• Doxatek@mander.xyz
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      10 months ago

      (sorry for the story)

      I think I’m okay. So far I guess. I’m in my first job after grad school and am almost there a year. I was hired at 58,000 but they did an adjustment because retention was so poor and now I make 69,000.

      When I was younger I always thought 70k would be the number I would be totally fine with but adjusted for inflation 70k then was a lot more than now.

      I had been making about 10k a year before now working fast food while in school. It was a weird feeling for me because I was so happy to pretty much meet my “goal”. I thought I would feel so rich after that jump. I have no lifestyle inflation because I live in the same place and drive the same shitty 500 dollar car I have for years.

      But for some reason I feel just as poor as I always felt and it feels like nothing changed and it’s not going as far as I thought it would. I thought it would be life changing. And it is I suppose but not like I thought.

      I feel bad complaining when it’s a privilege and many people make worse. Even I made less until recently. The entire system is just fucked and I feel bad for anyone who makes less than me because I still feel pressure and I don’t even really have anything.

      Sorry if this makes me sound like a piece of shit I’m not trying to come off this way

      • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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        10 months ago

        (sorry for the story)

        All good; I’m usually on your side of this interaction.

        But for some reason I feel just as poor as I always felt and it feels like nothing changed and it’s not going as far as I thought it would.

        I mean I made 15k a year doing fast food before I went back to school, and even that was hugely important for me to get my mental health in order. I can’t go back now though; too much has changed, and I need to focus on grad school.

        I feel bad complaining when it’s a privilege and many people make worse.

        Don’t. It sucks that we have to work at all. You always have a right to vent and be an emotional human no matter how safe your situation actually is relative to others.

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      You’ll make that easily on the west coast of the US. We have a lot of aerospace and green energy companies, startups and behemoths in the mix.

      But… Rent is quite high.

      • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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        10 months ago

        I applied for several West Coast positions and was not even interviewed for them. I applied for literally over 300 positions in my field all over the country and got no offers, so at least for the near future, I have to conclude I’m unhirable. Most companies I applied to do not offer relocation assistance, so even if I was hirable then they would pick a West Coast local instead.

        • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Hmm… Sounds like a “you gotta know someone” kind of thing. Are there any networking or trade events that could help? When was the last time you looked for an event?