On a side note about the engineering field

Boy did we get screwed! By we I mean civil engineering majors (civies). When we decided to major in civil engineering the economy was rolling full steam ahead in the housing boom; buildings were being constructed. The government was gearing up to put more money towards infrastructure. I remember telling my father, "We are going to need new infrastructure! Engineers are always in demand!"

Holy s**t was I wrong! Civies are not in demand like they used to be! I did not realize at the time that there would be a huge drop in private construction and those who could not find private contracts would flood the public infrastructure market. So much so one recruiter told me that "you now have 20 companies bidding for one [public contract] where you would only have 5." Which of course means lower prices, and lower profit margins for the firms. Which of course leads to belt tightening; which means either layoffs or no hiring. Damn!

As I write this though I must admit as depressing as the job market is for civies my friends and I seem to be taking it in stride. We laugh about our naiviety of thinking we were always going to be guaranteed (pronounced gar-run-teed if you have had a Spence class) a job after graduation, and some of us are even going to graduate school. I guess that goes back to the good ol' fashioned American optimism!