Unemployed Microsoft SQL guy at traffic lights

tridev

tridev

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
401
Reaction score
212
While driving in Pretoria East I noticed a guy at the traffic holding a cardboard sign that reads he is looking for an IT Job.

I stopped and had a talk with him and got his name and contact details. He is a native English speaker. His skills are Microsoft SQL Server, Data warehousing, Reporting, Power BI. He mentioned he worked at some of the biggest companies in South Africa. He is looking for a contract or permanent job in the Johannesburg or Pretoria area. He mentioned that companies don't hire older men. My understanding was he was 50 years old.he said he worked on contracts for banks and the JSE previously. He said he knows lots of IT people like him who are also unemployed.

If you want his contact details you can PM me.

Disclaimer: I don't know him. I just stopped and talked to him as I found it unusual for a guy that has a sign asking for an IT Job.
 
Last edited:
tridev said:
While driving in Pretoria East I noticed an guy at the traffic holding a cardboard sign that reads he is looking for an IT Job.

I stopped and had a talk with him and got his name and contact details. He is a native English speaker. His skills are Microsoft SQL Server, Data warehousing, Reporting, Power BI. He mentioned he worked at some of the biggest companies in South Africa. He is looking for a contract or permanent job in the Johannesburg or Pretoria area. He mentioned that companies don't hire if you are after the age of 50 or older. My understanding was he was 50 years old. He said he knows lots of unemployed IT people like him who are also unemployed.

If you want his contact details you can PM me
Click to expand...

Hope you guys come right
 
That sounds a bit fishy tbh, I don't believe you will be unemployed for being over 50 for a skilled job. There will be other reasons.
 
Deadmanza said:
Does sound odd.
However, I really hope he comes right.
It is terrible not having work.
Click to expand...
Also including that he should probably be rich enough from the skilled work not to need to go beg for quite a while, and if he can't get a job in over one/two years there definitely has to be something wrong.
 
TBH, many over 50's are filtered out these days in IT,
your just considered too old to be anything in IT, many young bloods to use and abuse , so recruiters target those guys.

if you show up after 50, your considered too old, goes for other engineering professions as well,
electronic,mechanical,chemical ect ect..
new crisis we are about to face, when many of the current generation get to there 50's and get drop kicked out of their comfy corporate jobs, for new fresh meat for the grinder.


if he got PDP, Id suggest a uber, or bolt as there isnt any age limit on that.
otherwise, difficult life for many of those people,

bit extreme to be standing at a robot begging for work.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Also including that he should probably be rich enough from the skilled work not to need to go beg for quite a while, and if he can't get a job in over one/two years there definitely has to be something wrong.
Click to expand...
Yep The skills he lists are high paying skills.
We not getting the whole story.
 
skimread said:
BEE legislation probably also dont help.
Click to expand...
At this level it wouldn't really matter as the company would just hire a couple of cleaning staff or some other low skill labor if they were trying BEE, definitely not for someone that senior who can earn you quite a bit of money.
 
IT is a fickle industry.. age and experience count against you if you are not working on the latest greatest thing and then most places expect people worry about their career development on their own time which often means people fall into a trap where they are 'stuck'.

Personally I think IT is a young persons profession in SA.. not because young people have an advantage to offer nor better ability but simply resource cost is cheaper. It's weird..I'd say you need to transition into a non-technical role by the time you 40 or suffer the indignity of technical assessments and rejection mails galore (if you lucky enough to get a response). With the younger generation SA is gonna suffer.

There is a reason why i am working hard at transitioning to something else.. to bad for our customers but that is life. It's weird how i can't find an adequate replacement for myself yet i can't find a job in SA either.. lmfao.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Also including that he should probably be rich enough from the skilled work not to need to go beg for quite a while, and if he can't get a job in over one/two years there definitely has to be something wrong.
Click to expand...

That's a terrible assumption. The vast majority of "rich" South African's life from one paycheck to the next.

If I had to withdraw my retirement savings, they'd probably be wiped out in a year or two if I couldn't downscale (i.e. sell my house, cars, etc)
 
xrapidx said:
That's a terrible assumption. The vast majority of "rich" South African's life from one paycheck to the next.

If I had to withdraw my retirement savings, they'd probably be wiped out in a year or two if I couldn't downscale (i.e. sell my house, cars, etc)
Click to expand...
So, are you going to sell your house before or after begging on the street?
 
Johnatan56 said:
So, are you going to sell your house before or after begging on the street?
Click to expand...

You assume a house can sell for more than the bond in this market. There are four houses in my street that have been on the market for over a year.
 
Is he perhaps unwilling to work for the R100k he wants a month?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X