u/I_TrustedMyEmployer:

Why can't businesses offer now what they could in the boomer generation?

I'm really confused and I'm not even sure I know how to articulate this.

Why was the boomer generation able to just throw on a collared shirt and a pair of jeans, waltz into a company and request to speak to a manager to get a job?

I'm looking at an entry level engineering job wanting a P.Eng and 36 bullet points of varying specialized skills. The starting salary is $39K CAD ~ $30K USD. 6 years ago this same job was $55K CAD and that was still nuts then. That salary would barely allow you to afford rent for yourself in a crappy amenitiless apartment let alone budget food.

What happened? It's not fiction, right? My mom worked a Summer to buy a car, and pay for her tuition and rent for a year...

Like, I didn't do anything wrong right? I sacrificed. I worked hard. I got the degree. I got the experience. I got certs and professional designations. My salary has just been going down for years now. Companies either have mass lay-offs or totally die.

I don't get it.

When a boomer retires. Their job is also phased out and their responsibilities divided among who is left with no increase in pay.

Even considering most of the jobs I've ever had, I hadn't really needed my degree for them except to hit the HR check box.

Was there really a time where jobs just wanted to see your enthusiasm and they'd train you?

There's no way my parents did this much work on the daily for this little pay. Someone explain this to me.

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jdlech:

Not to mention the company that requires more experience in a programming language than the language has existed.

Profits must rise on a continuous basis or shareholders sell. When shareholders sell, stocks tank. When stocks tank, the executives stock options decrease in value. When that happens, they lose millions of dollars.

So executives have every incentive to keep ratcheting up the profits, no matter what. Sooner or later, you run out of honest ways to increase profits, and all you're left with is to exploit your workers more. And more... and more... and even more.

Of course, when companies exploit too much, they can't retain good people. When all the good people jump ship, all you're left with are the incompetent and the timid. This is the point where executives just keep giving themselves bonuses and hide the truth from both shareholders and employees alike while they watch the company tank. This is where you seem to be... you keep hiring on with tanking companies and letting yourself get exploited. Meanwhile, the value you bring to the company is wasted on executive bonuses.

This is just my opinion, but... I think you need to hire on with a company on its way up instead of on its way down. Don't look for the prestige of a reputable company, but rather look to help a smaller, but more ambitious company. A company that actually has a dream, rather than a canned mission statement that sounds like it was created by a bunch of lawyers over a 3 course meal. And 

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files just ends there.
from Nov 2019
recovered Jan 2021