Was Geek Jobs

[George Toft]

US Navy.  This included:
Base pay - $2270 (E-6 over 16)
Sub pay - $225 (submarines)
Sea pay - $350 (submarine at sea)
VHA/BAQ - $1150* (money to live off base)
Pro Pay - $175 (for being nuclear-trained)
===============
Total - $4170 = $50,040 / year
* non-taxed items

When I went to shore duty, I lost the sea pay, but picked up
BAS and tuition assitance, which was a tad more.

George


Tom Achtenberg wrote:
> 
> I have to question one of your points.  Point 5, what military were you an enlisted person making $50k in?  When I was in the USAF in the 80's as a SGT I made between $600 and $700 a MONTH plus housing.  That's a far cry from $50k a year.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Toft [mailto:george@georgetoft.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 7:04 AM
> To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> Subject: Re: Was Geek Jobs
> 
> (About to show my age . . .)
> 
> Using inflation as a benchmark for survival, which we know it is
> actually lower than reality, I present the following data:
> 
> Data Point #1: When I was in college studying Electrical Engineering
> and Computer Science, in 1979, the expected starting salary was $20K
> for either field.  Using the rule of 72, with the inflation that we
> have experienced since that time, that same starting salary should be
> about $75K.
> 
> Data Point #2: The last two jobs I interviewed for in Phoenix gave me a
> speech about paying employees well to keep them around, then informed
> me the positions paid $45-55K for senior people with 5 years of
> experience.  (Did not keep up with inflation.)
> 
> Data Point #3: Digital Wokan and I applied for the same job just to
> find out it was entry level paying $25-35K.  (Did not keep up with
> inflation.)
> 
> Data Point #4: My wife made over $40K as a customer service supervisor
> in a Fortune 500 company, and once she gains experience within any
> given company here, will make the same again.  (Non-IT benchmark).
> 
> Data Point #5: I made over $50K as an enlisted military member, and
> this was considered low.  There were people on food stamps that were
> the same rank I was.  (Non-IT benchmark).
> 
> Data Point #6: 10 years ago, I was applying for IT jobs in Phoenix
> that paid $35-40K.  (Historical data.)
> 
> Data Point #7: I have seen several jobs that prefer MCSE certification
> or three years experience that pay under $30K.  (Did not keep up with
> inflation.)
> 
> Conclusion: IT Salaries are becoming inverted.  We are entitled to
> make the same money with our degrees as those without.  The jobs now
> are paying what they were 10 years ago, yet inflation has cut your
> spending power by $30-40% while taxes have increased.
> 
> Projection: In Hawaii, it is common for both husband and wife to
> work, and they usually have working parents living with them.  This
> is what is required to make ends meet.  I predict that over the next
> 20 years, we will see the same thing become commonplace here in
> mainland America.
> 
> George
> 
> P.S. It still beats the living conditions in Afghanistan.
> 
> Trent Shipley wrote:
> >
> > Are computer geeks (outside of webdom) having more unemployment troubles than
> > the rest of the population?  The economy sucks for everybody.
> >
> > Maybe its just that this is the first time that computer geeks have really
> > been in sufficient supply relative to demand that they are feeling a
> > recession?
> >
> > Another part of it may be that the computer-geek community really rode the
> > internet bubble in the late 1990's and there are jobs but the pay has come
> > back down into the realm of sanity.  The result is that much of Geekdom needs
> > to find salaries that sadly no longer exist.
> >
> > (I am pretty certain that the Pointy Haired Managers and Evil Queens of HR
> > have yet to discover that bright high-school kids can be hired part time to
> > do 50% of the IS/IT workload! [and next 45% can be done by the same kids
> > after they have three to five years of experience]).
> > ________________________________________________
> > See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> >
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list  -  PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> 
> PLUG-discuss mailing list  -  PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ________________________________________________
> See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail.
> 
> PLUG-discuss mailing list  -  PLUG-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss