The Economy Just Got a Lot Worse – For Me
By Dave Hitt on Oct 29, 2008 in Bad Business, Politics
My company just laid off about 20% of their workforce, and I was one of the causalities. Now I get to go job hunting in an economy that’s sinking faster than Palin’s image as a folksy soccer mom. Oh joy.
This is the reality of working in IT. For every IT worker who has been in a job for a long time there are a dozen of us who skip from one job to another every year or three. It’s not that we want to – it’s the nature of the business. When big companies cut back IT is usually first on the chopping block. Startups are the best source of new jobs, but they’re notoriously risky, and often make just one or two big mistakes that kill them as soon as things get tough. In my last IT job the mistake was having one client. A big huge mulit-billion dollar client, but still, just one, and when they hit a rough patch and needed to cut expenses we were one of the cuts. I had just received a great performance review and a nice raise and them Bam! A solid kick to the nuts. I spent a couple of years barely getting by at lousy paying non-IT jobs, and was exploring new careers, when this job came along. They had plenty of clients, (that was one of the first questions I asked in the interview) but made other expensive mistakes I’m not at liberty to discuss. And now it’s a year and a half later I’m back on the streets.
I like working in IT. I like support. I like ferreting out solutions to tricky problems and turning frustrated customers into happy clients. I like training people to use complex products that ultimately make their business more profitable. I like discussing marketing and SEO and web design with my clients. But damn, I do not like looking for a new job every year or two or three.
When I was younger it was a bit of an adventure – an annoying one, but still, an adventure. On more than one occasion I was out of work for less than a week. But now jobs are much scarcer, and I’m competing with young puppies who are willing to work for less, foolishly believing that their fate will be different.
I honestly wish I had chosen a career as an electrician, or plumber, or carpenter – jobs with a constant demand. When was the last time you heard of a plumber going out of business?
And what makes it even more aggravating is seeing my tax money being used to pay enormous salaries to “experts” who are largely responsible for the rapidly dwindling value of my rather pathetic 401k. We, and by that I mean you and me and our kids and our grandkids and probably their kids, are paying more than a trillion dollars to schmucks who continue to make more money in a year than we’d make in several lifetimes.
Hey congress, what about me? Give me a million bucks. That’s all, just one million, and I won’t ask for another dime, ever. I’ve got about another twenty years or thirty years on this planet. I’ll make it last that long. I’ll live off the interest and just a bit of the principle each year, and supplement it by working at jobs I like that don’t necessarily pay that well. You don’t have to pay my medical bills. You don’t have to pay me unemployment. I won’t get food stamps or go on welfare. You can even keep the IOUs you’ve got in “my” social security account. You spend more than that every second. Just give me one lousy second’s worth of the national expenditure and I’ll be happy. I’ll even stop bitching about your waste and stupidity and greed. Such a deal!
A million bucks, just once, that’s all I ask.
Good luck in the job hunting. I’m sorry to hear the bad news. I, too, have a problem with over paid “experts” and consultants. It would seem to me that their sallary exploded and there is no way to deflate what is already blown out of proportion. It’s an unfair game, in my opinion.
Unfortunately, there’s no money in the life of a perpetual student to give you a million dollars, but if I could… I’d consider it … maybe :-P
Derek | Nov 4, 2008 | Reply
hehe, I just realized that my comment sounded harsh at the end and wanted to clarify that it was only a joke :-[ .
I am as confident as I can based on your podcast and writings that you would be very responsible with such a beneficial scenario. I’m sure a smart man like yourself can get back in the game, but technicians get a hard rap these days.
Cheers
Derek | Nov 4, 2008 | Reply
Nothing sounded Harsh, Derek. And even if it did, people are allowed to be harsh here. It’s not like I’m all sweetness and light myself.
Hittman | Nov 5, 2008 | Reply
It is okay Dave – CORESense sucks and will probably go under so you are better off moving onto better!! Life moves on and up from here!
Howdy Doody | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
So that’s what it takes to turn Dave into a fiscal liberal looking for a handout? ;-)
Asking the government for a payout is very un-Libertarian, isn’t it?. However, I am with you on the $1M thing. I could pay off all my debts with 1/4 of that and live off the rest with a lower paying job for quite a while.
Bryan | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
Kudos!
and S’mores!
The rich get richer while the poor, we’ll I’m not sure if they get poorer, but they accumulate in numbers, maybe.
Well cheers to me for responding to a year old blog. I was looking for some reviews on COREsense since my company is looking into an all-in-one eCommerce solution. I am very sorry now that I think about it, judging from that comment that brought this page up when I searched for COREsense, I am now wondering if that was the company that laid you off?
My apologies if it was.
Frank | Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Frank,
I don’t know if it’s too late to discuss CORESense with you, but I think I can provide some insight as our company is using their software. You can email me at jj8135 (at) gmail (dot com).
John | Nov 24, 2009 | Reply
I to am a Coresense user. Not as happy as I once was!
Russ | Mar 23, 2011 | Reply
Hi Russ. Other than that, how’s business?
Wish I could help, but I don’t have anything to do with them any longer.
Hittman | Mar 23, 2011 | Reply
Business isn’t horrible… but it is different!
Russ | Mar 23, 2011 | Reply
Hi Russ, we are considering coresense. Looks like really good software …but really expensive, especially the monthly ongoing costs. Can tell me a little about your experience with them, functionality of it, problems, positives and about the expense and is it worth it, ROI was good or under acheived from promised …also any other software that can handle much of coresense that you would consider? thanks
chasmandu | Aug 8, 2011 | Reply
We use it and are quite pleased with it. We came off Volusion adn CS is more reeliable and a much better back end. what did you decide?
Kbaba | Sep 21, 2011 | Reply
I came to this post looking for reviews on coresense. I am a small retailer that is finally adding a web presence hoping for more than just walkin traffic. I do business with several well known companies that drop ship, and I need to have access to their ‘live’ inventories. I am not very saavy with this portion of my business and have very little money for updating the BASIC quickbooks cashregister system I have. All ideas are welcome.
Girlfriend | Feb 20, 2012 | Reply
I haven’t been with them for several years, so I don’t know what kind of features they have avaiable now. When I was there they didn’t provide access to third party inventories.
Also, they ain’t cheap. (At least they weren’t back then.) If you’re on a tight budget they may not be your best solution.
I’d suggest first figuring just how much you have to invest – a solid dollar figure for starting up, and then for maintenance from month to month. Then call them and see if they can do anything for you.
Dave Hitt | Feb 20, 2012 | Reply
CORESense can manage 3rd party inventories and help you list products on other companies websites as well. Its a very open platform. In addition startup and monthly fees have dropped considerably. They have offerings for small to large retailers and am confident they can provide a plan that fits your budget.
Again we have been very happy with our decision.
Good Luck
Kbaba | Apr 6, 2012 | Reply
Mr. Greif did not drop us in early 2012 as he untruly states: Their service was terminated by us for breach of contract related to his repeated failure, despite numerous notices, to adhere to the terms of their service agreement. It was also only after they were terminated did they post this defamatory review. To anyone considering our company as your software partner I strongly urge you to consider the circumstances surrounding this posting and allow us the opportunity to demonstrate first hand that we are an honorable and reliable technology partner.
CORESense | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
It’s always interesting when an old post like this one comes back to life via comments, especially when they’re not about the subject of the article, which was not about COREsense, but the lousy state of the economy and how being laid off was affecting me personally.
You’ll note that in the article, and in the comments, I didn’t offer any opinion about COREsense, either the product or the company, but since that’s what this comment thread has turned into I’ll do that now. Bear in mind my opinion is based on working for them four years ago, which is more than one standard eternity in internet time. I’m sure they’ve made a lot of changes since then, both in the way the company is run and the product itself.
When I was working for them it was a decent place to work but they did a lot of stupid things. I’ve never worked for a company that didn’t. The product was decent too, and like most decent, complex products there were problems with it. Some problems were with the product itself, other times it was because the customers were using it incorrectly or trying to make it do things it wasn’t designed to do. That was my job – training customers to use the product and getting bugs to the programmers who could fix them.
In every customer service position I’ve had, from the highly technical to the simplest retail drone clerk job, one common universal truth is that the customers who are the most obnoxious, the most rude and who make the most demands, the ones who make you silently curse when you hear their voice on the phone again, for the third time that day, are always the same people who don’t pay their bills on time and then expect extra compensation for some perceived (or real) shortcoming in the product.
Mr. Grief wasn’t with the company when I was, so I’m not suggesting he fell into this category. I will give him credit for signing his real name, which is not a requirement here. Finding his company, however, took some digging, and when I did (and I’m not putting it here because I’m only about 80% certain I found the right one) and googled it, his web site didn’t show up until halfway down page 2. Mr. Grief, I would suggest you develop some SEO mojo.
I’m glad to see CORESence is plugged in enough to find and respond to this quickly, and they’re welcome to do that again if they find it necessary.
However, reviews and comments on e-commerce software isn’t the purpose of this four-year-old post, or any other post on this blog. I’ve been away from CORESense for too long to have a valid opinion of what they’re offering now or to know about any of their competitors for comparison. I’d suggest anyone looking for information on e-commerce software look elsewhere for opinions and more up-to-date information.
Dave Hitt | Apr 16, 2012 | Reply
I would be very interested in talking to you privately…please email contact information or a number where i can reach you at jim@miamirealestatepro.net.
Jim | Jan 22, 2013 | Reply
I hit reply on Kary Greif’s post and that is the person I was hoping to get in contact with.
Jim | Jan 23, 2013 | Reply
Considering how old this post is, that Mr. Grief didn’t provide a link to a site and that I can’t (won’t) give whatever e-mail he left, I’d suggest you google his name. I believe his enterprise had to do with sports equipment.
Dave Hitt | Jan 23, 2013 | Reply