non-eng job after college

[Bean PE]

You want a great job that pays well and has benefits, prestige, etc....yet you don't want to work for it.

How did you come to that conclusion? If "working for it" means 60+ hour work weeks, then no, I don't want to work for it. But no one else will either soon, as the only generation left who sees the active pursuit of burnout as a good thing will be retiring in a few years. I'm more than happy to get my work done on my time. Being expected to sit at my desk for several extra hours a day just to put in "face time" is ridiculous and antequated.

Why do you advocate driving down the average hourly wage of engineers everywhere?

 

[Otter]

Isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

Well you can do what you want to us but we won't sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!

Gentlemen!

 

[Dleg]

I guess I just fall outside the "definition" of the Boomer generation, although I would have never considered myself a part of it. What scares me though is this attitude that work and responsibility and such are for old people. Who's going to do the work when the "old people" are gone? I think what you are ascribing to "boomers" is really just an age phenomenon. If not, then what you are describing is societal decadence, which, historically, immediately precedes the destruction of a society....

So yeah, have fun skiing now, because ski vacations might not even be an option in 20 years or so, once the old folks who did all the work are gone, and the economy is in tatters and all the hard workers have moved the China and other countries to follow the wealth. It's all about balance. On the one hand we all want to have our fun (I always though I was gen x?). On the other, there won't be any fun to be had if we're all out there having fun, instead of working.

 

[benbo]

I'm not sure it's the younger generation that feels that taking a 120-day ski vacation is a worthwhile use of their time. I'd say the majority of people in the younger generation who go to college, who aren't of the entitled ilk, would rather make use of their degree and go to work, especially the engineers.
You speak of the entitled mindframe. Not the gen x/ gen y mindframe.

Taking a winter off to play in the mountains was just one possible example. How is someone taking a low-paying, low-responsibility job and living cheap to do whatever it is they want to do before they're locked into a career one of an "entitled mindframe" (mindset?)? One friend of mine took a year off and traveled Europe after graduating, and now has a pretty great job. I went straight to work; I wish I hadn't, as there's something I'd love to do that is essentially impossible without a huge stockpile of vacation time.

You sound like yet another boomer who doesn't understand younger generations.

I'm a boomer with a job I love. I haven't worked over 40 hours in 7 years.

My last job I put in a little overtime, but I travelled extensively in Europe and Asia on the company dime. That part of it was a blast.

But to each their own. I guess my main question would be, why don't you quit your job and do this thing you really want to do? It doesn't seem any more risky than what you're recommending for this new grad. I don't see what's stopping you.

 

[MGX]

Maybe its just me but someone who takes a year off after graduation to work menial jobs seems like a red flag. Don't you have loans etc to pay back? Shouldn't you be getting after it and getting experience so you can get promoted and take sweet vacations with the family and enjoy what you've worked for?

I might think about what you've described since we all get worn down at times but would not do it. The working world isn't as tough as school in my experience.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

If someone gave me the answer, "because I'd never get a chance to do it again' it shows me they can't think beyond the immediate. I assure you my parents take trips far more lavish after they retired than they could have had they taken them the year after school. A lot more of them, too.

A 65 year-old is not physically capable of a 120 ski-day winter full of storm chasing and mountaineering. Old people can blow big wads of cash on luxurious vacations, young people can actually do something in their time off.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

FWIW, 'took a year off to ski' would definitely NOT get a good response from me.

Of course it wouldn't, you're a typical boomer.

Nope, GenX.

Boomers do not understand the younger generation, plain and simple. Why they are responsible for hiring them is beyond me.

"Nobody understands me!"

The wail of the lazy.

So yeah, have fun skiing now, because ski vacations might not even be an option in 20 years or so, once the old folks who did all the work are gone, and the economy is in tatters and all the hard workers have moved the China and other countries to follow the wealth. It's all about balance. On the one hand we all want to have our fun (I always though I was gen x?). On the other, there won't be any fun to be had if we're all out there having fun, instead of working.

This.

 

[CbusPaul]

Let me clarify that I am from the younger generation and was raised to believe that you work hard then you play hard. You don't play hard without any of the work. I am turning 30 this year and have worked since I was 15. I found college to be a stepping stone from hard work landscaping, mcdonald's, etc. to a job that I enjoyed and allows me to play.

Who is paying for this ski vacation, dare I ask?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Let me clarify that I am from the younger generation and was raised to believe that you work hard then you play hard. You don't play hard without any of the work. I am turning 30 this year and have worked since I was 15. I found college to be a stepping stone from hard work landscaping, mcdonald's, etc. to a job that I enjoyed and allows me to play.

Yeah, stereotyping across generations is probably as pointless as stereotyping across races, but there are generalities that are evident.

Work ethic is a learned attribute.

30 is gen Y, right? Millenials started in 1982, IIRC.

I'll have to look that up.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

http://www.suite101.com/content/veterans-b...d-gen-z-a185353

Boomer I - 1946-54

Boomer II - 1955-64

Gen X - 1965-79

Gen Y (Millenials or Net Gen) - 1980-95

Gen Z - Post 95

 

[Bean PE]

So yeah, have fun skiing now, because ski vacations might not even be an option in 20 years or so, once the old folks who did all the work are gone, and the economy is in tatters and all the hard workers have moved the China and other countries to follow the wealth. It's all about balance. On the one hand we all want to have our fun (I always though I was gen x?). On the other, there won't be any fun to be had if we're all out there having fun, instead of working.

Kids taking a little time off after college is going to lead to the downfall of our civilization? That's a stretch if I've ever heard one.

 

[Bean PE]

I might think about what you've described since we all get worn down at times but would not do it. The working world isn't as tough as school in my experience.

They're tough in different ways. In school you have tons of free time but no money to do anything, in the working world you have money but no time.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I'm a Gen Y

Gen Y was born between 1980 and 1995 and are also known as the Millennium or Net Generation. Millennials are very technology wise and are comfortable with ethnically diverse groups. Their values are similar to Veterans in that they are optimistic, confident, sociable, and have strong morals and a sense of civic duty.
Gen Y are not brand loyal and the speed of the Internet has led the Net Generation to be flexible and changing in its fashion, style consciousness and where and how it is communicated with. They expect great workplace flexibility and are likely to change employers even more frequently than Gen X’s.

Not sure how well this fits me. I'm rarely optimistic or confident, and as far as sociable goes I'm just as happy to stare at my feet.

In other words, I'm an engineer!

 

[roadwreck]

So yeah, have fun skiing now, because ski vacations might not even be an option in 20 years or so, once the old folks who did all the work are gone, and the economy is in tatters and all the hard workers have moved the China and other countries to follow the wealth. It's all about balance. On the one hand we all want to have our fun (I always though I was gen x?). On the other, there won't be any fun to be had if we're all out there having fun, instead of working.

Kids taking a little time off after college is going to lead to the downfall of our civilization? That's a stretch if I've ever heard one.

Isn't it the norm in Europe to take sometime off before or after college? And we all know that everything Europe does is better, right?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

http://www.suite101.com/content/veterans-b...d-gen-z-a185353
Boomer I - 1946-54

Boomer II - 1955-64

Gen X - 1965-79

Gen Y (Millenials or Net Gen) - 1980-95

Gen Z - Post 95

Woo-hoo...I snuck into Gen X by 35 days.

 

[ironman]

Sweet I am well within Gen Y. Maximum results with minimal effort. I was always told that engineers are inherently lazy, they put in the work when its nessicary but never work just for the sake of looking busy. I think their is some hard talk on this form either that or the engineering members on this forum are not typical engineers.

I did not take a ski vacation but thats because I had loans and did not have the money to do it. Once your making good money that you dont have to work TOO hard for it would be tough to quit that job to go backpacking in the jungle lol.

 

[benbo]

Sweet I am well within Gen Y. Maximum results with minimal effort. I was always told that engineers are inherently lazy, they put in the work when its nessicary but never work just for the sake of looking busy. I think their is some hard talk on this form either that or the engineering members on this forum are not typical engineers.
I did not take a ski vacation but thats because I had loans and did not have the money to do it. Once your making good money that you dont have to work TOO hard for it would be tough to quit that job to go backpacking in the jungle lol.

A shining representative. All you Gen-Yers should be so proud.

 

[FLBuff PE]

Let me clarify that I am from the younger generation and was raised to believe that you work hard then you play hard. You don't play hard without any of the work. I am turning 30 this year and have worked since I was 15. I found college to be a stepping stone from hard work landscaping, mcdonald's, etc. to a job that I enjoyed and allows me to play.
Who is paying for this ski vacation, dare I ask?

I resemble this remark.

Sweet I am well within Gen Y. Maximum results with minimal effort. I was always told that engineers are inherently lazy, they put in the work when its nessicary but never work just for the sake of looking busy. I think their is some hard talk on this form either that or the engineering members on this forum are not typical engineers.
I did not take a ski vacation but thats because I had loans and did not have the money to do it. Once your making good money that you dont have to work TOO hard for it would be tough to quit that job to go backpacking in the jungle lol.

A shining representative. All you Gen-Yers should be so proud.

Thankfully, I'm a Gen Xer.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I did not take a ski vacation but thats because I had loans and did not have the money to do it. Once your making good money that you dont have to work TOO hard for it would be tough to quit that job to go backpacking in the jungle lol.

Backpacking in the jungle lol must be some phrase on urbandictionary. I bet it is worse than a Texas Chili Bowl.

 

[CbusPaul]

I'm not sure I want to be a Gen. Y'er. Will any X representatives be willing to adopt?

 

[Bean PE]

I did not take a ski vacation but thats because I had loans and did not have the money to do it. Once your making good money that you dont have to work TOO hard for it would be tough to quit that job to go backpacking in the jungle lol.

Backpacking in the jungle lol must be some phrase on urbandictionary. I bet it is worse than a Texas Chili Bowl.

The closest thing I know of is "hiking the appalachian trail."