Posted at 11:10 a.m. PDT Friday, June 15, 2001
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Mike Schlenz, who recently installed computer
networks for a living, had been sleeping in his Honda Civic for three
months when he went to a homeless shelter.
John Sacrosante, who earned more than $100,000 a year as a free-lance
database engineer, spent his 39th birthday last week with the ``brothers''
he's met at the church shelter where he's has been living.
Both are casualties of the struggling economy in Silicon Valley,
where a surprising number of former high-tech workers are rubbing elbows
with society's castaways -- the mentally ill, drug addicts and hard-luck
cases -- in homeless shelters.
``We're all equal here,'' said Sacrosante. ``When you're used to
making six figures and working in a dynamic and exciting environment and
all of a sudden it goes away, you do have a nice little world of depression
going on.''
Across Northern California, high tech workers who have suddenly lost
their livelihoods are feeling far removed from a manic but contented
lifestyle where they counted free cappuccino as perks.
Nearly 30 unemployed tech workers are among the 100 men at the
Montgomery Street Inn and other shelters in San Jose run by InnVision, said
Robbie Reinhart, director of the nonprofit organization.
``They're not what we used to call hobos on the street. Most have
college degrees,'' she said.
Dot-com failures sent San Francisco's unemployment rate up to 4.2
percent in May from a rock-bottom 2.6 percent a year ago -- with 18,000
people added, a new state report shows.
In Santa Clara County, the heart of the Silicon Valley, layoffs in
electronic equipment manufacturing and business services rose for the fifth
consecutive month, contributing to a 3.2 percent unemployment rate in May.
Reinhart says most of the tech workers she sees have had their
contracts canceled or been laid off from start-ups and other smaller
technology companies.
Some shelter residents still have jobs, but don't make enough to
afford the high price of living alone in the valley, she said.
Top consultants and contractors once named their salaries in the
valley. Now, even those who qualify for unemployment benefits soon discover
the $40 to $230 weekly check won't cover the rent for an apartment here,
where average monthly rents are around $1,800.
Besides being financially draining, layoffs can be psychologically
wrenching for people married to their jobs, said Dr. Ilene Philipson, a
clinical psychologist and sociologist at the Center for Working Families at
University of California, Berkeley.
``There have always been layoffs and economic downturns, but what
makes this unusual is that people in the valley have become appendages of
their jobs and their workplace. They've worked up to 110 hours per week and
slept on the conference room floor,'' she said. ``People have given up all
sorts of things to give to their job and when there's a layoff there's no
other support for them.''
Suicide and crisis hot line operators in San Francisco and Santa
Clara counties report that job-related calls nearly doubled from October to
April; many complained of lost jobs or feared they would soon be out of work.
Studies have shown that 12-18 months after downturns in the economy,
suicide rates rise, said Eve Meyer, director of the San Francisco Suicide
Prevention Crisis Line.
``They lose their car, and they can stand it,'' said Meyer. ``Then
they lose their house, and that's bad. Then they may lose their family.
That's when you get into substance abuse. A year may have gone by the time
they call us.''
Schlenz, 35, a Bay Area native with a degree in environmental
chemistry, made as much as $60,000 a year as a free-lance contractor,
installing Unix networks, configuring routers and working in desktop
support for small companies. Then his jobs disappeared.
``I'd been to all the job fairs. I'd followed up on all the
resumes,'' he said. ``Some of the larger companies approached me several
times, but then kept leading me on for months. Departments were downsized
and outsourced. Recruiters just stopped returning messages.''
Schlenz still has some stock, but the value has dropped.
``I cashed in half my stocks to eat. I couldn't even afford gas
anymore,'' he said. He gave up his apartment after running out of cash, and
``car-camped'' behind a book store. He showered at a gym where his
membership was good through May.
Someone told him he could get a meal at the Montgomery Street Inn,
where he now stays and volunteers as a monitor and teacher in the shelter's
computer lab.
The Inn has the same policy for all its residents -- stay free for a
month, then pay $45 a week, whether they have a job or not. Sacrosante had
planned to stay no more than five weeks at the shelter, where he teaches
residents how to use the computers.
It's a far cry from the Oracle database certification classes
Sacrosante taught as a consultant to major firms before becoming an
independent contractor. He was laid off shortly after moving from San Jose
to Phoenix to work on what was supposed to be a six-month project for a
company there.
Sacrosante came back to San Jose three weeks ago with the promise of
being hired by one of two Santa Clara-based technical training companies.
The offers fell through.
Though forced to a shelter, there's an only-in-Silicon Valley twist
to his story. Sacrosante and three other former high-tech workers who met
at the shelter are launching Intellikon Technologies, a start-up that will
resell wearable mobile computing systems.
Sacrosante said he'll use some of the funding he secured for the
venture to rent a house that will double as an office and housing for the
four men.
Schlenz is still waiting for his lucky break.
He said he's applied for an entry-level position, something for which
he's overqualified, at Redwood Shores-based Oracle Corp.
He hasn't told his mother, who is in Arkansas, about his current
situation.
``She'd worry,'' he said. But he says he now has more of what it
takes to make it when a top company hires him. ``After this experience, I
feel I have more determination than other people.''
Address of original story:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/082787.htm
Justin........
My hindsight is 20/20.........
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