Supermarket general dogsbody, if you include vacation jobs.
Teacher/Bartender if you mean after school.
Attorney.
Attorney - 2009 will be highest paid, will probably drop off slightly next year.
Excluding vacation jobs, Yellow Pages Advertising Sales, 1996 (I think), for the princely sum of $12,000 a year plus commission in Chicago.
5 months.
Much less than they are now. I had gone down an academic route and bailed out on it, so I had no idea really what to expect. I never thought I would make a lot of money.
I realized that my innate charm and intelligence wasn’t going to get me hired. I also realized that while I am pretty good at sales, I frigging hated it, and needed to get out. Unfortunately, I had too much sales on my resume to be hired for anything else, so I went back to school. Now, I can see a structured career path for me.
Yes, to the extent of multiple careers in a lifetime (on my third right now).
Generally speaking OK, but there will be a major drop off in transfer of wealth to the next generation.
Not good as a whole. People (including me) left saving later than we should, and we don’t have as much time left to recover. And we won’t get bailed out buy bequests that have lost their value.
This is the generation that should learn from the mistakes. But in interviewing people, I don’t see it. There is still a huge sense of entitlement in people coming into this profession - I have seen people gasp at salaries falling back to the levels they were 4 years ago, and claim it is impossible to live in DC on $125,000 a year.
But the years are somewhat arbitrary, and more cultural rather than year based. I can understand that many people don’t feel they fit into a “Generation”, especially those in the late boomers (also called Generation Jones) and some on the cusp of X and Y, but the culture of the times was a defining force.
Here is my quick rendition of what the generations are:
The boomers were the largest youth culture to date, and more or less invented the phrase Generation gap because of all the cultural & social changes invoked and lived through as they grew up. The early boomers thought they were going to change the world, and for a large part, they did, with civil right, and other social causes. The late boomers are often called Generation Jones, and although they grew up with much of the same expectations of the boomers, were disappointed by Watergate, inflation and other issues. They are less idealistic, and often more materialistic than the early boomers.
Generation X were the baby bust latchkey kids, many of whom feel as if they raised themselves. Being a much smaller generation, Generation X felted squeezed out while growing up by the adult boomer culture, and as young adults felt squeezed out of the job market by older people. They are the first generation who were told they may never reach their parents earning potential. Many of Gen X came of age during the recessions of the 1980’s and 1990’s and had trouble finding work upon graduation. During these recessions, popular culture labeled Generation X as slackers. Later Gen X are sometimes called the MTV generation - they are the ones who were on the cusp of the change from an analog to a digital world and were more immersed in pop culture than the earlier X’ers but remain cynical about it. Both cohorts are sterotyped as being cynical and independent.
Generation Y (Millennials) is those who came about when Baby on Board stickers started appearing. They are the Echo of the Boomers and most are children of boomers. As they grew up culture changed from being adult oriented and almost anti-child as it was when Generation X grew up, to very child centered. Childhood went from being largely unstructured outside of school to a very structured and planned childhood including playdates. Terms such a helicopter parents, indigo children, trophy children are used to describe their upbringing. They are a very media saavy generation, and very immersed in pop & digital culture, and perhaps a little too obsessed by pop culture. Because of the child-centric upbringing, many Generation Y are seen as being very self entitled, and selfish.
Most of my friends are among the X generation, both early and late, and many of us feel because we are squeezed on both ends by larger generations, we are somewhat disconnected from society at large and sometimes are somewhat cliquish within our own age cohort. There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit in my generation, and most everyone I know has gone through at least 2 career changes or started their own company. Many of my generation is highly cynical of politics, but quite interested in grassroots issues and urban and underground political issues.
I am finding it interesting how each generation sees the others, but also it is very interesting to see who doesn’t see the generational differences.
1.) What Generation are you (boomer/genx/geny)?
The Great Generation
2.) What year were you born?
1927
3.) What was your first job?
Working in a coal yard (summer job, at 16 years old). Do you kids know what coal is?
First full-time job? US Army at tail end of WWII
4.) What was your last or current job?
Last job: state Director of Tourism
5.) What was your highest paying job or fiscal year?
same at #4
6.) What was your lowest paying job or fiscal year?
Working in a newspaper as reportor/photograher circa 1951
7.) What is the longest period of time you were out of work?
0
8.) What were your career expectations at the beginning of your work experience?
Boy, any damn job I could get that paid real money
9.) Have those expectations changed and why/why not and how?
Now retired, no expectation other than to keep on the right side of the sod.
10.) Do you see your job experience as typical of your generation?
Beats me. We Great Depression babies were glad to get any kind of living wage.
1.) What Generation are you (boomer/genx/geny)? geny-cusp
2.) What year were you born? 83
3.) What was your first job? Farm Hand @ 13, Career Software dev @ 23
4.) What was your last or current job? Software Developer
5.) What was your highest paying job or fiscal year? Current, 85k/yr
6.) What was your lowest paying job or fiscal year? First 3.5/hr
7.) What is the longest period of time you were out of work? 2 months
8.) What were your career expectations at the beginning of your work experience? Going from when I started my career, I didn’t expect to be doing as well as quickly as I am.
9.) Have those expectations changed and why/why not and how? Yeah, I expect more now.
10.) Do you see your job experience as typical of your generation? No, most of my friends growing up didn’t have jobs at least till the end of high school.
Generational Questions:
11.) What is your opinion of Baby Boomers and how they will weather the recession?
My parents and their siblings are all late-boomers. They’re an ok bunch, I think that there will be a huge backlash against ageism as boomers continue towards retirement and beyond.
They will have the hardest time, since many only have a short time till retirement, they won’t have as much ability to bounce back.
12.) What is your opinion of Generation X and how they will weather the recession?
They tend to be a scrappy bunch who graduated college and highschool during a recession, a good many of them know how stretch a dollar.
Even if they struggle horribly, The oldest of them have at least a decade to start saving,etc.
13.) What is your opinion of Generation Y and how they will weather the recession?
Most of my generation don’t realize it but this recession is probably a good thing for them, for the most part we haven’t seen a real recession and have lived lives of excess due to our parents success.
We will survive this recession the same way that the Gen Xers survived the early 90’s recession. Gritting our teeth, and letting the cold wind change our outlook.
1.) What Generation are you (boomer/genx/geny)? boomer
2.) What year were you born? 1954
3.) What was your first job? PBX operator/mail clerk
4.) What was your last or current job? Mechanical engineer
5.) What was your highest paying job or fiscal year? current
6.) What was your lowest paying job or fiscal year? 1971 - my first clerk year
7.) What is the longest period of time you were out of work? 3 months
8.) What were your career expectations at the beginning of your work experience? Thought I’d become a teacher
9.) Have those expectations changed and why/why not and how? Joined the Navy, got an engineering degree, working as an engineer since 1985
10.) Do you see your job experience as typical of your generation? Nope - mainly because of my military experience
Generational Questions:
11.) What is your opinion of Baby Boomers and how they will weather the recession? Personally, I’ll do fine
12.) What is your opinion of Generation X and how they will weather the recession? they’ll figure it out if they’re motivated, or they’ll whine and suffer if they’re not
13.) What is your opinion of Generation Y and how they will weather the recession? Same as #12
