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There is hope!
6

There is hope!

There is hope!

(OP)
So I was laid off back in November.  I just heard today that I got an offer!  They are matching what I was making previously.  It looks like the economy is getting better.  I thought I will be unemployed for a while.  Anyway, you will see me active on this forum again.  I will be designing a lot of precast briges (more like box culverts).  Glad to be back in action!  For those of you who are unemployed, dont give up!

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

COEngineeer

Quote:

So I was laid off back in November.  I just heard today that I got an offer!  They are matching what I was making previously.

Great news.

Quote:

It looks like the economy is getting better.

What island do you live on??????? Read the papers, every day thousands are becoming unemployed.
 

RE: There is hope!

(OP)
I guess im one of the lucky ones...  I just look at the stock market and it is slowly going up.  That is why I said it is getting better.

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

It might be your stocks, not mine!

However, if you are in connstruction probably things will get better, I guess every government is going to dump money on infrastructure as fast as they can.

Good luck by the way. I am happy for you

RE: There is hope!

Just got laid off today.

I do hope your optimism is justified.

I live in a state that's supposed to be doing better than the rest of the nation. A lot of good that did me.

Oh well. I'll try to remain optimistic. I really have no other choice. Wallowing in self pity will not get you a job.

In the meanwhile, however, I'm enjoying some strong beverages. Seems like the appropriate thing to do when one has been laid off. My liver is going to take a beating over the next several days :)

 

RE: There is hope!

4
"Never, but never question engineer's judgement "

" It looks like the economy is getting better." 28 jan 2009

OK, we'll see how good your judgement is.

 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: There is hope!

For Bridges and Roads, I can believe it considering the push for infrastructure reconstruction by the new administration.

However, not for the Housing, Multifamily, Retail or Commercial markets that affect the majority of structural engineers.  There are too many vacant buildings in the housing and retail markets with more vacancies every day.  With all these vacancies, any recovery, actual or imaginary, will take a long, long time, regardless of any moonetary input.  

Most important of all, any confidence the consumer has in the system has been greatly eroded.  Restoring this, the main driver, is going to be the real chore.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

RE: There is hope!

I happen to agree with COE
When the economy picks up, civil engineers are the first ones to get hired (most of teh time, the first ones to be laid off).
Here in the mid-Atlantic, people run adds for Mechanical and electrical engineers and get zero resumes, that's right, zero.
Engineers are in bigger demand than most people think.

RE: There is hope!

COEngineer...congrats...now change your signature line to read "judgment" instead of "judgement"

RE: There is hope!

Hi Ron,

Judgement is an acceptable spelling.  I believe this is another color vs colour issue.

RE: There is hope!

I saw Hope today smoking with her friends today.

COEngineeer,
Congrat's! I wish you well.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08; CATIA V5
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: There is hope!

(OP)
DOW will be above 9000 in 3 monthts.  Watch it  smile.  Frv, I am sorry about your job.  But unemployment isnt too bad.  The gas price is down, the unemployment check is acceptable, you have all these extra time to do errands around the house.  I actually enjoyed being house husband for 3 months.  Learned a lot of recipes and fixed a lot of stuff big smile.   

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

I hope you're right about things picking up....I have no beer money!

"Officer, just charge me with the usual."
~Bob Probert

RE: There is hope!

2
There's always money for beer...the quality of the beer may suffer though.

RE: There is hope!

COEngineer if I cannot question your judgment can I question your sanity?

How exactly is the economy getting better?

There have been over 125,000 job losses in the UK in January and that does not count those that are on short time or reduced pay, only today Honda announced it is putting 4,200 workers on a four month "holiday" add to that the level of debt and the still far from stable banks and I am at a complete loss to understand how things are getting better.
 

RE: There is hope!

I couldn't help but respond, but I did so in what I feel is a more appropriate venue, thread1088-236060: The great depression II.

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." - George Bush, Washington DC, 27 October, 2003
 

RE: There is hope!

Quote:

I just look at the stock market and it is slowly going up.  That is why I said it is getting better.

Ahhhhhhhhh...now I see, this statement reminds me of those interesting monster.com commercials where chimpanzees run the company and they are celebrating while a human coworker is trying to explain to them how profits are going down using a chart.

Well, the head of the company (head chimp) simply turns the chart upside down to show how profits are increasing instead of decreasing, and all go back to celebrating. A very funny commercial.
 

RE: There is hope!

Unemployment is often considered a lagging indicator and there are a few independent (ie not politically motivated) economists that are find leading indicators to be changing direction.  It may take 6 months before we all start hearing it on the news, but I think we are at the turning point.  We will certainly see some more layoffs and bad news, and I don't think it will be business as usual... but, hanging in there and keeping your chin up will likely be rewarded sooner than later.  My brother asked how we were doing, I said "It's that part in the movie where the water has risen to the ceiling and we are tipping our head back to breath from the small pocket of air..."  We are spending our extra time going over our design procedures and details...  I hope everyone comes out of this without too much damage.

RE: There is hope!

Sorry about that everyone.  I didn't realize that COEngineer wasn't posting in that thread.  In a nutshell, here is what I posted:

"Economy shrinks at 3.8 percent pace in fourth quarter, worst showing in quarter-century "
"The new figure, released Friday by the Commerce Department, showed the economy sinking at a much faster clip in the October-December period than the 0.5 percent decline logged in prior quarter."
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Economy-likely-shrank-at-apf-14205687.html
More discouragement - "NEC quarterly loss widens amid global downturn, plans to cut 20,000 workers" http://finance.yahoo.com/news/NECs-loss-widens-plans-to-cut-apf-14205210.html
"Boeing to lay off 10,000 this year
Company to cut 5,500 more; loses order for 15 787s"
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/397851_boeing29.html?source=mypi
These are just a couple examples of what is becoming typical, and those numbers are starting to add up!
What happens after those three months of unemployment checks dry up?  Hope for an extension?
"Labor Department says number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits at all-time record" http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Americans-receiving-jobless-apf-14193255.html
  With the economy heading as it is, people just aren't going to keep buying all of those manufactured goods, except for the short-sighted who will use up what's left of their credit.  Personal savings is actually going up.  If no one is going to spend, then what?
The Port of Los Angeles reports (for December) inbound cargo down 12.83%, outbound down 25.94%.  That seems like an awful lot to me.
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/maritime/stats.asp
I applaud your new job, and do so hope that you are right in your optimism COEngineer, but the data so far doesn't support it.
(end of rant)

Of course, those were headlines from last week.  I'm sure that more have appeared since then.

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." - George Bush, Washington DC, 27 October, 2003
 

RE: There is hope!

I am not very politically savvy so take anything I write here with multiple grains of salt, but I read an article last week by John Stossel where he posited an interesting idea.  According to his article, since WWII we have had recessions at least this bad eleven times and unemployment numbers at least this high sixteen times.  According to his understanding, the big difference this time is that the media is constantly drumming home the refrain that the sky is falling and thus the bulk of the economy that is based on trust and confidence is taking massive hits.

No idea how accurate he is, but I think it is pretty clear that the media in general is for larger government, and being in a continual "crisis" gives opportunities for government to grow.

So to relate this to the OP, I think there will be spots of positive growth (good for you COE) because the underlying economy is trying to recover, but if Stossel is correct then both the media and the government will try to keep real growth down to allow people to panic and ask for more government regulation of whatever they think needs regulating.

Again, get that salt shaker.  I am way out of my depth here.  clown

 

RE: There is hope!

Perhaps.  Stossel, in recent times, has become much more of a media conspiracy theorist.  

While there's certainly some level of hype, Ford losing $8.7B in a quarter is not hype, it's actual dollars being vaporized.  Toyota posting its first annual loss in a 67-yr reporting history is also not hype.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: There is hope!

The media does have a huge part of the blame, since they are the ones that spread all the scares without any regards to ethics. Bad news sell, and the worst they can make it sound (i.e., the stock market did not report a decline.... it PLUMMETED!) the more they sell.
So, I will agree with you that they made a bad situation worse, much worse. Thus, I reverted to my country music station and pay no heed ot the news anymore (I was getting depressed in my ride home, my girls didn't deserve it)
However, going as far as thinking this to be some sort of government plot.... Not so sure.
What I know is, the economy is bad, not as bad as the media makes it sound, but it is bad. Greed is being rewarded (again http://www.stockhouse.com/Columnists/2009/February/2/Banks-continue-to-hold-taxpayers-hostage ) which maddens me to no end and I do not see an end in sight.
As much as I feel happy for COEng and would like to think he's right, I have my doubts (but I can see where he's coming from).

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

(OP)
All I said .. there is hope!  It will get better.  Really, I was unemployed for 3 months.  I chose not to be employed to get the right job.  If my unemployment check runs out, I would have gone to Wyoming and drill oil and get decent amount of money.  I think most people are still unemployed because they chose to do that!  Yes, it is nice the government helped people who were laid off, but on the same token a lot of people are taking advantage of it and only seek employment when they must.  

I really don't understand why my thread is being flamed.  I have not been on this forum for 3 months because I was unemployed.  I was excited to be back in action and this is what I get.  Very classy guys!   

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

"I really don't understand why my thread is being flamed"

Well, statements like

"I think most people are still unemployed because they chose to do that!" might not be helping.

Seriously, congratulations on getting a position and I hope it works out for you but there are many of us still facing (at least potential) consequences of the economic slow down.  

My Dad was hit hard by the early 90's recession and took years to find a position, trust me it wasn't because he chose to be unemployed.  I remember people giving him that kind of $hit at the time and I didn't appreciate it then and don't now.

Sure there are people that play the system, but I'm not sure it's fair to say most.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: There is hope!

Tough threads for a guy who just got a job again.  I guess the beatings will continue until morale improves....

RE: There is hope!

(OP)
I know 4 people who got laid off, 3 of them taking their sweet time and they are all going to go back to school when the unemployment check is over.  They do look for a job but I don't think they try hard.  The bad part is, lets say you decided to work at a restaurant until you find an engineering job, your unemployment check will stop coming.  How will that encourage people to get a job?  It crossed my mind to deliver pizza but it didn't make any sense to turn down $400 a week to do completely nothing.  Yes, there are a lot of people who are desperately looking for a job.  I know that.

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

I always thought you had to prove, somehow, that you were looking for a job in order to get the cheque. Now I know I was wrong (and hope not to need to face that situation, as I like what I do very much).

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

I know for the very brief period I was out of work in the UK I had to prove I was looking.  I'm not saying they looked into it in that much detail but it came up.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: There is hope!

COEngineer - the only reason I am giving you a hard time is your ridiculously arrogant sig line - what happens if two engineers disagree - does the universe explode?

 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: There is hope!

Greg-

THAT. WAS. AWESOME.

V

RE: There is hope!

(OP)
Arrogant?  I am sorry, it was suppose to be funny.  Geez.. Ok have a nice day everyone. There is a sign on the exit door of my old office that says "Never, but never question engineer's judgement".  I guess Ill call my old boss and tell him it is arrogant and it needs to be destroyed.  It is not funny at all.  

Never, but never question engineer's judgement

RE: There is hope!

I'd noticed the sign off before and always assumed it was a joke.  

Admittedly combined with some of your other comments I can see why Greg might have thought you were serious.

Anyway, well done for finding a job, hope it goes well and good luck to everyone else looking.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: There is hope!

congrats, man.

RE: There is hope!

Congratulations COEngineer, Good negotiation skills.

metengr, recessions are caused by expectations more than actual causes. Peopel are put off on the same expectations, good news is not as interesting as bad. I would not take everything you read in the newspaper as proof positive.

RE: There is hope!

csd72;
My synopsis of economic conditions are based on what I know of colleagues in various industries whom I see at Codes and Standards meetings.

Guess what, this is one of the most unusual downturns because of the number of layoffs that have touched many  professional people. So, I don't have to read papers and listen to news reports, to observe these conditions are REAL!
 

RE: There is hope!

Not that "unusual," since the aerospace downturn after Vietnam resulted in PhDs driving taxis.  What's unusual is that laid-off PhDs probably can't get taxi-driving jobs now.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: There is hope!

Should point out that the downturn of the early 70s probably spurred the development and growth of the PC and electronics industries that we have today, since there were many laid-off engineers that subsequently eschewed aerospace and defense as unstable.  

Of course, they found, to their chagrin, that the commercial world was equally unstable, in the recession of the early 80s.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: There is hope!

Well coengineer, I got the axe today. We'll see how things pan out for me.
However

Quote:

Never, but never question engineer's judgement
and you said the market would be over 9000 by now.I guess that's why we're engineers, brokerage might not be our forte.

Cheers!

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

Thanks ctopher.

BTW coengineer, I said it with tongue on chick, no offense intended (who knows, you might be hiring!!)

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

Hey Unotec,

Brush up on the maths before going to the interviews! 30th January plus three months = 30th March. COEngineer has just under three weeks to perform his economic miracle! smile

Best of luck with the job search.
  

----------------------------------
  
If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

RE: There is hope!

ok Scotty, I'l give the 3 week benefit of a doubt...  I mught even land a job by them.

On his defense, hope is never lost, as he posted (not that I have any hope in the stock market, just in life)

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

Scotty-

Actually 30th January + three months = 30th April

RE: There is hope!

Congrats on the job. -lol, the economy that's getting better is yours....

RE: There is hope!

"Never, but never question engineer's judgement"

I find this amusing, mainly because I can come up with various meanings. The way it's written doesn't mean much of anything to me.  
 
 

RE: There is hope!

IceNine,

I would like to claim it was a deliberate mistake... but I'll blame posting in the early hours instead! Well spotted, hope the gaffer isn't reading this or he'll be putting me on 'that' list...
  

----------------------------------
  
If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

RE: There is hope!

I hope that list isn't the kind some people might think of:
cannon        spineyes


wink

Fe

RE: There is hope!

Just to add a ray of hope here, it was brought up the other day where I work that the order bookings for the next three months are finally starting to increase.  The company makes high dollar electrical equipment that has a lead time of several months so quite often the company "sees" changes occurring before the media even starts to whisper of it.  While the immediate future is still uncertain, it would appear that there are at least some companies that are starting to buy stuff.

 

RE: There is hope!

brace yourselves for the surge of bankruptcies, then!  as companies which mothballed production start to gear back up, they'll have to finance operations for a period of time before the cashflow resumes...  if they don't watch it, they'll stumble and fall (permanantly).
 

RE: There is hope!

Another demotivator which seems quite appropriate given the economic situation:

Demotivator

 

----------------------------------
  
If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!
 

RE: There is hope!

Our requests to quote on major engineering/construction  projects have increased, indicating that additional monies are being made available for loans. Hopefully, it will translate to real work later this year and in 2010. Fortunately our backlog is substantial for the remainder of this year and the next so major layoffs are not contemplated [yet].  

RE: There is hope!

Our forecasts for this quarter are better than they've been for about 18 months.

I'm not getting my hopes up though, I'm fairly confident some of the stuff my management is talking of doing could still torpedo it even if the economy as a whole wasn't so week.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: There is hope!

Well, 2nd day into unemployment and it is driving me nuts!

I was told to take it easy at the beginning... I can't. I need something to do and just web surfing is not cutting it!
Man, I thought I had a lot of patience until now.

So I hope you guys are right and things will start shaping up.

I am considering flipping burgers even though that is less money than the unemployment insurance!!

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: There is hope!

Sorry to hear about your situation.

As with retirement, and regular life, you need to have a purpose and reason for getting out of bed every morning.  You might consider putting together some sort of business, taking a class, or some other endeavor near and dear to your heart.  Good Luck!!

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: There is hope!

I was laid off on Mar 11 but was tipped off 2 weeks before it was due to happen by my boss. I've had interviews and 1 offer already for a nontechnical job. I finally had to turn it down because they wanted me to start the following Monday and it would interfere with my engineering/technical specialty search.

I've gotten interest from some out of town firms and one in town firm of which I'll post about here on another thread.

I think if you are willing to move, anywhere it is alot easier. In may case I was tipped off about the layoff because i was looking to buy a house here in my hometown.

I hate to leave my hometown as my parents are getting older. One of the potential jobs is in a town 5 hours away that is fun and I"ve visited alot. It's still a weekend drive or very quick flight home.

 

RE: There is hope!

I was looking to buy a house last spring.  My boss asked if I was sure about doing that in this economy.  Wasn't sure if he was hinting at layoffs or not.  I had not even been here a year.  But I bought anyways.  We had some layoffs in the fall and in January and temporary layoffs throughout the holidays but I am still here.  Our department wasn't hit.

I wish more bosses would give hints to such things.  But more often than not they probably know little more than we do until the day of.

RE: There is hope!

Unotec:  sorry to hear that!

Then again, if you were talking earlier with "tongue on chick", perhaps you're enjoying your unemployment already!

(just kidding!)

Best of luck to you!  Keep your spirits up!

RE: There is hope!

Thanks moltenmetal.

One thing is for sure. If it wasn't for the lack of money, unemployment could be a blast!!! Since my body still kicks me out of bed at 5:00am I'm hitting the mountains in the mornings for trail running. Bit chilly, but really nice when there are no other humans around.

I am finishing my resume and have a pro sprucing it up, I will start getting it out there next week.

To think that I purposely devoted myself to Capital Project Management because it was the fastest growing and most interesting thing at the time. First thing to go out the door as soon as the economy turned south. (sigh)

Well, my only consolation is that my manager was not very keen on letting me go, but the orders came from way, way up.

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

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