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Comment by greyostrich | Hacker News Reader

Right now I'm just re-studying CS (history, OS, networks, databases, algorithms, etc.). Hopefully it helps, and it reminds me why I like CS.

A lack of job means living with my parents, having no ownership, being treated like a child, no future, etc.

I did have a contract before, but it was terribly underpaid and career killing, since no one wants to invest into you. I currently have another interview scheduled for a different 3-month contract for even worse pay ($23/hr in NYC).

The lack of having a career is terribly depressing. I get whiplash from the conditions and being treated as a non-member of the team.

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When you get into this situation it just snowballs and the main factor when you do actually get an interview for a good job they ask you why you been out of work so long.

When it comes time to choose the employee for the job, no matter how well you did in that interview they will be thinking if he is the right choice: "how come he can't find work? we must be missing a red flag on this person that other employers are noticing. Let's choose the 2nd best as a more secure option so that we don't look like idiots."

I too was suckered into an underpaying tech job startup where I was promised of quick advancement. Instead I got taken advantage of and have yet to recover from this mistake.

The struggle continues...

Heh, I'm in a similar situation. I've been out of work for over 6 months. I've been unable to find anything in my city, and now employers are starting to question why I can't find work.

Truth is every nearly all tech jobs where I live pay very poorly and are mostly dead-end development agency type gigs.

I don't have any money to relocate, nor do I have any money to commute for interviews elsewhere. Plus, it's very rare to find employers willing to help with such things.

Another problem is that I was suckered into a dead-end development job since I left school so I haven't really got much "professional" experience with modern technologies. That kind of annoys me because I've been coding for 10 years and I've been keeping up with things in personal projects, but apparently that doesn't count.

Oh, and I have anxiety and autism so my personal is toxic for most agile development roles. That's probably why I was let go.

I've basically lost everything now. My house, car and now that I'm back with my parents I'm living hour away from my girlfriend which I don't have any real way to see. I suppose in some ways it's liberating to no longer have to worry about losing the things I care about.

I never drank a day in my life until now, but lately I drink every day just to help me through. People say alcohol does't work, but that's not true. I'd recommend it to anyone in my situation.

I'll keep trying to find something, I'm a fighter at heart, but I'm not holding out much hope anymore.

I'm not sure how much long things can carry on like this.

Best of luck, I hope everything works out for you man.

Oh yes, keeping up with technologies on your own time doesn't count for shit unless you were utilizing it on the job. Experience is what they are basing all their interviews on, an since most people embellish on what they can do during the interview and on their CV, you better be prepared to embellish as well or you will loose every time.

Timing and luck count for a lot. You won the shit job lottery that's difficult to recover from, not to mention your anxiety/autism that will hurt your chances as well.

I am only a couple weeks away from moving back in with my mother as I can't find any work and also am loosing everything, I'm a 35 year old man moving back with his mother, back to the same city I left 7 years ago to improve my life. I have even applied to a previous employer close to my mother that treated me so horribly it was the main reason I left that town in the first place.

On the positive side all I have now is this computer I'm writing on, a DSLR camera and a cell phone. So I am able to get up and go anywhere in the world possible I guess, no GF to discuss that over.

And yes alcohol sure does work, an I can't even afford that anymore.

But honestly if you keep plugging away at it, you are going to get the timing right for once (laws of probability), be in the right place at the right time and the course of life changes. This thought is one of the only things preventing me from ending everything.

Could you provide some way to contact you in your profile? Email etc? I think someone would like to talk with you about your skills / possible gigs (I would contact you over the next days for sure). Also: perhaps put a list of your skills in your profile, together with a 'looking for job/contract'.

I updated my profile. I never realized the email field was private.

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