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Hey Lainon. No matter what I do, it seems that I can't seem to land a job. I'm a programmer, and I have been applying to my field in tech for over four years now. I do not have any professional experience other than 2 unpaid internships, I have not gone to school for computer science other than, out of desperation, applying to and graduating from a coding bootcamp with the promise of them getting me a tech job on graduation (which they didn't end up following their promise on), and I do not have any connections within the industry. All of my jobs I've had were always minimum wage service jobs, and I was working as a minimum wage worker up until early last year all while I was looking for a tech job. I ended up leaving the company due to horrible (and I mean horrible) leadership, them lowering my pay, and the company clearly becoming more and more of a sinking ship. The parent company recently put up my old job up on the market due to bad ratings and not enough income coming into the business. I ended up even lowering my expectations for tech jobs as well. From six figure salaries, to just above a minimum wage salary, to minimum wage. I just wanted an in on the industry, but still... nothing. Recently, I have given up on looking for a tech job altogether, and due to desperately needing money, I have began applying to minimum wage service jobs again. And for some reason, I've been getting nothing but denials for these type of jobs too. What the actual fuarrrk is happening!? Am I really this useless!? How is it that I was capable for these jobs back then, but now all of a sudden, it's a different story? I don't want to get into it here, but let's just say due to my desperation, I have been using my programming knowledge to create a project that, once ready, I KNOW will net me some income. And once it all comes together, I will no longer require the need to become a wagie ever again. I will be able to create my own business and strive on my own. I don't know what else to do anymore... I guess I'm just looking for advice or for people to relate to. I'm normally not this self defeating, but I don't know what else to do. This world is a cold and unforgiving one, and I hope you're doing okay, and even striving out there. I wish you many warm and cozy days, Lain :).

Here are my thoughts. Take them with a grain of salt because I don't actually know what I'm talking about, just shooting the soykaf. I think credentials matter. I know that the meme is that someone who has to go to school to learn programming is probably soykaf at it, but universities are soykafting out a ton of CS majors right now. Having a degree might not make you a good programmer but it does tell employers you are willing to jump through hoops & be a good wagie. And since so many people are going to university these days, employers have the luxury of "raising the bar" so to speak. The landscape seems to be pretty similar in tech across the board. People are grinding degrees, certifications, internships, etc. to pad their resumes. For what it's worth, I was also rejected from some entry-level jobs when I first started applying. Ironically, even they wanted someone with "more experience". Ultimately I went back to school, gained experience through opportunities at my university (undergraduate research, cybersecurity club, peer mentoring, and TAing), and used that to land an internship (that turned into a full-time offer because I worked my ass off). I won't say that going to university is the path for everyone, because if you grew up poor like I did it's basically a debt trap, but it did get me out of NEETdom. I have no idea what your project is, but I hope that it is everything you think that it is and you find some success. The world is indeed cold and unforgiving. I hope you and everyone else here finds a little comfort in it.

You got replaced with AI because of other programmers. Plus you don't have a degree so unless you have projects you've done to show your skill level you likely are seen as a gamble.

>>83478 I've always wanted to go to school for CS, but I got too caught up in my ego thinking I didn't need it since I already knew more than enough. Every opportunity I had to go to school, I've squandered until it was too late. Now I am on my own and I only have myself to blame. I even helped my friends with their CS classes and it just made my ego even worse... I know you say to take your input as a grain of salt but I'll still take it to heart anyways. Thanks Lainon :) >>83480 Yeah, AI is basically the final nail in the coffin for me lmao. I have plenty of projects to show that I spent months working on to not only perform well but to also look good doing so (I asked my friend who does design to help create a design for me to code up). I've figured for these past two years now that projects aren't enough and I need something else to look good to these corpos, especially since I do not have a degree. Whatever, I'll figure out something I guess. Thanks for your input Lain.

>>83475 Time is moving so quickly people don't have the time to organize and hire people anymore. A day in the 90s took so long to pass, now everything rushes by.

>>83495 I dont think it is the year. It is just being caught up in a life lacking novelty and special events. Every day feels the same so you wont remember them as individual days. The compression of time is from memory compression and losing attentiveness to the moment from going on auto pilot mode

I have a masters degree and still failed to break into the industry. So many years at university to earn nothing but debt. Effort is meaningless in this world. The only thing that matters is sociability, being neurotypical and "networking" (corruption)

>>83475 Everyone's a programmer nowadays and the ones with college degrees will get preferential treatment. Find smaller opportunities at start-ups that do not care about credentials but your projects and abilities. Have fun being mired in start-up culture.

>>83475 Bootcamps are a lie. They get more money if they lie to make themselves seem more useful. Most companies don't hire people without higher education and a degree, unless you got that job via career fair that was organized by your school (they still expect you to finish your degree eventually). The degree is just proof that you have at least minimum required knowledge and the HR likes degrees. In my country, there has been a lot of cases of software engineers getting into trouble, despite having multiple years of experience at a well-known software company. They just couldn't get another job outside that 1 well-known company because they hadn't finished their degrees back in the day.

>>83501 from my friends who do hiring, they much prefer to hire an employee's family member or friend than some rando who might be gaming the recruitment system or only pretending to nice for the one hour they get interviewed. Some companies also like to hire from their favorite university since they tend to have a common culture. One friend told me he once hired two guys from mit. They were smart but they were kinda jerks and he had to fire them. Now he doesn't recruit from mit anymore. >>op I'm happy to hear that you're trying to make money yourself. Too many people get stuck in this mindset that the only path in life is to get hired by someone else. Good luck.

This is the experience most people have with getting a job you just fell for the stem trap everyone for a period of time was told in school that computer science is the new big thing and you will be guaranteed a job if you can do it unlike all these other idiots with their liberal arts degrees. This was true for a little bit until the need for that in the market, which is the reason they were pushing it so hard, was filled. Now its like any other job.

>>86862 i really want to breed with a dragon

>>83495 Another person who notices this besides me. Its rare to find people who realize time is going faster. Hows it going?

>>86926 highly recommend Illusions of Time by Vsauce on Youtube (or Invidious), time moves as fast as you percieve it to move. :3 sayonara

>>86940 I would like to stay in touch with you since youre this awake if you wouldnt mind