This is a a slight fear of mine: that one day, I will wake up to a market that doesn’t want my skills any longer.
That being said, I would hope I am smart enough to watch for the warning signs and have an exit plan in place long before the market dries up.
It got me to thinking about realistic expectations of salary and being objective enough to stand back and say: Wow I really don’t have any skills that companies want.
My general philosophy has always been:
The job market determines what is important enough to pay top dollar for, not you
Disclaimer: This is not a slag on anyone or their jobs, or saying that if you earn a low salary you are useless or not deserving of a high salary.
I’m not trying to say that, I’m trying to see it from an objective, supply-and-demand perspective and to fashion out some general ground rules and philosophies.
You could be a wonderful painter, ceramicist, historian or even perfectly adept in one specialized software niche, but if no one (read: companies) want to pay for that, you are out of luck.
The reason why this came up is because I have a good friend who was laid off by her company last year. She has skills in a very specific software that doesn’t really seem to be in demand any more.
As she dug deeper, she realized that her skills in that software was actually more of a ‘nice-to-have’ or ‘bonus’ skill set if it was paired with another more in demand software.
As a standalone skill, it’s essentially worthless to companies. They won’t pay just for that skill, but they would hire you over someone else if you had the core skills that they want, AND that standalone skill.
But it’s just a bonus.
So when she puzzled that out, she was in despair. She wished she had branched out more in other areas and tried to transition to learn another software and to keep growing.
She picked up a job as an administrative assistant because she has nothing else (technical-wise) to offer, to stay in the IT industry. She doesn’t even have the proper skills to transition to the business side of what she used to work as. What she did was so technical, it can’t translate.
The only thing that worked to her advantage is that she is good at organization and planning, so the only company that offered her a job, making half what she used to earn, is where she’s at now — as an admin assistant.
When she called me, she lamented about how little she was making, about how she wished she had saved her money, paid down her debts and learned how to live on less.
Now it’s just a hard transition to learn how to live on much, much less, and figure out where she can grow from the job she’s holding now, into something more suited to her personality.
This made me come to my second conclusion:
Past salaries are not a defining factor in your future earnings
I know this sounds counter-intuitive. If you’ve ALWAYS worked for $40,000 and you are in the same industry, how can that change?
For me, it’s because of the following factors:
- Demand in general has dropped for what you do and they can’t sell your skills to other companies
- What others are making: More people are on the market & desperate enough to work for $20,000 not $40,000
- You were overpaid in your last job while the company was flush, but the job market has changed drastically
This is why having a finger on the pulse of your industry, reading up on news reports about how demand for what you do is growing or declining is so important.
Just because you’ve made $40,000 in the past, doesn’t mean you will make that forever.
You might make much less, or much, MUCH more, but that’s all based on other factors in your industry and environment, not on you per se.
Your past has no significant bearing on your future, in the same sense that you cannot use historical data from the stock market to determine how much you will make next year.
Just because a hedge fund did well one year, earning 500%, doesn’t mean they won’t lose their shirt the next year.
Sure, you can say: Well I did this job and earned $40,000. Now that I have 5 more years of experience, I can earn $50,000 because that sounds like a reasonable increase.
But nothing increases in a linear fashion. You have to look at the demand of the industry, the demand for your job, your hard, transferable skills and what others in your same position with varying levels of experience earn.
By the same token, you could earn $40,000 a year doing the same job, and $100,000 the next year because the market increased in its demand for your skillset.
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I agree that the market determines, I hate it when pf blogs say that your past salaries will haunt you for the rest of your working career. I don’t think that’s true, especially since most people make crap pay as college students as they work their way through college but if they picked a good degree they will expect to make a lot more on their first professional job and even more with raises, moving to a more competitive city, etc.
Your past salaries won’t haunt you unless you make them a priority when you negotiate.
If you think you’re worth more money, but decide to dumb it down because you don’t feel like you deserve it, then you really do get what you deserve, not having negotiated for what you think is fair.
Yip!
Also helps if you specialize (of course) and have years of experience (a must), but also willing to work in a less-desirable location (think middle eastern desert or the Australian Outback)… C’mon, it’s only for 1,2,3-5 years! Or until your debt is paid off and nest egg saved for. Or you’re fed up, whichever comes 1st!
In my case the job in demand is Computer Aided Engineering software administrator & superuser. Got it because I have a 2 year apprenticeship in process control engineering, 3 years process plant maintenance experience, and the rest is software specific training, support and administration experience. And a general IT diploma in between.
Like I said elsewhere on you blog – took a $25 per hour pay-cut because of the recesssion, and then a year later another more minor one in getting here, but the 0% tax rate and 4000 hours working per year MORE than makes up for it!
I think that’s fantastic that you got a job in such demand.
I had friends who took high paying jobs they knew would burn them out in 2-3 years, just to pay off their debts. I always wonder if it was worth it.. now they’re kind of wandering aimlessly, going back to school for their MBAs.
I'm not in the IT field, however I've found that by keeping my skills up or learning new skills keeps my resume competitive and allows me more options when seeking a job. I try to add skills that complement my current job and I find interesting. I think it is all about looking forward and adding new skills to your tool box that will allow you to either enhance your career or at some point switch to something new.
Exactly. Even if they don\’t relate directly to your job, what\’s the harm in learning it? 🙂
Excellent argument. The market determines future pay much more than past experience.
I hate to say it, but people then wonder why they can\’t find the same job again, so they reject things like admin assistant thinking that one day their time will come. In the mean time, they\’re drowning in debt.
Oh yeah, you are totally right about this. I realized some years ago that the work I was doing was likely to end up going offshore, so I acquired some new skills and a new certification and ended up moving into a related field, but in a significantly different role. That started looking shaky, so I did another similar move. I survived a bloodbath of a reorg intact last year, but I’m always keeping an eye out for what’s next since I’m sure I’m not done reinventing myself yet.
That\’s the trick with staying alive in a corporation — switching and upgrading your skills rather than waiting like a deer in the headlights.
Wow that sucks. My bf is a programmer and he has to constantly keep up with it, he's afraid to take a year off to relax and do what he wants because according to him programming constantly changes and he's afraid it will hurt him in the industry if he took a year off. IT is one of those fields where I wouldn't want to go into just because it changes so fast. More than other industries.
I'm an accounting major in college and while accountants do have to keep up with laws related to finance and such, its not as a vastly fast paced field like IT. I don't think past salaries have to be a huge factor in future earnings, for example I'm working in CSR at a health care company, but once I have my accounting degree I know that my earnings will change.
I do agree a lot is about what the market wants, and its true that jobs do come and go in all fields even non-tech fields but at the same time people shouldn't be afraid to go after their dreams. We scare people too much with telling them to be "realistic" and yes realism is very important. But at the same time don't be afraid to try something that might pay off.
I've been reading biographies by famous people like Fred Astaire, etc. It seems that many successful people have had to ignore advice by people who "knew better" in order to be successful, Fred Astaire was told he couldn't dance, couldn't act, etc. What if he had listened to those people and had given up? The world wouldn't have known Fred Astaire and they would have missed out on his talents.
Stephen King got rejected a lot before he published "Carrie" – and I'm glad that he didn't give up, millions of readers would have missed out on a great horror writer. I feel like sometimes you have to ignore the "experts" in order to be successful. Like what if Stephen King had listened to the typical advice dished out to writers, a lot of writers are told not to bother because only a few people make money from writing.
They're told to shut up, go to college and get a realistic job and not make any attempts at creative careers. A lot of people wouldn't be successful if they had just listened to the market. Also the market is about things that have been done before, and not about possibilities, who would have thought that social networking sites could bring profit? Clearly their owners had to do something different.
Like I understand what you're saying but at the same time don't be afraid to deviate from the mainstream. You never know if you might make it in a new field or if you might create a new need for the mainstream market. Look at Dita Von Teese, she's doing the whole Burlesque, Vintage thing, who knew such a thing would fly these days? Clearly she's making a career out of it by being different and mainstream audiences have embraced her.
=)
I should caution that these people are one in a million. For every Steven King or Dita Von Teese or Fred Astaire, there are a hundred thousand out there who tried the same thing and couldn\’t make it.
It\’s a question of knowing whether you are good or not in what you do. This is not a cut and dry answer about giving up when things look bad, but you DO need to make your bills and not be in debt just because of a dream that may never come true.
Being realistic might make a few people who are amazing, stay out of what they are meant to do, but it saves a lot more people from wasting their lives and money, pursuing something that will never come.
Look at fashion shows like Project Runway or even Top Chef. They ALL talk about how much debt they\’re in and they are ALL so talented. They didn\’t make it big until they got onto the show and people knew who they were.
It\’s a really rough world out there for the creative side, because everyone thinks that they can do it. Heck, even I wanted to design clothes, jewellery and play the piano for a living. But I had to get realistic about what my chances were, and do what I want as a hobby on the side until it takes off, rather than jumping straight into it and ignoring my bills and debt.
People who can ignore their debts and living expenses are the ones who have money to do it — either from the parents or grandparents. Realistically speaking, those of us without parental or grandparental help (sp?), can\’t afford to spend our lives in the fashion arts or as a chef when we\’ll most likely end up doing nothing with that degree except having spent 4 years and a lot of money in debt (I have 10 friends who have this same story and now work at mundane office jobs).
Yep I understand what you're saying. You do make a very good point, that's why I chose accounting as my major. I was thinking of majoring in art history, graphic design, illustration or creative writing, BUT those degrees are VERY hard to make a living off. Even though I haven't given up on those interests its nice to know I'm working towards my accounting degree.
I've heard too many stories of these graduates working in delis, as receptionists, temping, etc. after college. I didn't want to do that, I'm nearing my late twenties and I have a different mentality than when I was 18. Yes dreams are important but at the same time, so is eating and having a roof over your head. And I do still believe that its important to go after your dreams but don't be dumb either.
Some people overestimate their talents, I used to know this kid when I was in my early to mid twenties, whom wanted to be a singer except he didn't take any voice lessons, didn't practice any instruments,etc. I suggested college but he thought I was shooting down his dream. I wasn't, but at the same time its nice having a degree as a safety cushion.
That's why they call cooking/design/art degrees "Passion Degrees" in higher education.
Oh really? I didn\’t know that.
I work in an industry where people work for the love…for free or very little in some cases.
I definitely do not feel my skills are worth 3 figures an hour. If I was to freelance I would probably need to pick up some business skills so I could do some marketing/PR writing or some technical knowhow and try to transition into technical/bid writing.
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Well I think making yourself versatile in terms of skills really helps keep your profile diverse and your resume interesting. Even with only a year or two in something, you may be hired for a job because you are the ONLY one who had SOME experience in that area.
I'd have to agree with you. The job market is continually changing; it's either adapt or get lost. As for your friend who took a job as an admin, she might want to begin thinking about working a few side jobs or freelance projects to pick up some extra money. I think being flexible is the most important skill to have these days, when things go bad you have a back up plan in place.
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I agree absolutely with the article and I also agree with you. I do marketing especially eventmarketing and live marketing. AND I love it. But now I am searching for a new job and all the offers want not only marketing the wont expertise in social media, website management, programming skills and all that stuff I never learned deeply enough for a job in that direction. so what am I supposed to do? Going to university? AGAIN? I have got no answer in the moment. It's very difficult. But I am interested in that things and I like learning more about that, but how? or where?
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Can you do courses at night for more website management or programming skills?
If you have a blog and a twitter account, that\’s social media and website management. And a facebook account, and trying to tie everything together into a single cohesive brand name, image and identity.
That\’s all it really is. And whether or not you are organized.
Theoretically. But I only do things like that in my freetime. It's a pitty that I cannot offer it as a core component or solid knowledge of my cv. And for finding a new job, I think that's more important. I decided to ask my still-boss for a further training in social media, as excuse for cancelling my future projects 😀
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I think if you go to anything you can and learn as much as possible, it won\’t be a bad thing, especially in marketing. Good luck!
P.S. I still think that stuff in your freetime is considered part of your experience. I do consulting in my off time as a freelancer but I don\’t discount that, or the fact that I could be an online media consultant as I have blogs (although I\’m Anon).
Bingo! That’s definitely the truth in today’s IT market and it will be for the foreseeable future. If you are going into IT, you have to completely forget about the idea of a career plan with a linear growth line the way many other professions work.
First off, in most other professions, experience is cumulative since the basic rules and skills don’t change drastically from year to year. My wife’s chemistry books that she used in university are still equally useful to her today since chemical reactions don’t change – only our depth of knowledge about them changes – so experience counts here. You can expect that someone with 30 years of experience is worth more than a beginner.
In IT, I’ve forgotten more in the last 20 years than many people have learned in university as the constant march of technology has required that I put skills and knowledge out to pasture as technology marches on. Debugging OS 7 extension conflicts is no longer useful, nor is troubleshooting Windows NT 5 driver problems.
And don’t even think about have a fixed career plan – 5 years ago Google was just another search engine among many, facebook and youtube we’re just starting up and they have had immense impact on how we interact with technology. We just can’t predict the changes in technology that will impact our career options at all – everything is pretty much about being in the right place at the right time with the skills that someone is looking for at that particular moment. Get there too early and the employer won’t be ready – get there too late and they’ve hired someone else.
You can’t take it personally, it’s just the luck of the draw. You need to pay attention and be constantly learning new stuff in order to make a career in IT and you have to be ready for the fact that unless you’re in eternal learning mode, you will get left behind.
That’s not to say that some generic skills aren’t always useful, but if you want to live in the technical world that’s the way it works. 20 years of mainframe experience isn’t going to be worth squat at the hot new web startup, but there are still niches where that skill set is in high demand. Conversely, the insurance company running zOS couldn’t care less that you are a Ruby on Rails rock star.
Excellent points.
In that case, I\’d sum it up as saying: what is the general demand for the skills today, and what do you see up and coming for tomorrow that might be too new to capitalize on but to prepare yourself to take advantage of it when the wave hits?
Thanks for your insightful answer.