Kent Haynes never imagined he would work for free. But last week the 58-year-old former technical program manager for Compaq Corp., with more than 30 years of experience in the high-tech industry, took a job as an unpaid volunteer at a struggling start-up in Newark.

"At least it keeps me off the street," said Haynes, laid off from his $90,000-a-year white-collar job in March.

From the executive suite to the assembly line, the high-tech industry's collapse has taken a huge toll on the bottom lines of Bay Area tech workers.

Tech industry employment has declined every month since March 2001. The number of U.S. tech jobs fell by 113,000 in the first six months of 2002, according to a report released last week by the American Electronics Association. Private-sector employment inched up 1 percent in the same period. The Department of Labor reports that 1.6 million have been out of work for more than six months, the highest level since 1994.

National outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas will report Monday that the average length of a job search for discharged managers and executives surged 26 percent during the past 12 months and now stands at nearly four months, a 16-year high. Outplacement firms say a typical tech job search takes six months, up dramatically from a year ago.

"This is my third recession, and it's the worst one," said Silicon Valley career counselor Patti Wilson. "It's a tech depression, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel."

Facing the worst hiring slump in recent memory, out-of-work techies are struggling to stay afloat. Everyone from the young dot-commers weathering their first recession to older workers who have never seen the tech industry hit this hard spend their days scouring job boards, working their Rolodexes, speed-dialing recruiters, and sending out reams of resumes. The resumes disappear into a black hole, they say.

"There are no jobs," said Matt Heminger, a senior educational engineer laid off from PeopleSoft Inc. in August.

With the stagnating economy and unrelenting layoffs at tech companies, prospects for the unemployed seem to get bleaker by the day. Even though the rate of job loss appears to be slowing, landing a job sometimes seems as speculative as the Internet bubble itself. Job searches are taking longer and are much tougher even after people downsize expectations and apply for lesser jobs for lower pay.

"I made $132,000 last year. If I could make $40,000 at a job, I would take it," Heminger said. He already sold the 2,400-square-foot Tracy home where his ex-wife and son lived. His ex-wife moved to a more affordable 1,000-square-foot apartment in San Ramon closer to her job. His 8-year-old son, Tyler, had to leave his best friend and is having trouble adjusting to his new school. "It's tougher on Tyler than anyone else," Heminger said.

Native New Yorker Susan Casella, 35, moved to Oakland in 1997 for the plentiful sunshine and high-tech jobs. She found her second home at PeopleSoft, where she worked as a senior marketing communications manager. Laid off last month, Casella already has grown nervous. She has spent fruitless hours chatting up recruiters and working her way through her Rolodex as her three cats curl up at her feet.

"I've always had a very easy time finding a new job either through my contacts or headhunters, but this time the jobs just aren't out there," she said. "I don't lack for people to hire me. I lack for open positions."

The stark contrast between before and after the tech crash took many techies by surprise. On weekday mornings when Michael Galpin, 28, emerged from BART and walked 10 downtown San Francisco blocks to his job as a software engineer at an Internet startup, he was always struck by the palpable energy on the packed streets. "I recently had an interview downtown, and the streets were a lot emptier. There really wasn't the same kind of buzz that was in the air back then," he said. "Everyone is in hunkered-down mode. Everyone has just got to survive right now."

Galpin's company, Concord-based RetailersMarketXchange Inc., shuts down at the end of the month. He used to expect a pay raise when changing jobs. Now he hopes he won't have to take a pay cut to land a job as a Java programmer. He is considering jobs in San Jose, a long commute from his Walnut Creek home. He and his wife, a nurse, have even thought about relocating to Los Angeles, where tech jobs are more abundant. He looks at his out-of-work friends, many with fancy degrees and credentials, and he worries. "If I think about that stuff, I get a little panicky," he said.

Andrew Perfetto once hired a record 54 people in one quarter for Commerce One Inc. at the height of the tech boom. Now he's pounding on doors, looking for a job. He was one of the last recruiters laid off from the troubled software maker in April, a day after his 40th birthday. "It was a birthday present: two months of severance."

With a resume full of big jobs at big companies like PeopleSoft and Microsoft, he has finagled interviews but no offers yet. Plenty of people want to hire him; there just aren't any jobs.

"One company told me during an interview, 'We received 800 applications for this job, so you should feel good about being interviewed.' That tells me what's going on out there. The thing that I've heard the most is, 'We want to hire you. We're going to have a meeting next week about the budget.' Then I get an e-mail that says, 'Sorry, we didn't get the funding. Hopefully, we will at some point in the future.'"

In the meantime, out-of-work techies scrape by on unemployment checks, personal savings and credit cards. These days Heminger is eating in and doing less laundry. He's still driving his old Ford Taurus. He and his roommate don't run the air conditioner even on the hottest Pleasanton days. He has put off indefinitely the kinds of purchases that never used to be a big deal, like a PlayStation 2 for Tyler.

Heminger also has begun to contemplate the unthinkable: leaving his son and taking a temporary job elsewhere. He has a line on a six-month contract job in Riverside. "I don't even think about career opportunities. The things I thought of before are immaterial now," Heminger said. "I just have to put bread on the table."

Haynes gets by on $330 of unemployment a week. His wife, a seamstress, makes $11 an hour. Their stock portfolio has lost 40 percent of its value. Haynes doesn't even open the statements anymore.

The Haynes moved from Idaho to California in 1965 to avoid working on the farm. Now they wish they were back in Idaho. "That's where all the high-tech jobs are," Haynes said wryly. This, he says, is the worst downturn in the tech industry he has ever experienced.

For the first time in decades, the Hayneses are talking about selling their Dublin home and moving to Nevada or Oregon, where there are more jobs and life is less expensive. That conversation takes on more urgency with each passing week. Kent Haynes estimates they can hold out another three months.

Haynes sends out 30 resumes a day, many for entry-level tech jobs. "They don't understand why an older guy with a history of high income would be content taking an entry-level job," Haynes said. "They fear that I would jump ship when the economy turned around, and that's not necessarily true." He even applied for retail jobs and says he wouldn't mind working for Radio Shack or Wal-Mart. He just needs to find a job that wouldn't require him to stand all day. "I've been a white-collar worker most of my life, and I have spent most of it riding a chair," he said. "I'm not sure I'm in the physical shape to stand on my feet like a 20-year-old."

Many techies' optimism is sinking faster than the Nasdaq. They cope with depression, boredom and self-doubt. Heminger has never had a problem finding a job. In early September, he turned 40. "It was uncomfortable turning 40 and not having work," he said. "Work was the center of my life."

Perfetto is open to all kinds of jobs, working construction, waiting tables. He even applied for a job selling Mercedes Benzes at the local dealership. Perfetto has worked nonstop since taking a job as a bus boy when he was 16 and isn't used to having so much time on his hands. Playing electric bass in an AC/DC tribute band helps. "It's not so much the money at this point," he said. "It's the boredom."

Rich Young, 41, a software tester laid off a year ago, used to live well "for a single guy." He indulged his hobby, buying up computer equipment on eBay. He went to loads of rock concerts. With only one eight-week contract job to help pay the bills, Young's carefree lifestyle is as distant a memory as the tech boom itself. He has drained his savings, and estimates he can hold out until January. Then he'd have to cash in his 401(k).

"Living on unemployment isn't easy," he said. He can't afford to do much other than look for a job, which can get pretty lonely. He watches football and baseball games at a local pub in Walnut Creek. "It keeps my evenings occupied without costing me a ton of money," he said. The only indulgence he has clung to: his Raiders season tickets.

With a rebound unlikely before sometime next year or 2004, many techies have developed a deep ambivalence about the tech industry. They are changing careers, pursuing jobs in other industries, or applying for jobs just for the income and benefits -- and to get out of the house.

Worst of all for Young is that nagging little cyst of fear in his stomach. It has been a year since Young has had a check-up. That's not a big deal for most people, but Young is a cancer survivor. He's supposed to have a check-up every six months. "That's kind of the worst part," he said, "not having the security blanket of medical insurance."

Heminger wants to offer his son a sense of security. But even Tyler knows times are tight. The other day Heminger offered Tyler $10 at the mall. "He said, 'No, that's OK. Just give me five,'" Heminger said. "He's been sweet about stuff like that. He even bought me a bobble head dog. If I ever get a job, I will put it on my computer."

Diane Battilana, 51, already went through the hardest experience of her life. Her fiance died suddenly of a heart attack two years ago. The only thing that could make this software engineer's Castro Valley two-bedroom condo seem a little emptier happened in March when she was laid off from Giga-tronics Inc. in San Ramon.

But Battilana kept busy. She worked to finish a master's degree in computer science at Cal State Hayward and teaches a programming class at the College of Alameda. She joined ProSearch, a self-help group for job seekers. To keep her spirits up and her body in shape, she takes inexpensive physical education classes at Chabot College.

"It's scary to be faced with an unknown employment future and be at my age and wonder, 'Is anyone going to want to hire me?'" she said a few weeks ago. Most of all she missed her work as a software engineer. "I love figuring out how to either solve a programming problem or debugging things that don't work."

Last week, Battilana became one of the lucky few. She landed a job with BridgePoint Systems, an Oakland company that has developed a secure access control system using smart card readers.

"I'm still kind of shocked," she said. "My friends at ProSearch are so glad somebody finally got a job in high tech."