I completed undergrad with a degree in biology, very fortunate to have received scholarships/finaid and thankfully have no tuition debt. Since freshman year I’ve wanted to work in the environmental field, saving the planet and all that. Worked for two years after undergrad as a research technician, $32k salary. Went to graduate school and got a Masters and a PhD, which was eight years of living off a $30k salary. Dealt with the typical graduate school overwork and a toxic advisor. Lived with roommates the entire time. Spent next to nothing, saved as much as I could. Last fall I finally graduated and started a real-person job working as a fisheries biologist with a federal agency to manage commercially important fisheries. $68k salary, still living with roommates to try and save as much money to make up for the low income over the past 10 years. Things were finally looking up, and literally as I was starting to have the slightest inkling that I might be able to afford a house one day or do something that resembled being an actual adult… the election and inauguration happened.
And now they’ve not only cancelled the lease to my laboratory, but they also cut funding to the entire program. And they’re cutting a bunch of other related federal programs that I would plan to work in when this program fully closes. And they randomly fired a bunch of contractors today. After already firing probationary employees and forcing a bunch of people out with resignation offers. I was lucky to survive the probationary firings but apparently too dumb to take a resignation offer. I truly thought our program would survive in some form, but alas. The orange man and his cronies have decided fish and the fishing industry is not important.
I realize that I am extremely lucky. I am debt-free and managed to save some money over the past 10 years by living like a perpetual early 20-something. I am living in an area close to family and friends, and everyone has been incredibly supportive over the past few months. I have two graduate degrees and will find work that will support me. I just needed to share one story about how this administration’s actions are affecting people in so many ways. Our entire field is being dismantled, and it’s affecting the state and university levels as well. This administration is destroying the US’s scientific capabilities and doing everything it can to wipe out an entire generation of young scientists. I know I’ll find work, but it likely won’t be in the field that I spent the last 10 years studying for. It’s my loss as well as theirs.
Comments
I don’t think the government up and decided that the fishing industry is not important. But I do think as a government we have to spend more time thinking about efficiently spending our money. We are putting $1 trillion plus a year on the credit card with absolutely no plan to pay it back and we have been for more than 20 years.
This is not sustainable, and the government will collapse on itself under the load of that debt . Who’s gonna be worried about the fishing industry then?
I feel your pain and I’m sorry that’s happening to you, but we have to look at the greater picture of what’s going on in our country
I’m a 20 year federal employee and I am disgusted and appalled at the amount of damage that has occurred in the span of 3 months. I took the buyout and I am so thankful. There is no rhyme or reason for the cuts and the ‘we’re saving money’ line is a lie. The gutting of federal agencies is costing so much more money than it’s saving.
You are but a victim of the government’s job to maintain the rich as wealthy as can be and they will continue to help them more than the average American. Thank you for actually doing some good work and I hope you can get back to that soon. 💔
I’m so sorry 😞
He doesn’t care he is rich and a delusional idiot.
We will win this. They do not know who they are messing with.
I am so sorry. This criminal administration is destroying our country, wiping out our economy, and this will not be a quick recovery for anyone affected. Particularly in your field of work. I was a fed prior to his first administration – Director of Curriculum and Staff Development for US State Department. When he was elected the first time I quit and went back to private sector, seeing what was targeted at fed workers.
It angers me beyond belief how the stereotype of the lazy government worker has allowed Elon and the felon to do this. Yes, you see this stereotype, but it is few and far between. The vast, vast majority of feds are committed to their area of expertise, and to working for the public good. What angers me the most is that he and the republicant party tricked those who rely on federal programs the most to vote against their own interest, and to destroy the federal government.
I am having a hard time feeling empathy for the situation they have put themselves in. Meanwhile, my closest friends who work across the government – DOD, FEMA, State, USDA, DOL, NIH, DOJ – truly across the spectrum have been placed in positions of constant stress and fear… if they haven’t already lost their jobs. And this chaos was exactly the point – they want to make it awful to work, so people quit. This way they can hire sycophants and hire the work out to their cronies’ contracting agencies.
I am angry. I am pissed. I want to watch the chaos go down, and I want to say “I warned you” over and over and over again.
At the same time, my greatest hope is that the felon ends up in solitary confinement – this side of the grass or otherwise.
You’ll be ok, there’s other eco jobs out there for you but you may have to move to a new state or city for it as long as you’re not wrapped up in being a fed.