[PandaX52]

aBanDON SHIIIIIPP!!

I think the whole internet job world (dare I say; gold rush?!) is overrated, I know of a lot of people getting laid off (including me) and companies going out of buisness. People expect to be making all this money by sitting at a computer and surfing the net when their bosses back is turned. Allthough i'm pretty sure there are some real designers out there.....somewhere

yes that was sarcastic....and exagerated...take it lightheartedly...

then again, I do live in Washington State (Microsoft :[ if you diddnt know) and the concentration of web companies that tried to make it here were higher than in other areas...so my perception of the situation is slighty distorted...

anyways, what do you people think about this?
How bad is it in your area?

[Spitfire]

In the netherlands its quite simple.

All the "dotcoms" that arose the last 3/4 years are all coming down crashing. Why? cause they all want to expand, expand, expand without making any profit in the first 2 years. The higher the burnrate, the quicker the investors drop out - they want to see results.

However, all the regular companies (such as my employer - a newspaper) that expanded their businesses to the internet, are flourishing and doing great business. Why? cause they are allready making profit outside of the internet and can take care of their own business without needing outside venture capital to stay alive.

My employer (De Telegraaf) recently released to the press that they are expecting a 20% decrease in profit for 2001. Why? cause of the investments in my floor : the Department Of Electronic Media. Note that we�re talking about a decrease in profit, we�re not losing money! No dotcom can say the same.

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Smash me to the ground, a thousand times as before.

[travis travis]

those funny little dot coms are what are putting the US economy into a recession. dim-witted venture capitalists sunk millions and millions of dollars into total crap, and now all the legit industries are paying the price. the situation couldn't be any stupider and shows you how unworthy most people are of having money in the first place.

on the bright side, people with real skills, actual artists/programmers/GOOD designers, they'll do just fine in the long run. but the morons will get weeded out (or hired as middle management somewhere. unforunately.)

corporate thinking is really sad though and is exactly what started all this. just imagine some of the biggest hicks in the world with the goal of getting richer, quicker and you'll see how it works.

[strata]

wonder if a 'dotnet' company would do really good right now...

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Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

[dr . bang]

The problem is that there are too many dot com companies, and they all wants the same thing.......MONEY!!!!!!

[Flinthawk]

Well, from talking with people and stories from other sources I've got the impression that dot com businesses were just full of people that don't know how to run a business, spent money on having the nicest of offices, gym memberships, espresso makers on every desk, among other frivolous expenses and then to top it all off they were staffed with people that were generally overpaid for the knowledge and skill they possess. I'm told that I could be making bank if I wasn't working in games and based on what I've seen and heard (heard more than seen) I don't doubt that I could at least do a similar job with minimal training.

Like I said though, this is mostly hearsay and I'm sure there's plenty I don't know and I'm sure that there are infact people that are extremely talented and deserve the environment and the pay they are getting. If anybody else has stuff to add to this I'd be glad to hear it because I know my current perception is a bit skewed thanks largely in part to my sources. I really don't have any desire to work for a dot com, never have, never will, but I'm still a very curious person and hearing other people's sides to this would be interesting.

On a side note, I think it's interesting that Panda mentions the gold rush, particularly when San Fran was both the center of that rush as well as a major player in the dot com rush it seems.

-Flinthawk

btw, sorry about the layoff Panda, hopefully something else comes up

[PandaX52]

Thnx Flint, I still am in high school (my last year)so it's not a really bad thing I lost my job since I'm still living with my parent(s)...

I agree with what Spitfire said about "expanding" versus the "putting-all-the-egggs-in-one-basket approach" (the basket being electronic media and the eggs being the funds).

It seems like it's all about the money and not about the actual delivered product. Judging from what I've seen in the webdesign biz anyway. But don't tell my old boss that...*nervously glances around*

I could be generalizing a bit. I wonder how much money has been lost in the US compared to other countries? I'd guess more in the US since we seem to have such a commercial economy?