If you are 27/28

mariaalice

Thought of this today....if you are 27/28 or there abouts ....you got the best from the Celtic tiger!

When you were a teen there was plenty of part time work

When you left college there was lots of work and career options

BUT

You were too young to have got on the property ladder.

Battered Mars Bar

Disagree, these people were 22 when the boom ended. Just barely finished college and broke as a result. :rolleyes: I think people in the 35ish bracket got the best but they blew it....they blew it! :pac:

EDIT: However the ones that left school early and did trades got a good run of it alright.

Where To

Before the celtic tiger students who wanted part time work got it

Graduates who wanted work/career options got them.

Kids today are just lazy bast**ds

Fizman

Replace '27/28' with 'reasonably intelligent with a good sense of reason and foresight' and you're spot on.

whatdoicare

Damn kids didn't know what they had...blowing their celtic tiger years on holidays and fast cars and the like!

ElectroJazz

Yeah I disagree, I'm 28 and work in a crap job despite having gone to college. I'd say I was out of college a year before everything went tits up.
I'm renting a house I can barely afford and will be selling the car soon because it costs me too much. Theres no way I'll be able to afford to buy a house in the next 5/6/7 years as I'm currently trying to get back into college to get a better job.
I don't think I got the best from the Celtic Tiger at all, except being able to get a part time job anywhere when I was in school.

SafeSurfer

Think of the poor sods who were born in 1900 in Germany. Probably drafted during the first world war (6.3 million killed or wounded) and if they were lucky enough to survive the horror of the trenches were just young enough to be drafted for the second world war again (30% of all mobilised Germans killed).

So whether you were 28 or 38 during the Celtic Tiger years, count yourself lucky.

flutterflye

I'm 27.
But I got pregnant at 17 and couldn't do my leaving (the birth coincided with the exams!)
Also got kicked out of home while pregnant.
Have done a few fas courses, and bits of college.
I am still yet to get a feckin degree!!! (some day!)
I got married last year, and my husbands parents helped us buy a house.
My husband has a job, I don't - Barely above minimum wage.
I have been waiting for a social welfare payment for nearly a year now.
We have a mortgage, bills, food, travel, and all the usual, plus 2 kids and 1 on the way.
We are really struggling.
So, I am not personally reaping any benefits at all!!

If certain things never happened in my childhood, I'd say things would be alot different though, because once upon a time I lived in a very nice house, in a nice area, parents had good jobs, and I went to a supposedly good school.
Perfect set up you would think.

Wompa1

I'm 27. Graduated in 2007. The recession was just starting. I worked from when I was 12 years old. First for 2 years in my dads business. Then 7 years in a petrol station. Then 1 year in a toy store. Then 5 years in an IT job. Now in a new IT job, first year in it.

IT had got a little bit of a dent in hiring for the first couple of years of the recession but since I went straight from college into the job I got lucky.

I was the only person from my course to do this. Most also had quit their part time jobs for the final year whilst I had not. So I always had work. Most went travelling with a handful of others choosing to do a masters. As far as I know all but 1 are working non-IT jobs now. And that 1 is a guy I got a job for in my last place of employment.

My age group were priveleged people, a lot could have worked part time jobs during college and chose not to. Because their course was too intense :rolleyes: So when they finished college they didn't want to work, it was too scary. Now their parents can't afford to support their asses and they are claiming the dole or have done over to Australia or Canada and working part time jobs in places where they feel like nobody from home will see them. RANT/

Wompa1

flutterflye wrote: »

I'm 27.
But I got pregnant at 17 and couldn't do my leaving (the birth coincided with the exams!)
Also got kicked out of home while pregnant.
Have done a few fas courses, and bits of college.
I am still yet to get a feckin degree!!! (some day!)
I got married last year, and my husbands parents helped us buy a house.
My husband has a job, I don't - Barely above minimum wage.
I have been waiting for a social welfare payment for nearly a year now.
We have a mortgage, bills, food, travel, and all the usual, plus 2 kids and 1 on the way.
We are really struggling.
So, I am not personally reaping any benefits at all!!

If certain things never happened in my childhood, I'd say things would be alot different though, because once upon a time I lived in a very nice house, in a nice area, parents had good jobs, and I went to a supposedly good school.
Perfect set up you would think.

I'm not judging you but can I ask, why are you having a third kid when you say you are struggling?

Rocky_Dennis

mariaalice wrote: »

Thought of this today....if you are 27/28 or there abouts ....you got the best from the Celtic tiger!

When you were a teen there was plenty of part time work

When you left college there was lots of work and career options

BUT

You were too young to have got on the property ladder.

I'm 27, after my Leaving Cert, I went and got a trade, I made good money for a few years and then everything went belly up. I'm blessed I didn't buy a house during the "good times". There was plenty of lads my age that bought houses during the "good times" that are really struggling at the moment. They've had to rent out rooms in the house to keep up the repayments.

I'm back in college now and when I finish next year, I think I will have to emigrate to find work. I hope I won't have to and that I might get a lucky break but the reality of it is, I will probably be on the first flight out of here

Sea Filly

I'm 28.

Graduated in 2009 at 25, took six years to do my degree due to illness.

Had to emigrate for my first post-graduation job, fought tooth and nail for the job I am in now, which pays less than 20K per annum.

Yep, I'm a jammy bitch.

flutterflye

Wompa1 wrote: »

I'm not judging you but can I ask, why are you having a third kid when you say you are struggling?

Edit: My post was far too long winded there.

Anyway, why I'm having another one is because I was told by all the doctors/gynaes etc... that I couldn't get pregnant, but I did.

Sea Filly

Wompa1 wrote: »

My age group were priveleged people, a lot could have worked part time jobs during college and chose not to. Because their course was too intense :rolleyes:

I didn't work during the college term because of the long hours plus outside hours working on assignments and studying on top of that. I haven't done any of the clichéd travelling. I saved as much as I could during the summer to fund the academic year. Not everyone who doesn't work during the college terms fits your idea of them.

funnilenough

flutterflye wrote: »

Edit: My post was far too long winded there.

Anyway, why I'm having another one is because I was told by all the doctors/gynaes etc... that I couldn't get pregnant, but I did.

hope everything works out for yiz

Wompa1

Sea Filly wrote: »

I didn't work during the college term because of the long hours plus outside hours working on assignments and studying on top of that. I haven't done any of the clichéd travelling. I saved as much as I could during the summer to fund the academic year. Not everyone who doesn't work during the college terms fits your idea of them.

If you completely paid your own way, fair play to you. I worked 7 days a week during the summers. Though Wednesdays was only for a 4 hour shift. Definitely wasn't enough for the college year. Was about 5k euro. I was sharing a room and my rent ran me about 2,500. College itself was 1,100 which isn't bad in fairness! Deposit for the apartment was usually around 300 or so.

I had long hours in college. I think no matter what the course is, if you are doing it to the best of your ability it will take a lot of your time BUT if you HAVE to work, you will. I can only assume, either you landed a summer job that paid over 500 euro a week or you had a grant or parents helping you out so you could afford not to work. Or you went somewhere like Castlebar or Sligo or somewhere where the average rent back then was about 40-50 a week.

Dudess

My age group, people born from about the mid 70s to the early 80s, got to experience the full run of it yet not the hardship of having to emigrate up to the early 90s.

Jester252

Sea Filly wrote: »

I didn't work during the college term because of the long hours plus outside hours working on assignments and studying on top of that. I haven't done any of the clichéd travelling. I saved as much as I could during the summer to fund the academic year. Not everyone who doesn't work during the college terms fits your idea of them.

The problem is most do. Although now I say a college kid wanting a part time job will be hard pushed. Hell I'm in UL and as part of the course we go out on coop.
The coop office only placed 7 out of 25. Some more got jobs and I'm still looking.
I'm pissed off that some of the companies didn't even reply to me.

Pantsface

Battered Mars Bar wrote: »

Disagree, these people were 22 when the boom ended. Just barely finished college and broke as a result. :rolleyes: I think people in the 35ish bracket got the best but they blew it....they blew it! :pac:

EDIT: However the ones that left school early and did trades got a good run of it alright.

I didn't

Sea Filly

Wompa1 wrote: »

If you completely paid your own way, fair play to you. I worked 7 days a week during the summers. Though Wednesdays was only for a 4 hour shift. Definitely wasn't enough for the college year. Was about 5k euro. I was sharing a room and my rent ran me about 2,500. College itself was 1,100 which isn't bad in fairness! Deposit for the apartment was usually around 300 or so.

I had long hours in college. I think no matter what the course is, if you are doing it to the best of your ability it will take a lot of your time BUT if you HAVE to work, you will. I can only assume, either you landed a summer job that paid over 500 euro a week or you had a grant or parents helping you out so you could afford not to work. Or you went somewhere like Castlebar or Sligo or somewhere where the average rent back then was about 40-50 a week.

I qualified for the grant, and never took it for granted or pissed it away. My family was NOT wealthy. It paid my rent, I spend it on nothing but that. I saved enough to cover costs on top of that.

There's nothing wrong with qualifying for the grant, you know, and not everyone who gets it takes it for granted like you seem to think they do.

I got the grant, you didn't. C'est la vie. :cool:

Oh, and since graduating, I have not shirked away from getting a job. Beat off stiff competition for my first graduate job in the UK, travelling over for the interview and besting 90 other applicants.

Dudess

Sea Filly wrote: »

I didn't work during the college term because of the long hours plus outside hours working on assignments and studying on top of that. I haven't done any of the clichéd travelling. I saved as much as I could during the summer to fund the academic year. Not everyone who doesn't work during the college terms fits your idea of them.

Yeah I didn't work my postgrad year (apart from a few shifts at my old job whenever I visited home) - because the course was just non stop, it was a degree crammed into one year. I took a year out before it though and saved my ass off, often working six days a week and double shifts. Nearly everyone on the course did something similar. I got a loan too, which I suspect you did also. And I see there's an asumption you were renting.

Battered Mars Bar

Pantsface wrote: »

I didn't

Good man/woman

Wompa1

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah I didn't work my postgrad year (apart from a few shifts at my old job) whenever I visited home - because the course was just non stop, it was a degree crammed into one year. I took a year out before it though and saved my ass off, often working six days a week. Nearly everyone on the course did something similar. I got a loan too, which I suspect you did also. And I see there's an asumption you were renting.

I know a lad that deferred for a year to work to build up enough so he didn't have to work during college.

I worked 7 days a week during the summer. 4 days a week during the college year. My course had 32 hours a week, multiple projects AND I took a 2k euro loan in my final year hoping that meant I could quit my job for the second semester. I even gave my notice to my boss just after x-mas but after a sleepless night due to doing a budget of with the 2k and the little bit I had right then, I wouldn't be able to afford to not work. I'd run out of money a few weeks before the exams. So I went in the next day with my head down asking if I could please have my job back that I realized I couldn't afford to quit.

3DataModem

Rode Celtic Tiger.

Fecked off to tax haven when it blew up.

Let me know when it's all sorted and I'll come back.

mariaalice

What a lot of you are forgetting is you had the opportunity to WORK part time to fund your study or to take up an apprenticeship because of the Celtic tiger a lot of college students and teenagers today don't have those options.

Wompa1

mariaalice wrote: »

What a lot of you are forgetting is you had the opportunity to WORK part time to fund your study or to take up an apprenticeship because of the Celtic tiger a lot of college students and teenagers today don't have those options.

My girlfriend is working 3 part time jobs at the moment. If you want to work you will find it.

I only know of one person I knew that was long term unemployed and that was because he didn't want to work in a shop or anything like that. He didn't want people who knew him to see him...

I can kind of understand it. On a couple of nights out back in 2006 I got crap from girls because I worked in a toy store...but still. If you HAVE to work, you will.

Sea Filly

Wompa1 wrote: »

If you HAVE to work, you will.

And if you don't have to work during the college, you won't. It doesn't mean you're work-shy, as many degree courses require a great level of commitment and work ethic.

mariaalice

I disagree....my oldest daughter had a job at 15 and by the time she was 18 she had a choice of jobs, when she graduated as a nurse she had a choice of permanent jobs in Ireland if she wanted that would not happen for a nursing graduate today. My youngest daughter found it almost impossible to get a job and was 19 before she had her first part time job it seems to be very hard for her male friends of the same age to get part time work it was not like that a few years ago.

Superbus

Us 90s kids deserve all the sympathy (thought I guess I would think that), we experienced little of the benefit yet all the side-effects will hang over us. Happily however, most of us aren't yet politically aware enough to give a shít.

starlit

I'm 27 and there isn't much of a difference back to when I were in college in particular when looking for summer work was just as hard as it for me to find a proper job at the moment but until I completed my degree did I get into the work force into a proper job just as the Celtic Tiger ended before the major recession hit while I was working in the job when the recession came into outbursts. The recession had been creeping in while I were in college but was very much in the boom of the celtic tiger while I were in secondary school.

Though saying that it was easier to find summer work when I were in secondary school and after first year in college but when it came to my other summer years in college it was a lot harder but not as difficult looking for a proper job after my degree (I got into it in the nick of time to be honest) though when I finished up with the proper job I got into and after going back to college again to do a postgrad the year after and then finished. Those two years were the worst years for looking for work in particular 2009.

Though now looking for work is a little easier and that there are jobs there just not enough for everyone and to meet demand as the jobs market has become so competitive making either jobbridge or emigration only possible options for people in particular for graduates as graduate jobs has dwindled a bit unless you go into a grad programme and they can be tough to get into having to meet certain requirements.

To be honest some of the money rotating around in the boom times may have been bogus money that people in effect did not have though they thought they had it but was just rotated around and was none existent as the money itself wasn't theirs to keep it was the governments and gradually the money dried out and bankrupted itself alone and lack of spending and so on not just on the government, banks and developers heads for the cause of the recession! It was overspending and greed as well as building debt from the boom times caused this mess of a recession as well as the usual culprits as mentioned already in this paragraph.

There are continuousness reductions on funding for colleges and uni's in Ireland at the moment which is in dire need to be sorted out if they are to survive in the future and the future of a generation of graduates. Quality of courses as well as meeting a aprox quantity of students to fund colleges also meaning further costly fees will be imposed in the future for a sustainable third level sector.

What else can I say on the matter? Will it change I don't think so and a yes or no vote in the up coming referendum probably won't make a difference!?

o1s1n

Superbus wrote: »

Us 90s kids deserve all the sympathy (thought I guess I would think that), we experienced little of the benefit yet all the side-effects will hang over us. Happily however, most of us aren't yet politically aware enough to give a shít.

Do you mean born in the 90s or grew up in the 90s?

I'd consider myself a 90s kid but I was born in 84 - all my childhood memories are from the early to mid 90s.

My sisters on the other hand call themselves 90s kids and they were born in 92. Sure they can't remember most of it!

Wompa1

mariaalice wrote: »

I disagree....my oldest daughter had a job at 15 and by the time she was 18 she had a choice of jobs, when she graduated as a nurse she had a choice of permanent jobs in Ireland if she wanted that would not happen for a nursing graduate today. My youngest daughter found it almost impossible to get a job and was 19 before she had her first part time job it seems to be very hard for her male friends of the same age to get part time work it was not like that a few years ago.

Will this be the 19 year olds first part time job? When was her last job? What's the gap like in her CV?

If somebody isn't hired, it has a lot to do with their technique in trying to find work. I've worked with some people involved in the interview process and have been involved in recruiting myself.

People look at their CV and think they need to make themselves seem a certain way like Oh if I say I play football and Rugby they'll think I'm a team player. WRONG! If you say that then they'll think this person will want certain days off to go play matches.

o1s1n

Wompa1 wrote: »

WRONG! If you say that then they'll think this person will want certain days off to go play matches.

Ye wha?

So the hobbies section should just say =

'Loves processing excel worksheets and coding'

Seeing people are involved in social activities when hiring for say, an open plan office job for example, is always good. I'd hire someone who wrote that over something boring and obviously untrue any day.

Jason Todd

I wouldn't agree with the OP at all.

I'm 28, graduated as a graphic designer in 2007, couldn't get a job in my chosen field so had to work my previously part-time shelf-stacking job on a full-time basis until 2009. Had a decent amount of disposable income as I was single though. Finally got a job then but made redundant in 2011. Luckily picked up a job not long after but its just about min. wage, still glad to have it though. Not long after I got it my gf became pregnant. Now struggling for money to pay bills, etc, and have zero disposable income, and are a million miles away from owning our own house. So no, 27/28 year olds didn't get the best of the Celtic Tiger!! :rolleyes:

Dudess

Wompa1 wrote: »

I know a lad that deferred for a year to work to build up enough so he didn't have to work during college.

I worked 7 days a week during the summer. 4 days a week during the college year. My course had 32 hours a week, multiple projects AND I took a 2k euro loan in my final year hoping that meant I could quit my job for the second semester. I even gave my notice to my boss just after x-mas but after a sleepless night due to doing a budget of with the 2k and the little bit I had right then, I wouldn't be able to afford to not work. I'd run out of money a few weeks before the exams. So I went in the next day with my head down asking if I could please have my job back that I realized I couldn't afford to quit.

What did you spend all your money on? I managed fine in Dublin not having to work that many part-time hours.

Wompa1

o1s1n wrote: »

Ye wha?

So the hobbies section should just say =

'Loves processing excel worksheets and coding'

Seeing people are involved in social activities when hiring for say, an open plan office job for example, is always good. I'd hire someone who wrote that over something boring and obviously untrue any day.

Reading, Drawing, Photography with something else like video games or movies thrown in to show you are a bit grounded so you won't think the job is below you. Also mentioning sporting achievements from your youth is good. Mentioning working in groups whilst in college. But most importantly no real gaps in the CV, At least one job that you stuck for 2 years or more to show you give a damn. Also best asking for the manager and giving them the CV, show you have confidence and are personal.

Doc Ruby

Jason Todd wrote: »

I wouldn't agree with the OP at all.

I'm 28, graduated as a graphic designer in 2007, couldn't get a job in my chosen field so had to work my previously part-time shelf-stacking job on a full-time basis until 2009. Had a decent amount of disposable income as I was single though. Finally got a job then but made redundant in 2011. Luckily picked up a job not long after but its just about min. wage, still glad to have it though. Not long after I got it my gf became pregnant. Now struggling for money to pay bills, etc, and have zero disposable income, and are a million miles away from owning our own house. So no, 27/28 year olds didn't get the best of the Celtic Tiger!! :rolleyes:

For all the smartass replies, the bottom line is its tough out there, and people are suffering. My advice is to get into animation somehow, there's decent money in that these days.

Superbus

o1s1n wrote: »

Superbus wrote: »

Us 90s kids deserve all the sympathy (thought I guess I would think that), we experienced little of the benefit yet all the side-effects will hang over us. Happily however, most of us aren't yet politically aware enough to give a shít.

Do you mean born in the 90s or grew up in the 90s?

I'd consider myself a 90s kid but I was born in 84 - all my childhood memories are from the early to mid 90s.

My sisters on the other hand call themselves 90s kids and they were born in 92. Sure they can't remember most of it!

Born in 90s - I was born in 94 - apologies for lack of clarity.

mariaalice

I have seen the difference...my oldies daughter after her junior cert walked in to a pizza restaurant at 15 and got a job there and then ( doing the washing up and chopping veg ) it was the hight of the Celtic tiger era. That would not happen today.

Dudess

Doc Ruby wrote: »

For all the smartass replies, the bottom line is its tough out there, and people are suffering. My advice is to get into animation somehow, there's decent money in that these days.

Yeah I've heard that. A guy who was in college with me is gone back to study it in Ballyfermot. When I last met him I was kinda wondering about this choice (he's in his mid 30s) and he said there's lots of work in it, and he's no eejit.

Sea Filly

Wompa1 wrote: »

Reading, Drawing, Photography with something else like video games or movies thrown in to show you are a bit grounded so you won't think the job is below you. Also mentioning sporting achievements from your youth is good. Mentioning working in groups whilst in college. But most importantly no real gaps in the CV, At least one job that you stuck for 2 years or more to show you give a damn. Also best asking for the manager and giving them the CV, show you have confidence and are personal.

I put none of that crap in my CV post-boom and still got a good job. I also had gaps due to illness. Lots and lots of gaps.

Cookie_Monster

It certainly did work out well for me. I'm 27, good part time work right through college, 27 hours a week at over a tenner an hour, was able to buy a car and learn to drive. Qualified from college and got decent job, moved out. Job went tits up after 2 years, easily got another, moved to sweet apartment with partner, bought BMW, saved some cash. Second job imploded, bailed out to New Zealand, having a great time over here, making loads of money, enjoying winter days that are warmer than most summer days at home

OK so some may say being forced to emigrate would mean it didn't work out in the end but it was a choice we took and have not regretted.

Doc Ruby

Dudess wrote: »

Yeah I've heard that. A guy who was in college with me is gone back to study it in Ballyfermot. When I last met him I was kinda wondering about this choice (he's in his mid 30s) and he said there's lots of work in it, and he's no eejit.

Its the gaming and media business, plus hardly a website can show its face in public without having some nice flash animation. Advertisements online and on the telly, the list is extensive. If I had to I'd be looking into that for future prospects.

Wompa1

Dudess wrote: »

What did you spend all your money on? I managed fine in Dublin not having to work that many part-time hours.

living...in my final year I didn't do anything but work and work on my project. I'd say I drank 3 times that year. My rent was 65 a week I think or 67.50...I was sharing a room. Transportation to get to and from work since college and work were opposite sides of the city cost about 30 a week or something like that back then. Although looking at the Bus Eireann winter saver thing this past year it's not much different now. What a Joke!

Between Food, rent, heating oil, transportation and electricity for the year. That was all my money. I was making small payments on the loan I took out. I had to buy a laptop for my course in my second year that took a chunk because laptops were a bit more expensive back then. I needed something I could bring to and from college. I was the only one in first year that didn't have one. I bought 2 video games a year for sanity. Always around November but got a discount when I was in the toy store. I honestly didn't spend on luxuries and couldn't afford it. I was making 7 something an hour

The worst of it was after college. Right after I cleared my own loan my mother came to me in tears asking for money so I took out a 10k euro loan to help them out. So was resigned to finding an even cheaper room, was paying 50 a week for a room that had no windows and was basically a storage room changed into a bedroom...I didn't get to go on a holiday of my own until I was 25. Things got a lot better for me though...I hated college and those few years. They were very tough.

Superbus

Superbus wrote: »

Born in 90s - I was born in 94 - apologies for lack of clarity.

Jesus. My car is older than you.

27 here OP. I got 'free fees', and entered the job market just as it started to go tits up. I'm still here though, in my second job since graduating in 2007. If I had graduated a couple of years earlier I would have been on a lot more than I'm on at the moment, but then who's to say I'd have a job right now if that was the case.

There was a good few jobs around during my teenage years alright. I counted before that I worked in 12 different places before I entered college.

Did I benefit from the Celtic Tiger era? Definitely, as a lot of people did to varying degrees.
Am I a tax paying member of society now? Hell yeah.

flutterflye

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

It certainly did work out well for me. I'm 27, good part time work right through college, 27 hours a week at over a tenner an hour, was able to buy a car and learn to drive. Qualified from college and got decent job, moved out. Job went tits up after 2 years, easily got another, moved to sweet apartment with partner, bought BMW, saved some cash. Second job imploded, bailed out to New Zealand, having a great time over here, making loads of money, enjoying winter days that are warmer than most summer days at home

I think I might just hate you!

longhalloween

Id say at 23 Im in the lucjiest bracket. Had plenty of part time work in school, was in college when the recession was worst, too young to buy a house, have no wife kids loans or mortgage. Now i am getting a relevant degree and next year ill graduate. Probably have no problem getting a decent job either here or in the US. Thing are coming up millhouse!!

Wompa1

longhalloween wrote: »

Id say at 23 Im in the lucjiest bracket. Had plenty of part time work in school, was in college when the recession was worst, too young to buy a house, have no wife kids loans or mortgage. Now i am getting a relevant degree and next year ill graduate. Probably have no problem getting a decent job either here or in the US. Thing are coming up millhouse!!

That's one good thing. I know a few people who bought houses very young. At least with my run of bad luck it meant I couldn't afford to even think of getting a house. Now I'm making 6 figures a year and everything is coming up Millhouse! I'm living in a 1 bed luxury apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

Nothingbetter2d

Battered Mars Bar wrote: »

Disagree, these people were 22 when the boom ended. Just barely finished college and broke as a result. :rolleyes: I think people in the 35ish bracket got the best but they blew it....they blew it! :pac:

EDIT: However the ones that left school early and did trades got a good run of it alright.

people in the 35 age bracket got screwed over not blew it... most have insane morgages for houses that are worth a fraction of what the morgage is worth

michellie

I'm 27(28 in september). I work part time and bought my own house at a fairly affordable price in early 2008.

ixoy

Born at the tail end of '78, graduating in 2001 to see the IT business implode. Didn't get a decent IT job for a few years after that and never really saw any of these high wages that other industries went through at the time - nobody I knew really did in fact. Can't think of any of my friends who were suddenly flush with cash, houses, etc. Seemed to have bypassed our 32/33 year group entirely.
Now, if nothing else, we're in a safer industry than most - although contrary to what some parts of the media say, not all IT flourishes, merely some of it.