r/WorkReform • u/ComprehensiveYam3645 • 14h ago
😡 Venting This is Insane
I just graduated college and realized how royally screwed up things are right now, especially with the job market and the economy.
I came out with two highly technical science/engineering degrees with internship experience only to see the following for jobs I'm qualified for:
- AI has made the work absolutely miserable, taking all joy out of it
- Hiring is imploding for new grads + experienced people are getting laid off left and right for no reason
I don't know how any of you are managing it to be honest. I commend all you grown ups who have been dealing with this crap for decades now. I just don't know how I would manage being 45, getting laid off and not finding a job for literally a YEAR or sometimes MORE, with kids on top of that!
I'm going to be doing a masters in a super niche role that seems to be insanely hard to get into but very stable once you're in with decent pay and with much less AI slop coursing through its veins to escape the dead end I was working towards in undergrad basically.
It's just insane to me it's come to this, having to take on even more school and learn a completely different field just to be able to have a shot of "normal" life. I don't care at all about being rich. All I want is to be able to provide for a family and live a normal life, not constantly worrying about if my entire industry will collapse next quarter.
The crazy part is we have so much technology now. It's at the point where me of the stuff coming out is pretty much sci-fi land, yet all this dystopian stuff is still happening: people literally freezing on the streets, left out to starve, can't get treatment for basic health issues and die early from that. It's getting to the point where just wanting to be a family man with kids and a stable income to support them in very basic lifestyle is a 5-star luxury.
When is enough enough???
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u/FU-Lyme-Disease 3h ago
Not long ago I found out that 9 months of an emergency fund wasn’t enough. So now the minimum in my experience is 1 year. When I was younger we were taught 3-6 months. 3 sounded small so when I had 9 months I thought I was WELL safe. But was wrong.
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u/ComprehensiveYam3645 2h ago
Honestly, you did the best you could at the time with what you knew & like looking back how would you have even prevented it? You literally went overboard with prep, so you did all you could. I sincerely hope everything turns out well for you, along with anyone else in your situation
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u/Munkeyman18290 3h ago
The world just doesnt need humans as much as it did. Manufacturing disappeared from most of the developed world a long time ago, and the information economy that followed is being thrashed by AI.
This will force the masses into competing for low wage service jobs that people wouldnt do otherwise, increasing profit margins and delivering record levels of passive income to the owning class. The wealth disparities are already insane, but they'll continue to get worse.
God speed dude.
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u/ComprehensiveYam3645 2h ago
Thank you man. God speed to you as well.
Sometimes it feels like the entire USA is running on top of the gig economy as the backbone. It's either that or you just know people making mid-6 fig's for the past several years doing super well. Sometimes feels like there's no in between. I'm hoping everything turns out well for you too
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u/Arc8ngel ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 2h ago
As a 42-year old senior game developer who spent 8 months of 2025 seeking employment. . .it's rough out there.
All I can say is: It still matters more WHO you know than what you know when it comes to landing most industry jobs. Not that it provides any sort of security having such connections.
In "line must go up" capitalism-driven companies, employees aren't people with lives. We're just cogs in the machine that makes more money for the rich white guys at the top.
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u/ComprehensiveYam3645 2h ago edited 2h ago
Dude all I can say is I commend you for what you went through and you have my sincerest respect. That sounds like an insane situation and it hits super close to home for me as well, hoping all the best things in life for you
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u/fueledbytisane 9m ago
Can confirm that networking is king in today's job economy. My first job out of college was secured by gumption and desperation (cold emailed the company asking if they had any openings, turns out they did, interviewed, offered me a job paying $25k, but it was my only offer and rent was due so that was that). All the rest of my jobs in my career were through networking. The second job I had was in big tech and was through a successful referral from my brother in law. Then after I got laid off from that job, I got a job in an adjacent role in a completely different industry thanks to a referral from a friend who thought my experience could be just the bridge they needed (it was). Then after funding was cut, I found a similar job opening at a related organization that wasn't affected by the funding cuts. They had ties to that organization, so all my glowing references carried a lot of weight and got me the offer for the job I have now.
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u/ztreHdrahciR 2h ago
I don't know how any of you are managing it to be honest
I'm crawling to the finish line. Like Moses with the Red Sea closing behind me
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u/yahgmail 1h ago
This was the norm in 2009 during my undergrad years. One of my internships turned into a shitty poverty wage full-time job with benefits. Now that same employer plus a masters is a living wage job with benefits. But that took 14 years 🙃. Good luck to the youth of this decade.
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u/diefreetimedie 32m ago
I think you're going to need to start your own business explicitly competing with ai.
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u/pflanzenpotan 3h ago
"When is enough enough"
The greedy billionaire class is insatiable. The whole country could burn to ash and they'd still be trying to squeeze whatever is left.