She busted her butt to get a teaching degree. Now she's teaching special ED at a suburban school. Doing well.
She split from her husband. Moved out to Philly and worked as a horse/carriage driver to earn money for school. This was about when she was my age! She's amazing.
<strong>We may be needing some graphic artists soon, or at least freelancers. But I'm in southern CT. Email me if you are interested.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thanks. I have done freelance over the internet. I don't know if you would want to go that way.
my mom went back to school after her divorce too...and guess what....she taught learning disabled, SEM(socially and emotionally maladjusted) children in High School and Middle School for 20 some years....now that is a tough job....basically you get all the "problem" kids
she is strong and a saint (even though she is kinda a buddist, for years she worked one night each weekend sleeping over at a catholic homeless shelter as a chaperone (skinny assed old lady trying to stop guys from stealing each others shoes as they slept) and was also a escot at planned parenthood on the weekend mornings....had her life threatened a few times by "pro-life" people (i was there once when some guy ran up to her and whispered in her ear that he was gonna follow her home that night and kill...when i found out what he said i had a little chat with him...told him i was following him home to find out where he lived and if anything happened to my mom i would slaughter his family in their sleep...and i actually followed him too...waved at him out my window as i drove by....but i was much more aggressive when i was young...i is mellow now...
congrats to your sister...women are much stronger than us men...g
It's a tough field to break into, but textbook publishers use freelance graphic artists and designers all the time. And the college market is "countercyclical"--when the economy goes south, people head back to school and buy textbooks--so freelancers get more work! Don't know if that helps.
Sorry to hear about your job Artman, best of luck. Me I am one of those people who are between 16 and 40 heh, I didn't think so many guys after 40 would be interested as much. I have been looking for steady work ever since halfway from Clintons last term. It isn't politics and/or wars causing yours and our problems. The economy has been tanking ever since the last year of clintons term, so I mean who's to guess why. My guess is just the stock market's greediness in general. People don't seem to work as they used too I guess. Its all about money
two things artman...i know a few people in their forties who are going back to school because of the whole retirement issue...want a job for 15 years so they have some benefits when they hit 60....most going to either nursing or a techincal medical field....x-ray or ultrasound or something like that....is there a technical/vocational school near you? the good thing about ultrasound is that it is an imaging field which is nice for graphic minded people...all of them (nursing, x-ray, ultrasound) can be done part time so you could try doing part time graphics and part time hospital....
Pennsylvania
Lancaster Institute for Health Education
Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program
143 East Lemon Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
717)-290-4912
(Certificate; General concentration)
Community College of Allegheny County
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Boyce Campus
595 Beatty Road
Monroeville, PA 15146
724-325-6731
(Associate Degree; General & Cardiac concentrations)
Thomas Jefferson University
Diagnostic Medical Sonography Programs
Dept of Diagnostic Imaging
College of Health Professions
130 S 9th St, Ste 1011
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-503-8724
(Baccalaureate Degree; General, Cardiac & Vascular concentrations)
some pa ultrasound schools for you...
also...i have a friend in Baltimore who runs a web design group...he has been doing it for over 17 years now i think...he is always looking for people...not sure if you want to move down I-95 from philly to b-town...but you can check out his site here...he is very alternative and hires lots of young anarchists....
I think Dental Technician is far better than those. As far as retraining/new career goes. I'd be interested to look at the pay difference. Also consider this ... medical care reimbursement is going down whereas most people pay for dental car in cash. Also the number of dentist is going down! Anyway my $0.02.
don't know much about dental...but ultrasound is the bomb....some technical school are only a year, some two, and you start at 40 to 50 thousand a year...plus ultrasound is fun....you rub goo on people and tell them that their baby has a huge nose or looks like a roswell alien...goodtimes goodtime...
plus, for a person with graphic design in his blood, with ultrasound you are creating images and photos and such...will dental you are staring at people's teeth...
as for, medical care reimbursement is going down, that is true, but we still are doing well and get paid with good benefits...
A side topic, if anybody cares to share personal experiences:
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?
<strong>A side topic, if anybody cares to share personal experiences:
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I can honestly say NO to all of your questions above, but from the sound of it I must be one of the lucky ones.
Like Artman I'm also in the Philadelphia area, however I've had better luck with finding jobs. Yes, the market is no where near what it was a few years ago but you can still find jobs if you're a programmer. I have plenty of artist friends who have jobs but are not happy with them. They're underpaid and there's nothing else out there for them.
But for those of us who write code, there seems to be more options. As a matter of fact I've been looking for a position that offered more money. I just had an interview a few weeks ago and was offered a position with a decent salary. So I went to my boss to put in my 2 weeks notice and he offered me a substantial raise to stay. So I took it. I honestly didn't expect that they'd offer me more money because there's probably a 1000 people waiting in line to have my job.
However...and here's the kicker....I work for the DoD. So basically this war "business" has meant nothing but "good" (if you want to call it that) things for those of us with government jobs. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
I guess its easier to just pay your employees more money than to train new people and get them all the security clearances etc to work there.
Hey Artman, if you can hurry up and learn PL/SQL and Oracle we're currently looking to fill 2 DBA positions here.
I was going to say having a good programmer is indispensible, but then I wonder that there are *a lot* of people out there who say they program. So I wonder is it possible for there to be too many qualified programmers that swamp the job market, or is there always a job available and not enough programmers? I'm sure security clearance is a big value working for you, no? What do you have to do to have a security clearance certification, anyway?
<strong> So I wonder is it possible for there to be too many qualified programmers that swamp the job market, or is there always a job available and not enough programmers? I'm sure security clearance is a big value working for you, no? What do you have to do to have a security clearance certification, anyway?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I doubt that there's always a job available and not enough programmers to fill the positions. But I bet a lot of people say they can program just because they know HTML
The clearance is only of value if you want to stay within the government or any government contractor like Lockheed where security is an issue.
I wonder if I ever moved to California and tried to apply at Apple if they would care about the clearance. My guess is no. It really isn't the same as knowing some big company secrets. Especially since my level of clearance is lowest you can have and basically just allows me to work there
I'm not sure about higher levels, but for my level it was a 10 year background check. There were a lot of forms to fill out and a lot of information to provide. I had to have a reference for every place I ever lived! sheesh. (I don't think they ever called them though)
<strong>A side topic, if anybody cares to share personal experiences:
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I would answer all above with one big fat YES.
Graphis Designer = Graphic Design, Web Design, programming experience (HTML, DHTML, XML, JAVA), printing experience, Multimedia, Copywriting and coffee making (I thought I'd add that one myself.
Another friend of mine was working as a temp at a design agency. She worked soemtimes from 9:00AM to 11:00PM! They were going to offer a permanent position. Even went so far as to say so and she was congratulated by to other full time staffers for sticking with it. Came back the next week and they decided not to. She left.
I've downgraded my salary requirements to the $30 - $35K range. My last good job I was making $45K...those days are definitely over.
Thanks everyone for the help. I'll be looking into some of these avenues.
That's another one I forgot- the advertised "position" also happens to involve "many, many hats to wear"- essentially shoehorning 5 positions into 1 and still under one (low on the scale) salary, of course.
Comments
<strong>no problems artman...we love you...
what did your sister end up doing??
g</strong><hr></blockquote>
She busted her butt to get a teaching degree. Now she's teaching special ED at a suburban school. Doing well.
She split from her husband. Moved out to Philly and worked as a horse/carriage driver to earn money for school. This was about when she was my age! She's amazing.
<strong>We may be needing some graphic artists soon, or at least freelancers. But I'm in southern CT. Email me if you are interested.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Thanks. I have done freelance over the internet. I don't know if you would want to go that way.
Also, my resume and work examples are on my website, <a href="http://www.artshack.com/resume.html"; target="_blank">www.artshack.com</a>.
Thanks again all! <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />
she is strong and a saint (even though she is kinda a buddist, for years she worked one night each weekend sleeping over at a catholic homeless shelter as a chaperone (skinny assed old lady trying to stop guys from stealing each others shoes as they slept) and was also a escot at planned parenthood on the weekend mornings....had her life threatened a few times by "pro-life" people (i was there once when some guy ran up to her and whispered in her ear that he was gonna follow her home that night and kill...when i found out what he said i had a little chat with him...told him i was following him home to find out where he lived and if anything happened to my mom i would slaughter his family in their sleep...and i actually followed him too...waved at him out my window as i drove by....but i was much more aggressive when i was young...i is mellow now...
congrats to your sister...women are much stronger than us men...g
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
<strong>
Thanks. I have done freelance over the internet. I don't know if you would want to go that way.
Also, my resume and work examples are on my website, <a href="http://www.artshack.com/resume.html"; target="_blank">www.artshack.com</a>.
Thanks again all! <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
I passed on the info to the print and web departments.
It's a tough field to break into, but textbook publishers use freelance graphic artists and designers all the time. And the college market is "countercyclical"--when the economy goes south, people head back to school and buy textbooks--so freelancers get more work! Don't know if that helps.
Sorry to hear about your job Artman, best of luck. Me I am one of those people who are between 16 and 40 heh, I didn't think so many guys after 40 would be interested as much. I have been looking for steady work ever since halfway from Clintons last term. It isn't politics and/or wars causing yours and our problems. The economy has been tanking ever since the last year of clintons term, so I mean who's to guess why. My guess is just the stock market's greediness in general. People don't seem to work as they used too I guess. Its all about money
<strong>ok, if we are truely gonna be helpful....
two things artman...i know a few people in their forties who are going back to school because of the whole retirement issue...want a job for 15 years so they have some benefits when they hit 60....most going to either nursing or a techincal medical field....x-ray or ultrasound or something like that....is there a technical/vocational school near you? the good thing about ultrasound is that it is an imaging field which is nice for graphic minded people...all of them (nursing, x-ray, ultrasound) can be done part time so you could try doing part time graphics and part time hospital....
Pennsylvania
Lancaster Institute for Health Education
Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program
143 East Lemon Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
717)-290-4912
(Certificate; General concentration)
Community College of Allegheny County
Diagnostic Medical Sonography
Boyce Campus
595 Beatty Road
Monroeville, PA 15146
724-325-6731
(Associate Degree; General & Cardiac concentrations)
Thomas Jefferson University
Diagnostic Medical Sonography Programs
Dept of Diagnostic Imaging
College of Health Professions
130 S 9th St, Ste 1011
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-503-8724
(Baccalaureate Degree; General, Cardiac & Vascular concentrations)
some pa ultrasound schools for you...
also...i have a friend in Baltimore who runs a web design group...he has been doing it for over 17 years now i think...he is always looking for people...not sure if you want to move down I-95 from philly to b-town...but you can check out his site here...he is very alternative and hires lots of young anarchists....
<a href="http://www.berndtgroup.net/home.htm"; target="_blank">berndt group</a>
<a href="http://www.berndtgroup.net/divisions/index.htm"; target="_blank">more info</a>
good luck
g</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think Dental Technician is far better than those. As far as retraining/new career goes. I'd be interested to look at the pay difference. Also consider this ... medical care reimbursement is going down whereas most people pay for dental car in cash. Also the number of dentist is going down! Anyway my $0.02.
plus, for a person with graphic design in his blood, with ultrasound you are creating images and photos and such...will dental you are staring at people's teeth...
as for, medical care reimbursement is going down, that is true, but we still are doing well and get paid with good benefits...
but it is good to give artman lots of options....
g
[ 03-01-2003: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?
<strong>A side topic, if anybody cares to share personal experiences:
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I can honestly say NO to all of your questions above, but from the sound of it I must be one of the lucky ones.
Like Artman I'm also in the Philadelphia area, however I've had better luck with finding jobs. Yes, the market is no where near what it was a few years ago but you can still find jobs if you're a programmer. I have plenty of artist friends who have jobs but are not happy with them. They're underpaid and there's nothing else out there for them.
But for those of us who write code, there seems to be more options. As a matter of fact I've been looking for a position that offered more money. I just had an interview a few weeks ago and was offered a position with a decent salary. So I went to my boss to put in my 2 weeks notice and he offered me a substantial raise to stay. So I took it. I honestly didn't expect that they'd offer me more money because there's probably a 1000 people waiting in line to have my job.
However...and here's the kicker....I work for the DoD. So basically this war "business" has meant nothing but "good" (if you want to call it that) things for those of us with government jobs. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
I guess its easier to just pay your employees more money than to train new people and get them all the security clearances etc to work there.
Hey Artman, if you can hurry up and learn PL/SQL and Oracle we're currently looking to fill 2 DBA positions here.
<strong> So I wonder is it possible for there to be too many qualified programmers that swamp the job market, or is there always a job available and not enough programmers? I'm sure security clearance is a big value working for you, no? What do you have to do to have a security clearance certification, anyway?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I doubt that there's always a job available and not enough programmers to fill the positions. But I bet a lot of people say they can program just because they know HTML
The clearance is only of value if you want to stay within the government or any government contractor like Lockheed where security is an issue.
I wonder if I ever moved to California and tried to apply at Apple if they would care about the clearance. My guess is no. It really isn't the same as knowing some big company secrets. Especially since my level of clearance is lowest you can have and basically just allows me to work there
I'm not sure about higher levels, but for my level it was a 10 year background check. There were a lot of forms to fill out and a lot of information to provide. I had to have a reference for every place I ever lived! sheesh. (I don't think they ever called them though)
<strong>A side topic, if anybody cares to share personal experiences:
Has the state of affairs as of late lead to an unpleasant change in the jobscape? Are you finding or experiencing (in your current job) not only a lack of good positions available, but the proliferation of "non-negotiable" pay rates that are blatantly low-balling you for the skills inherent to the job and the location, heavy overtimes with no propect of compensation in salaried positions, call for work on weekends, odd hours, etc. (That's all I can think of now) Is the modern "employee" being bent into even more radical contortions at the whim of employers who do so because they "can"? Are they demanding/enforcing a new meaning to "hard work" and "dedication", unrivaled by yesterday's standards?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I would answer all above with one big fat YES.
Graphis Designer = Graphic Design, Web Design, programming experience (HTML, DHTML, XML, JAVA), printing experience, Multimedia, Copywriting and coffee making (I thought I'd add that one myself.
Another friend of mine was working as a temp at a design agency. She worked soemtimes from 9:00AM to 11:00PM! They were going to offer a permanent position. Even went so far as to say so and she was congratulated by to other full time staffers for sticking with it. Came back the next week and they decided not to. She left.
I've downgraded my salary requirements to the $30 - $35K range. My last good job I was making $45K...those days are definitely over.
Thanks everyone for the help. I'll be looking into some of these avenues.
Required Skills:
- Windows NT
- Windows XP
- JavaScript 1.2
- CSS Level 2
- HTML 4
- Excellent Communication Skills
- Dreamweaver MX 6.1
- Macromedia Flash
- Macromedia Fireworks
- Business Intelligence (sounds like military intelligence)
- HP-UX 11
- Documentum
- Data Warehousing
Pay rate: Market
Job Terms: 1-3 months (contract)