As for improving your situation, on the first day of each month there are three automated posts made by the HN user 'whoishiring'. You can find all of the automated posts in the HN user profile under the "submissions" link:
https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring
The first of the three is the "Who is hiring?" post and it contains comments by employers looking to hire people. The most recent is from a few days ago on the 1st of January:
Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2015) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822808
The second is the "Who wants to be hired? post, and it contains comments by people looking to be hired.
Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2015) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822810
The third post is for freelancing, both people looking to hire freelances and people looking for freelancing jobs:
Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2015) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8822817
These monthly posts are great resources for anyone looking for work or looking to get work done.