Tech Jobs And The Mentality Of Entitlement

Taking the mentality of entitlement to a new low, a 27-year-old tech graduate of a New York City college is suing her alma mater because it has "not tried hard enough" to help her find a job, according to court papers filed in Bronx Supreme Court.Trina Thompson, who graduated in April from Monroe College with a bachelor of business administration degree in IT, sporting a 2.7 GPA, is seeking $70,000 in tuition costs and an additional $2,000 "for the stress I have been going through looking for a full-time job on my own," according to the court papers, which reportedly were handwritten. No word on which color crayon she used.

In an interview with CNN, Thomson said this about Monroe's Office of Career Advancement: "They're supposed to say, 'I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right--can you interview this person?' They're not doing that." She complained to CNN that the office is showing preferential treatment to grads with better grades.

We could--and really should--dismiss this instance as just another oddball lawsuit. But the victim class is a rising faction in American society. And if some of the responses to my recent column on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education are any indication, many tech professionals in particular think employers and policy-makers "owe" them a high-paying, protected job. Multiple respondents, citing their multiple technical degrees and considerable experience, even put the onus on me to find them a job, since I'm such a believer in the value of STEM education.

News flash: This economy is brutal for everyone, not just experienced and entry-level tech pros. Even if our nation's list of inalienable rights seems to grow every day (perceived rights to privacy, a government-funded college education, even health care), it still doesn't include the right to a high-paying, satisfying job. Everyone still has to fight for and earn those in a capitalist economy, one that's not always "fair" and certainly never comfortable.