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[ultranos]

In case you were wondering, the US job market really fucking sucks for non-CS STEM right now. Especially non-CS STEM who are neither new graduates nor have 5+ years experience.


I've been somewhat lucky in my peer group. At some point, during a very depressed night, neboat helped facilitate a work-reward program where we got ice cream, and then I apparently wrote out like 30+ job apps in one night in a sugar-fueled haze. And something finally gave and I started getting phone calls.

I haven't actually worked a full week this month, due to taking vacation days to go on interviews. I feel vaguely guilty about this, but my PI knows. (Hell, he's one of my references.) But what that means is my schedule is somewhat accurately described as "what the fuck is this I don't even", good luck figuring out my sleep schedule, and I've taken to smearing Icyhot all over my shoulder so it stops hurting from the stress.

I have also completely lost the ability to keep track of anything that's not written down in Google Calendar. It's rather astounding.

On the upside, it's kept me from getting too depressed, because I am far too busy and tired to angst. This is possibly not the healthiest thing. Abusing caffeine also probably isn't (hello thar, 32oz coffee + 48oz tea in one day...) healthy either.

And I'm hoping at least one of the irons I have in the fire right now will work out. I'm a little nervous about them, but all I can do right now is roll the dice on it.


I've found myself mostly dumping any free time into Skyrim these days. At this point it's sort of mindless, or doesn't require as much brain as actually using the Planetary Annihilation alpha access I bought from Kickstarter would require. Which is unfortunate, but seriously. Not enough brain to alpha test. Totally enough brain to shoot bandits with arrows.

(My Dragonborn seems to have developed a personality in my head and will not leave me alone. I thought the Lone Wanderer was bad. I should have known what I was in for as soon as I started calling it "Fallout: the Elder Scrolls".)

Comments

[anon_jrpg_fangirl]

At some point I'll be doing something similar to you, aka the job search. I probably should be doing that now as my PI wants me to graduate in the next 6-9 months. It is pretty depressing to see a decent number of job listings for people with 5+ experience and like nothing for anything else. I hope you get good job offers soon and get some normalcy back into your life again.

[ultranos]

It's really depressing. (Not to scare you, but one of my housemates is also looking and he's having terrible luck and he has a PhD! In my major!) I'd suggest starting out small, just looking. If you're lucky to have a good one, I'd also suggest talking to your PI and seeing if they can't leverage their contacts in your favor, especially if you want to stay in your current field. Hate to say it, but in a lot of ways, it's a network game. Depressing as that is. (I'm currently being ridiculous and trying to go in cold.)

Thanks, though. I'm hoping something gives (and that it's not me) soon. I hate the feeling of not knowing what my future is.