One of my daughters has a degree in software engineering. Her first job was at McKesson. Last year after a year of work, her whole division was laid off. McKesson was hiring contractors from India to do her job, and they asked the people who they were laying off to train their replacements.
My daughter then got a job in the IT division at her local school district. She got married a few weeks ago, and she thought a job at the school district would be more stable. She had co-workers who had been there over 10 years.
Well, 2 weeks before her wedding her whole department was laid off.
My other daughter has a master’s in data analytics. Most jobs are remote, and she just lost her job. She is struggling with remote work.
As someone who spent 38 years in IT, I’ve been in the same boat many times.
The last 18 years of my career I ditched the full corporate, government agency job for jobs as an IT contractor.
That would be my advice, it’s hard for young people to grasp, they are an asset that can be disposed of at any moment. You have to look out for yourself and can’t depend on any company or organization that offers temporary stability often times at lower pay.
Contracting work is not for everyone, for me it was much more profitable when I became an hourly employee with overtime and allowed me to pick and choose the jobs I was interested in, I went out and purchased my own insurance, never signed up for company benefits except for any 401K program that was being offered, it was a much more rewarding environment.