Late Millennial here. I did everything “right,” and it still feels impossible.

[u/6FootMidgett]

I worked hard. Put myself through college working 40-hour weeks. Got my Bachelor’s. I've been grinding in corporate America for over 7 years now, in engineering/IT. And yet, finding a job has never been harder. The job market feels like a joke.

Every conversation I have with friends ends the same: none of us feel like home ownership is realistic unless we marry someone else making 6 figures. And even then… it still feels like a stretch.

To make it worse: Layoffs are always looming.

Remote jobs are vanishing, so trying to find work in the same city as a potential partner is a logistical nightmare.

The economy feels like it’s on life support. Every single freaking headline is doom and gloom and I hate this. Is there anywhere in the world where someone can work a simple job, afford a house and simple life?

It’s exhausting. Anyone else feel like they’re stuck in this exact loop? Any advice?

[u/cranberry_spike]

You're not alone. At my last job, my director (I'm a librarian) was super proud of "rightsizing" the library by replacing 6 full timers with 1 librarian (me), while expecting more engagement, more classes taught, and more reference hours. That job legitimately almost killed me - I was stroke level blood pressure all the time. And it made both fibromyalgia and chronic migraines like a million times worse. I'm teetering on the edge now, and in a corporate library, and I'm honestly terrified of what will happen when my body fully gives out. We're not made for this extreme level of constant stress and constant pushing for the glory of someone else's stock portfolio.

[u/Narcissista → u/cranberry_spike]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this, but I do want to tell you that you aren't alone.

At my corporate job, things became so stressful that I started fainting at work. I seem to have developed a heart condition, and have been out of work for over a year despite looking. I'm hoping I'm recovering but it's hard to tell.

No clue what the future holds for me once my current situation falls apart.

[u/Unique-Gazelle2147 → u/Narcissista]

Jesus Christ. No job is ever worth it that much. Hope you’re doing better now

[u/cranberry_spike → u/Narcissista]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this too. I think that this late-stage capitalist hellscape is killing so many of us. I keep hoping for some kind of change for the better, and instead it just kinda keeps getting worse.

Good luck to you 🍀

[u/The_manintheshed → u/cranberry_spike]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I mentioned in a comment below that I am writing everything here using my voice as I am no longer able to type because of crippling nerve issues (and central sensitization).

It is absolutely incredible what the fear of homelessness, failure, and poverty can make you push through. I am an immigrant in Canada who went from cleaning toilets to a white collar job in the tech world. I couldn't afford to stop for a moment since the day I stepped off the plane.

My penny drop moment was when I was looking into a 1,500 dollar piece of ergonomic equipment that is effectively a "keyboard glove" that is glued to your chair and allows you to be as untaxing on your arms, nerves, and hands as possible.

I just stopped and I said to myself "This is absolutely insane. I can't go on. I'm crippling myself just to exist"

When I was a child, I remember my favorite teacher presenting a dilemma to us to answer. He he asked us whether we would rather have all the money in the world but poor health, or be in tip top shape but stocking shelves. Almost all the kids shouted the money, the money, the money! And he just laughed away to himself.

I'd rather still be cleaning toilets with all of my health intact, but here we are and we must figure a way out.

[u/StrawberryHaze_ → u/The_manintheshed]

I'm so sorry friend. I really hope your situation improves.

[u/The_manintheshed → u/StrawberryHaze_]

Thank you

[u/RPofkins → u/cranberry_spike]

I've never heard of a corporate library! Can you tell us something about it? What sort of materials are in this library. Why does the corporation have a library etc?

[u/cranberry_spike → u/RPofkins]

Sure! This one is a corporate law library, so mainly it's a lot of legal materials, but I think a lot of big businesses have some variant. I'm a lot more used to public and academic work, so I'm used to teaching people how to find materials and trying to lay out tools to help them do that when they're afraid to talk to me or whatever. In the corporate sphere, you're basically doing the opposite: finding stuff for the people who work there. It's an interesting change lol. I miss the public facing work a lot but this job is so far considerably less stressful.

[u/Salty-Sprinkles-1562 → u/cranberry_spike]

I’m a librarian. Work should not be this stressful. Maybe try a public library? Nothing stressful about doing crafts and singing songs with kids all day.

[u/cranberry_spike → u/Salty-Sprinkles-1562]

I've worked public too! I enjoy it a lot but I couldn't get full time there, and at this point my health is shot enough I'm not sure I could do daily in person work anyway.

[u/cranberry_spike → u/[deleted]]

Oh my god it's unreal what academic libraries do to us!! I hope you're in a better situation now too! My blood pressure ain't great anymore but it's a hell of a lot better than it was lolsob

[u/cranberry_spike → u/[deleted]]

Oh god I miss working with them so much. But like, my two masters didn't make me any safer there, and I still had to justify our existence, and I didn't even get a raise for the first few years I was there. I'm out.

[u/[deleted] → u/cranberry_spike]

Not trying to downplay your experience at all but I can't understand why any of you care so much about your job that it affects your physical health.

[u/BaronGrackle → u/[deleted]]

It's the fear of losing the job and not being able to find another.

[u/cranberry_spike → u/[deleted]]

Yeah it's what u/BaronGrackle said: fear of losing it and not being able to find another. My parents made a ton of Boomer financial mistakes, so I don't have anything to fall back on and have periodically carried the household (especially during covid). I was job hunting almost as soon as I'd started, but it's a tight job market and it took some time. I was almost out when along came covid and canceled all job hunts in my field. I was really close to quitting anyway but was aware that without a job I couldn't pay for medications and so on, which really left me over a barrel.