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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026

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Im curious what peoples predictions for the coming demographic decline is for the US and other countries? Here is mine: An increase in healthcare related work, and a stagnation of other job sectors. Apparently, excluding healthcare, the amount of jobs in the US is on the decline or stagnating. Not such a fun job market, especially for someone like myself you falls in the "information" category. This will probably continue as the population declines and ages.

Its fascinating, because many people in the gen-z bracket were told to got to college, get a degree, and you'd have a nice cushy office job lined up. While this wasnt all the way bullshit, as i do actually have one of these jobs - as someone who is competing in the current job market, it is BRUTAL. I've had applied to a around ~ 50 jobs (All of these jobs that are at least close to my skill level & credentials, i live in florida for reference and its not the best market for tech to begin with, even though the tech sector is growing here according to the data). In total ive gotten about 3-4 call backs 2 - 3 interview. One were i made it to the final round after 3, and was rejected. Ghosted in another, and have one up and coming.

For more perspective here is my resume (& yes, im aware of the slight formatting error in the projects section). Multiple internships, degrees, & certificates, im trying my best to be competitive. More than one person in my friend group is happy to hear about this population decline; the job search is just so tough for them cant say id blame them, but what many dont understand about declining populations is that population both creates and takes jobs simultaneously. Sure if the population declines, you might have less competition, but you'd also have fewer openings as well. Hard to get hired when a lot of people are not around to create the job you'd be working to start with. The whole demographic decline is good because there will be less people to compete with strikes me as a shortsighted perspective - Humans make the wheels turn all the way down and less people being around isnt gonna create more opportunities for us as a whole.

Still, i can't help but empathize with the sentiment. Constantly apply to every job listing, going through multiple round interview, just to get rejected is so incredibly brutal. Many countries outside the US like china and italy have it even worse with high youth unemployment. It certainly doesnt feel like having more people would be a good from that perspective, even if it likely would. Aging populations mean that a lot of our future jobs and productivity is gonna be directed toward the health sector of our economies, inevitably taking away from or slowing growth from other sectors. I envy people who already have a strong career with high pay and benefits, its insanely difficult for the rest of us.

It's always weird to me when the IT field gets conflated with "Tech" which to me (not that I am an authority) is a shorthand for Software Engineers/Machine Learning Engineers/Computer Scientists. The two fields have radically different variables, IT is almost always a cost center to someone. You are either doing it in house, or working for a consulting company selling your cost center-ness to other companies. The Tech folks are money generator in that they create products/services/work that is then sold (in some fashion). On a balance sheet these are two radically different outcomes, and when the economy slows, companies don't want to expand the cost center.

I lost my job in late 2024 as part of a lay-off. I sent out probably a 100 resumes via websites, linkedin, recruiters, et al. It took me about 6 weeks to find another job that ostensibly required me to relocate, but in practice I was able to prove my value staying at the local office near me. My boss no longer talks about me relocating. One of the interesting things I noticed, is that remote work jobs are insanely over-valued. If you are applying to work remote, 10,000 other people with your skills or better are too, and unless you are the creme de la creme, you aren't standing out. In person jobs are much better competition wise, and you can even turn them into quasi-remote jobs once you have proven yourself.

Its fascinating, because many people in the gen-z bracket were told to got to college, get a degree, and you'd have a nice cushy office job lined up

Only if you picked the right field, got internships and work experience, and either networked, did projects, research or went to the right school. The extra parts were just implied. No one smart ever thought getting an English bachelors or HR degree entitled you to a nice cushy job. The part about going to college, is that it requires you to also demonstrate you can think without being told to. Figuring out which jobs are flush with applicants or are low pay is fairly straightforward with some independent thought. The only lie that gen-z was sold was that it required no extra effort, no extra thought, just color inside the lines like you were told to, you good little lemming. And that's probably because that extra effort/thought is a costly signal. And why pollute the costly signal, the smart ones will figure it out, which is the point of a costly signal.

here is my resume

You have too much white space, it definitely shouldn't be 2 pages. Everything reads super bland. You don't need to always do the "show me don't tell me" it just needs to read better than something 10k other entry level IT folks also all do.

Only if you picked the right field, got internships and work experience, and either networked, did projects, research or went to the right school. The extra parts were just implied. No one smart ever thought getting an English bachelors or HR degree entitled you to a nice cushy job. The part about going to college, is that it requires you to also demonstrate you can think without being told to. Figuring out which jobs are flush with applicants or are low pay is fairly straightforward with some independent thought. The only lie that gen-z was sold was that it required no extra effort, no extra thought, just color inside the lines like you were told to, you good little lemming. And that's probably because that extra effort/thought is a costly signal. And why pollute the costly signal, the smart ones will figure it out, which is the point of a costly signal.

Yes, let's fuck over everyone who can't read between the lines. Then don't be too surprised when, ten years later, those same people are voting en masse for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

When the system is out to fuck you, it's time to burn down the system.

Yes, let's fuck over everyone who can't read between the lines.

Considering I am autistic as fuck, and I still got the message. I'd advise that just thinking about it is pretty straightforward, blaming others for not telling you to think is literally the point. If you can't think for yourself you are not intelligent, period.

Lmao I'd don't think I've ever been an advocate for the system, so go ahead. I'm sure IT jobs are going to be more needed in the apocalyptic subsistence economy that follows.