America's Nouveaux Tech Poor!
I used to be a technical writer. Most of the last decade I spent ensconced in a windowless office at Microsoft's main corporate campus, where I wrote online Help files or sections for user manuals. During my tenure there I worked as either a full-time employee or as "contingency staff," where I was employed by a temporary employment agency rather than the company itself.With the events of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing recession, I could no longer find work. My unemployment benefits ran out last November, soon after Congress and the Bush administration nixed Democratic proposals to extend them. I began to pound the pavement, canvassing blocks of businesses at a time, filling out job applications. Finally, I was hired for a deli job --for $8 an hour. READ David Beckman's article in PDF format.
