doubt he got a degree so he could do manual labor - no harm in him taking some extra time to find a job that uses his degree and that he wants before he starts looking for other opportunities.
Maybe he'll get it together after his mom throws him out.
No engineer I know had tattoos. None smoked. Very few drank.
Most adults drink at least occasionally, regardless of profession. Engineers are no different. Most engineers that I know don't smoke and don't have tattoos (at least not visible ones), but there are exceptions.
Thomas Edison said, "Most people don't recognize opportunity because it goes around dressed in overalls and looks like work."
No engineer I know had tattoos. None smoked. Very few drank. He sounds like a painter to me. He should take your offer and try to make something of it. He can meet people, get some kind of experience, make a few bucks, fill empty time on his resume.
If he applied to me for an engineering position, I'd be more likely to hire him if he accepted a non-engineering job than if he hung out in bars waiting until he got an opportunity "good enough" for him.
I don't know many who smoke, but most of the ones I know drink like fish and many have tattoos.
Also, if he wants to be an engineer, why did he graduate near the bottom?
Are you saying: What was the reason for him graduating near the bottom of his class?
Or: He knew that he wanted to be an engineer, so why did he let himself graduate near the bottom of his class?
Somebody has to be at the bottom of the engineering class. We can't all be geniuses. Maybe he loves engineering, but had a slight learning handicap. Maybe he partied too much his freshman year and that ruined his GPA (been there, done that). Maybe his parents died in a fiery auto accident and he failed one of his junior semesters. Maybe he had a hot 18 yr old girlfriend that, ahem, monopolized his time. We don't know.
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