BJensen’s remarks are right on the money. It is an unfortunate situation when you have young, highly educated lawyers and finance professionals with wives who work who can’t afford to live in a simple single family tract home in Tustin, CA. At the same time, there is no shortage of surfer bums, cashiers and part time realtors who ‘got lucky’ and bought years ago near the beach in cities like Encinitas, perhaps don’t even have a mortgage, and will not hesitate to tell you how smart they were to have paid 120k back in 1985 for their home that is now worth 900k.
To all on this thread, have you read the book by Thomas Friedman called The World is Flat? To the original poster, I suggest that you make this book required reading for your college students, or at least give them extra credit if they read it! Seriosuly, you will look at the world, the job market and the future of our country in a different way after you read this book. A few points from the book and my own experience in high technology consulting.
First, not all jobs are able to be outsourced, and in fact some of the best positions that cannot be outsourced require expertise in engineering. We have, and will continue to lose many middle class jobs to Indians, Chinese etc. who can do the job cheaper, better and faster. However, many more positions will also be created here – jobs that will require a different expertise. Instead of maintaining a database, you might have to focus on being the guy who sells Indian database software to American companies. The scary thing is that there really is no way back. Your students can look forward to competing with 1 billion super smart Indians and Chinese students who are chomping at the bit to gain wealth and our lifestyle, and this will require that your students think of their future in a whole different mindset. At the same time, this is 1 billion more customers with money that will buy our services and products. Having said this, here are a few careers that are sure bets the next 25 years, regardless of what happens with outsourcing:
-Doctor, nurse etc. – There will be a huge need for health care workers who are local and cannot be outsourced. Some aspects of health care will be sent overseas, but many high paying ones must remain personal, face to face.
-Military officer – Captains 4-5 years out of college can earn close to 65-75k a year, and at the rank of major you can pull 80-90k a year. Dangerous, exciting, travel the world and come back and get leadership jobs in sales, running a Home Depot, or any range of companies who hire former military officers. Stay in and at age 43 you can get 50% of your base pay starting the day you retire! Best pension plan in the world.
-Engineering – Huge shortages, great pay. Computer engineers in Carlsbad can make 90k+/year 4-5 years out of school, right? Well, they can also make that in Austin, Denver, and othe places where they can afford to live. Get a law degree on top of this and you are golden in IP law.
-Sales/consulting – Sales engineers who know the technology but also interact with the customer, work the business side and build relationships are golden and can make 90+ 4 years old of college easy. Combine a EE with an MBA and you can be the rare engineer who is people savvy, businees minded and able to see the big picture.
-US Government – Very stable, unlikely to ever be fired (although not quite as much a sure thing as in the past). With 7 years of experience and a college degree you can make 75k/year as a GS12, get great benefits, work 40-45 hours every week, and not worry about your future. And, 50-75% of the governments 1-2 millions workers are eligible to retire the next few years. 10 years experience, at GS13, you are looking at 100k+ in big cities like DC.
