• jtj4135@lemmy.zip
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    5 hours ago

    Atmospheric and Oceanic science has been heavily defunded this year. A quarter of my program at NOAA has been laid off this year.

    If I lost my science job, I was planning on going into tech. Now where do I go??? It feels like the walls are closing in.

    I should have gone to a trade school instead :/ STEM was a bad choice.

    • IronBird@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      unironically, just leave the US. plenty of countries/international research orgs are pouching all sorts of US-intelligencia right now.

      • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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        1 hour ago

        This is not entirely true and blown away out of proportion by the writers of all the articles you’re seeing. For example that big one that got a bunch of attention in France was only for 15 applicants. Also outside of a few exceptions, most STEM workers lack the resources to pick up and leave where they are at.

    • squaresinger@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Tech is a field where there’s always infinite work to do, and it’s always only limited by the budget.

      We had very low interest rates for over a decade, which made investments more profitable and thus there was always a ton of money to go around. The current financial downturn is the main reason of all the tech layoffs with no budget there are no jobs.

      The upside of that: Even with all the talk of AI and stuff, once the interest rate goes down and investments go up, all the jobs will be back.

      • sobchak@programming.dev
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        1 hour ago

        IDK. Tech companies are bringing in more revenue than ever. The trend seems to be companies reporting great revenue growth, then laying off shortly after, to which the investors seem to reward. In the past, layoffs would usually bring stock prices down, since they have less human capital to generate profit from.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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          54 minutes ago

          The layoffs are usually due to a race to meet quarterly projections; when the projections slip, the fastest way to match them again is layoffs. And for companies to keep their stock prices up, quarterly numbers have to keep climbing.

    • inmatarian@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Don’t wait, go straight into training in another field. Send out your resumes for a tech job, but start working on a backup.

      • jtj4135@lemmy.zip
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        4 hours ago

        That’s a good idea! And if I get rejected, at least I’ll know which new skills to focus on. In the meantime, I’ll try to figure out what other career besides tech would fit my education and skill set.

        I have a master’s of science in atmospheric and oceanic science, which unfortunately is a very niche field. I made a miscalculation that my field would grow due to the increase in severe weather and negative affects from climate change.

        Thanks for your advice :)

        • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 hours ago

          Globally, there’s going to be continued need for your skills.

          Locally, it may vary.

          Look globally. And good luck with finding your path. I have done the unemployment track and it is unpleasant.