I know job market seems good now but we are headed for another recession. And when that hits, whoever is new at any company will not be safe. If the companies are safe themselves.
One thing - sadly - we can bet on: AT&T will keep changing, restructuring, reorganizing...but at the end of it, it'll still be standing. Your best bet is still here.
Just my thoughts, take it or leave it.
Dude, I quit September 2016. Why? The surplus was written all over the wall! DirecTV Now launched the following month in Q4 2016. Pair that with coming 5G deployment.... = NO JOB.
If most techs were true "techy" types and would've kept up with industry news, you'd have known by summer 2016 what was coming. Verizon had already published preliminary test results showing a car traveling at high speed on a test track, 2000 feet from the radio... Pulling like 3gbps!
Also, AT&T already had two sites (TX & NJ) where they deployed 5G radios for testing. When CX ordered HSIA, they'd get mailed a WiFi router--- w/ a SIM card in it.
Pair that with DTV Now and you have ZERO need for a wire tech. And here we are today.
I thought it would all go down by Q4 2019/Q1 2020. Guess Randall is in a rush!!
Good luck guys!
where I live the tech market is hot and if you kept your skills up besides the paperwork you learn to fill out at the T a new gig should not be a big problem. glad I left I am with a company that doesn't manage through surplus and actually treats you like a human. but it is all what you make out of it and what you are comfortable doing.
love the low hanging fruit comment. people act like it is a badge of honor to make it to retirement at the T and those who get laid off deserve it because they are the low hanging fruit not working or not being a "leader" lol.
@gqk FYI, unemployment does cause a recession. Recessions start when there is a drop in demand cause people stop spending. People stop spending when they think their job is in jeopardy, or they lose their job. People lose jobs cause businesses stop spending. They stop spending way before a recession starts. This is true cause if people keep spending, there is no recession. They keep spending if they have money. See quantitative easing, record unemployment, no recession since 2009.
@zws Well, I don't see the banking problems we had in 2008. We do have two bubbles though, stock market and housing, and that is because we don't have free markets. Rather, we have a Federal Reserve bank printing money (quantitative easing) and manipulating interest rates in order to manipulate debt markets. And once they go down that rabbit hole, it affects the price discovery mechanism in all markets, stock, and housing.
Japan has been carrying on with this for quite a while, and it hasn't blown up yet, although I think it will. But, for the US, will it blow up in the short term? I guess, (and I'm putting my money where my mouth is), is that it won't. But who knows?
But all the data points to this point in time, the coast is as clear as it's going to get if someone is burning out at AT&T.
I did well at AT&T, and we've been hearing all this noise forever. But everything is individual.
I heard an interview with Dow's chairman saying they're hiring anyone with an associate's degree and training them. The electric company is hiring and training lineman who go out in those trucks with the buckets.
I saw a big plumber on television seeking employees - will train. I saw that ad twice, and he didn't have to advertise any more. But, I've never seen that before. Fed Ex was putting hiring signs in front of Walmarts. And on and on.
And I live in a neighborhood with reasonable housing costs. I have never seen anything like this in my life.
KImosabe... we are on the same page. The comment below yours is the one I commented on.
@-mbt -- "The company lays off in order of seniority so it’s not like most of the people leaving the company now have a choice when there’s no one junior to them." That may be the case in the bargained for world, but it doesn't work like that at all for management.
@yxr, slow down my friend and read my second paragraph, second sentence. What I said was that Recessions “have one thing in common” which is unemployment....NEVER said that unemployment causes them! I’m required to say FYI I guess!
Now re-read the first paragraph....I said, “that’s just not how a recession works. Sometimes it’s a tech bubble, or a housing/bank induced problem.” I went so far as to mention high inflation of the early 80’s as a cause.
Please re-read slowly Kimosabe, you’re looking to have an argument where none exists! Good luck to you...
Correction...Unemployment does NOT cause a recession, it is a result of a recession. Cause and effect ...just FYI.
Unemployment does cause a recession, it is a result of a recession. Cause and effect ...just FYI.
“I don’t see a recession, at least not in employment. And that is because of the baby boomers retiring.” And with respect, I hope you’re right but that’s just not how a recession works. Sometimes it’s a tech bubble, or a housing/bank induced problem. The 1980-82 Recession was two (six months then 16 months) back to back because of out of control inflation, and of course the 1991 recession.
All have one thing in common, high unemployment. The consumer tightens their wallet and spends less, the business gets less consumer purchases from those “tight wallets” (iPhones, iPads or downsizing premium style HBO, Cinemax channels) and therefore employs less people to cut costs from loss of revenue ....it has a snowball effect.
In 2008, over 800 Chrysler/Dodge dealerships and almost 2000 GM dealers closed their doors and never came back....very simply, if businesses close their doors then there is no place to send your resume too.
I missed the ‘73-‘75 Recession but worked through all the rest and each was unique in its own way but unemployment was their common denominator. The Baby Boomers retiring won’t make the difference.
I don't see a recession, at least not in employment. And that is because of the baby boomers retiring. Labor participation rates for people 54 years and under are way up, yet the job market is tight.
So, I think this is a good time to find something new if AT&T isn't working out. That said, for many people, AT&T does work out. I think it's an individual decision. I don't see a macro economic issue at play at the moment.
Low hanging fruit? The company lays off in order of seniority so it’s not like most of the people leaving the company now have a choice when there’s no one junior to them.
I really think a lot of this will blow over in the next year. Once the herd is thinned out a bit... those who hung on will be wfh again and all that. They are just trying to pick off the low hanging fruit this year...
To clarify the following “Good advice, I began my career on the land line side and was formally laid off after 11 years. Was between jobs for awhile, then rehired back to the wireless side..... fast forward 24 years later.....stuck it out through good and tough times and retired with full benefits last year. Just saying don’t give up so easily.”
I was in 1st and 2nd level management (individual contributor role) and never in a “Collaboration” Hub location, during my whole career.
Good advice, I began my career on the land line side and was formally laid off after 11 years. Was between jobs for awhile, then rehired back to the wireless side..... fast forward 24 years later.....stuck it out through good and tough times and retired with full benefits last year. Just saying don’t give up so easily.
It is beyond stupid to leave a job unless you have another better opportunity lined up. My first thought when I hear that someone left a job without a new job, is that they were forced out. Fired, let go, laid off, downsized, whatever.
No matter how frustrated you are with your current job, it is far better than no job, and you are (hopefully) continuing to accumulate benefits whether it is Social Security, Pension, 401 K match. If you are laid off, you will most likely be eligible for unemployment, and possibly severance. If you leave on your own, you get jack (see above).
Also, keep in mind that the media is full of it and good jobs are hard to come by and getting harder as you get older. Remember how hard it was to get that great job out of college? Well it is going to be way harder now. Don't get swept up in stupidity, keep your options open, but don't put yourself in a bad position.
Sound advice OP, through a good portion of last year, many posts called for Boomers (of which I’m one) to make way for a younger breed and they were heavy throughout these threads....it was believed it would save their jobs. As time has passed, many came to understand that there was no rythme or reason to that philosophy, those posts have lessened.
Whether a Boomer, or Gen-X’r, The Age Ceiling is unseen but exists, and you will face competition in the next job you apply for by that same younger generation....that’s not meant as a slight, simply a cold, hard fact. It’s how the economics of businesses run, go with youth for the long run.
Hang on as long as you can, there will be time to gripe about your old job, over a cold brew, in retirement.
Why would you quit? Let them pay you (severance) to leave.
A bird in the hand....
Just don't fat shame us anymore with doughnuts, we'll stay forever!
Agreed. Literally doesn’t pay to quit.