10 Things to do with a Mac in a Struggling Economy

10 Things to do with a Mac in a Struggling Economy by Erik Hansen

With layoffs and an overflow of Mac professionals looking for jobs, Mac's have become $4,000 paperweights.  Ad agencies have been closing, marketing departments cut to bare bones, and internet design has just about come to a screeching halt.  I have considered using my Mac as an aerodynamic testing unit off the top of my building.

Since the economie's struggles, the Mac faithful have been encountering many tough hardships.  The majority of Mac users are part of the design community, which is mostly limited to advertising via print or web, and video/3D.  Unfortunately, the first thing cut from budgets in the corporate world is the non-profit-earning marketing department.  Layoffs and budget cuts have left an influx of qualified design professionals chomping at the bit for lousy under-paid positions previously deemed for entry-level workers.

What happened was, in the previously successful economy, budgets were high and so were designers' salaries.  Not to mention the art of computer graphics was a new skill, with many schools not having the technical knowledge or capital to buy computer labs full of expensive Mac's and software, leaving a high demand and a small amount of qualified applicants. Salaries skyrocketed above what was paid for a traditional marketing professional.  Schools saw this demand and jumped on the opportunity to offer courses in the new and exciting field of graphics with "limitless possibilities!"  I too was one of the idiots who fell for this propaganda, when I should have gone into Information Services.

Now we have thousands of schools pumping out design students by the barrelful every semester, flooding the field even worse than it was before. I have friends with graphic degrees working at bars, restaurants, and department stores.  I myself worked as a busboy for 4 months before being "lucky enough" to land a job with a pre-press company.  At least I got a job, right!  I say screw that, this blows!  I worked for a year at the pre-press company with no benefits, long hours, extreme pressured deadlines, and way below average pay.  Now what do I have?  I have a semi-better position, still no benefits, no paid holidays, no sick days, no vacation days for a year, hourly pay, and a bureaucratic corporation telling me what to do.

So what do we do, I say LEARN A NEW SKILL!  Obviously, this has extreme limits and dwindling pay rates, get out while you still can.  Just think, do you want to be 40 years old, too old to start over again, earning $25,000 a year and being laid off every time the economy hits a low point (about every 3 years)?

For comments, and I'm sure you'll have some if your a Mac user, please