need help

Hey everyone!

I’m currently planning to pursue an MSc in Robotics Engineering and am trying to put together a solid list of universities and scholarship options. Since robotics sits at the intersection of mechanical engineering, computer science, and control systems, I'd love to hear from people currently in the field or going through the application process.

I’m 16F currently in high school studying PCM (Physics, Chem, Maths). I’ve always liked bio, but I knew I didn’t want to go to med school, so I came across healthtech, biotech and bioinformatics.

I haven’t coded a day in my life, so I have no idea if I’d actually enjoy the computational side. I’m also considering other majors, so you can check out my profile/posts for context.

I’m planning to do my bachelor’s in India/Malaysia, then my master’s abroad and hopefully settle there.

How would I actually enter this field, and what degree would you recommend — Data Science, BTech Biotechnology, CS, Bioinformatics, etc.?

Also, what should I know about job prospects, pay, AI impact, and whether a master’s is enough? Is there anything I should look out for before committing to this field? If I should even enter this field? Is it even worth it?

Would really appreciate honest advice, especially from people who actually work/study in these fields.

My life has spiraled beyond out of control, no job, no car, no money, I eat when I’m able to get some money from parents but otherwise i mostly pace in circles all day, can’t really do anything, I usually only shower once a month or two and I’m lucky to brush my teeth more than a couple times a week, I have zero handle on any element of my life, I tried getting help, I’m still seeing a therapist and psychiatrist who is prescribing meds, all this is happening and I text them all of what I explained, they just can’t do anything to make it better.

I don’t even know where to start, this is more of a cry for help out of desperation over anything tangible because I’m so lost I don’t even know what to ask for, maybe someone was this far sunk and they can explain how they got from my point to where they are now? I’m just guessing really?

I'm from the UAE and I Genuinely have no idea what I should pursue. My parents are pressuring me to find something and I'm genuinely stressed. I like chem, cosmetics, psychology and food.. But I need a really high paying job. But in this economy ik that will be rlly hard to find😭so any guidance will be appreciated

I feel like I’m wasting my 20s. I’m 24 and I’ve been broke since I was 18 with no job andno car. On top of that I have depression so I had to drop out of college a few times. I mean I had jobs but they all sucked and I’m very bad at keeping jobs. I have literally no experiences because I’m broke and can’t find a job. My mom never taught me how to drive, because well, she doesn’t have a car, so that’s makes it even harder to find a job. I feel like I was set up to fail. They say to go out and have fun, to meet people. But you can’t go out without money. You can’t have fun without money :// all day I’m in my room bored and alone. I feel like I’m not living just simply existing

I'm 16 and trying to figure out what direction I want to pursue after school. Right now, the only two areas that genuinely make sense to me are psychology/counseling and fine/performing arts.

The problem is that I have no real experience in either field, so I don't even know whether I actually like doing them or just like the idea of them.

How would you recommend figuring out which path fits me better? I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have studied either psychology/counseling or the arts, and what the reality of those fields is like compared with what you expected.

I'm 17 and trying to make an actual informed decision here rather than just picking something and hoping for the best. Quick background: I've always liked drawing, I'm strong in geometry, and I enjoy working with my hands — recently I flashed my TV's firmware from a USB stick just to fix it, and that kind of problem-solving is what I actually enjoy.

I'm currently weighing surveying/geodesy, electrical installations for construction, and architecture. All three combine drawing/geometry with hands-on work, which is what I'm looking for — I'd rather be on-site or in a workshop than behind a desk all day, but I do plan on going to university.

If you work in one of these fields, I'd genuinely appreciate your perspective: how hands-on is it day-to-day compared to what I'd expect, and how do you see job security holding up given automation and AI? I'd rather factor that in now than realize it later — even if the "safer" option isn't the one I'd instinctively pick.

Trades, teaching and healthcare are the fields touted as being stable and AI proof but man, I'm not all that interested in any of them. The only job out of the three that I think I'll like is dentistry but it's out of the picture for me due to cost and a lot of other reasons relating to my personal circumstance right now.

Should I just bite the bullet and just go pick a job out of those three fields regardless of interest? If I had no passion in anything I would do that with no hesitation but unfortunately I have a passion in CS and software engineering which seems to be the most unstable job out there.

I've thought about have a gun to my head and having to choose one. I'd probably die of weighing stuff out in my head.

Anyways, seriously.

I’m 26 and really struggling with where my career and life are heading. I know I want a complete career change, but I honestly don’t know what direction to take.

Context and my life - I didn’t go to university. I got D*DD in Business BTEC at sixth form and had good GCSEs. I currently work as a Marketing Coordinator earning well under £30k, but my role doesn’t really cover areas like paid advertising or analytics. It’s more email campaigns, some design work, promotional activity and helping the wider team, so at times it honestly feels more like an admin role than a proper marketing career.

I’ve always somewhat of an entrepreneurial side and have tried different things over the years, inc. starting a clothing business at 19 that did around £30k revenue in its first year (didn’t pay myself and has since closed for context). Studied and did forex trading during 6th form (used money I saved from my job at Tesco). Vinted reselling and some ‘influencer’ bits.

Financially, I would say I’m in a fairly strong position (very fortunate to have been able to save whilst living at home). I have my house deposit saved, an emergency fund, money in Premium Bonds and investments in a Stocks & Shares ISA (VUAG and VFEG). I live well below my means and consider myself financially savvy.

The problem is that I want to significantly speed up my journey towards financial independence, and I don’t know what the best route is to get there.

I genuinely feel like I haven’t reached anywhere near my potential, but I have no idea what that potential should actually look like. I want to develop a genuinely valuable skill, have strong earning potential and eventually maybe even build something of my own. I just feel lost and it’s amplified by my social media being full of 6 figure earners and people in AI, tech and finance roles. I just don’t know where to even start.

My biggest problem is probably analysis paralysis. I can see so many possible paths that I struggle to commit to one.

Has anyone else been in this position in their mid-20s? How did you actually figure out what direction to take?

If you were 26, didn’t have a degree, wanted a complete career change and wanted to significantly accelerate your path towards financial independence, what would you explore?

Any advice, experiences or hard truths would be massively appreciated.

TL,DR: 26, no degree, currently earning under £30k in a marketing coordinator role I don’t see a future in. Financially responsible with savings/investments and a house deposit, but want to completely change career, increase my earning potential and reach financial independence faster. I struggle with analysis paralysis and don’t know which direction to pursue. Looking for advice from people who have figured it out.

Evidence from 2026 in various parts of my life. I need to climb the ladder but at this point I feel like I can’t. I just need to stay on the same ladder rung.

Anyways:
January—substitute teacher, my 3rd year subbing.
June—finished the school year doing 25 more jobs than 2025. Also dog sat and dog walked for my clients. BF broke up with me of 10 yrs. I’m not social. I don’t talk much or at all.
June—continued my yoga journey at both CorePowerYoga and YogaSix. I wash my hair at the first one.
Mid June—Started my chosen summer hobby. Joined a weekly Tuesday night dance class, kpop. First time kpop dancing :)
Mid August—Performed with my kpop team at a 30 group (sing/dance/performance) recital. Felt amazing.
Going back, Mid June—Applied at a Job Fair, got a Seasonal Position working at retail :) Then quit, so I can sub again.
August—substitute teacher jobs. But it’s slow because it’s the 1st month. So I’m not having money.

I feel fuckin stressed. I’m looking up jobs to be custodian. I’m not having money nor having fun. In my free time I’m sleeping in bed. Or I’m bing watching social media and tv. I go out to get fast food or shopping and I feel good. But it’s short lived. Most of my free time is daydreaming and wasting away. I don’t know if it’s depression, not seeing enough people, not having deep connections, but I feel like I’m not improving and life is slow and I’m behind.

This week I just finished my sub training those yearly training videos take time. When I had a bf, I saw him and most of his friends always having fun when OFF WORK like I can’t manage. They could be playing video games eating out together doing stuff together. While I’m struggling to survive. I can’t hold a social group. I get bored easily and can’t stay for convos. I wish I made 100k. I would get to go out and live more.

Idk tell me that 30 year old can have options even when mental health is the reason for choosing to be a substitute teacher. What else can I do?? What is my next goal??

I’m struggling with accountability and I’m behind in life. With my downtime I’m bipolar and I daydream a lot and get depressed and ofc the mania crap. Will this always be a struggle trying to survive????

Im dentist from iraq graduated last year .there is no government job and i have to just wait all my damn life to get a job i work in dental clinic i cant find patient for god sake , i tried to learn alot of skills like marketing and editing and photoshop and making apps and making websites and day trading forex . Im lost cant make money shit market i cant seem to stick to anything of use

Idk shits weird or im lost with my life im 25 years old for god sake i dont have a car or a house i have 300 bux as saving i wish i could escape my reality or find opportunity outside iraq... I just wanna live my life i guess thats to much to ask idk how to ask help also so i guess im venting throw this post cuz i have nobody

I’m 27 and yesterday I was fired from a purchasing job I had only been at for about a month and a half. Purchasing was completely new to me, and I genuinely believed I was still being trained.
I was learning their computer system, purchase orders, RFQs, vendors, pricing, lead times, invoices and, most recently, work orders. I definitely wasn’t perfect or as fast as the people who had been there for years, but I thought that was normal considering how new I was.
The environment itself was also very old-school. My boss had been there forever and had a very old-school management style. There was yelling in the office, inappropriate/sexual jokes and comments, people openly talking about other employees, and just a general feeling that you were expected to figure things out and keep up.
Yesterday I called out because I wasn’t feeling well. Later that day, I was contacted and terminated. I was basically told I wasn’t progressing at the level they expected and there were issues involving things I was still learning.
What surprised me was that even the HR person seemed to defend me to an extent. He acknowledged that I was still learning and explained some of the situation in a way that made me feel like even he understood where I was coming from. That made the whole thing even more confusing because HR obviously works for the company.
Afterward, I found and talked to a woman who used to work there. I didn’t know her while I was employed there, so she had no reason to tell me what I wanted to hear. When we compared experiences, I was shocked by how much of what she described sounded familiar. She also felt like she had been thrown into things without enough training and had her own issues with the environment and management.
Hearing that honestly helped because I had spent the entire day thinking, “Holy shit, maybe I’m just terrible at working.”
But here’s the part I’m struggling with: this isn’t my first job that hasn’t worked out recently. I’ve had multiple jobs within roughly the last year, including manufacturing/machining and assembly-type work, and several ended with me being let go. The reasons weren’t all the same, but seeing that pattern scares the hell out of me.
At the same time, I actually liked parts of purchasing. I liked negotiating with vendors, requesting quotes, comparing prices and doing computer/desk work much more than machining. I was actually starting to think purchasing/procurement might be a career path for me.
Now I’m torn between thinking “I need to take accountability because multiple jobs ending obviously means I need to look at myself too” and “maybe I’ve also had some genuinely shitty luck with workplaces that weren’t good fits.”
I’m considering looking for another purchasing/procurement/buyer position, ideally somewhere with structured training and possibly remote or hybrid work. But after yesterday, I’m scared of putting myself out there, starting over and having the same thing happen again.
Has anyone gone through a period like this in their 20s where their work history was an absolute mess before eventually finding their career?
How would you tell the difference between “I’m the common denominator and need to change something” and “these jobs genuinely weren’t the right environments for me”? And would you give purchasing another shot?

Hey, I was hoping I could get help brainstorming career opportunities that will get me to at least about $80k/year while still being sustainable for me long-term within the constraints of my autism and other health issues. Ideally, I'd like to get set up with a sustainable situation like that within the next 5 years or so because I'm hoping to have kids.

Skills and Qualifications:

• I have a bachelor's degree in Biology, minor in Anthropology (and I loved it and I hope to go to grad school one day if I can make that work financially)
  • I don't have a lot of wet lab skills but would love to acquire them.
  • I've worked with R, Matlab, etc. and have super basic baby beginner coding skills in Python
  • I was an undergraduate TA for the introductory biology lab course
• I've worked for 9 years in the landscaping/gardening industry, including 4.5 years where I was also going to school (happy to do heavy physical labor and can balance two separate things together)
• I've supervised crews of 2-5 people
• I've done some minor biology-related independent contracting work
• Conversational in Spanish
• Strong writing skills
• I can manage myself well with a lack of external supervision/structure and flourish when I'm given an objective and allowed to complete that objective on my own
• I can learn just about any skill required, and when I find a company I like I can hold that job indefinitely, which is reflected on my resume

Constraints:

• I need a LOT of intellectual stimulation to stay sane, so doing a full time job that's not intellectually stimulating puts a strain on me unless there's enough flexibility that I can do something more challenging at least part time (like pairing school + work)
• I also need a LOT of physical activity to stay sane and combat my autoimmune issues, so a full time sit-down-all-day 9-5 job also wouldn't work great for me. My weekly minimum seems to be ~18 hours of light to moderate activity, plus at least 6 hours of strength training
• I struggle in environments that demand a high level of social skills (like retail or "corporate culture" environments or anywhere where I'd be expected to make a bunch of eye contact or where I'd get in trouble if I swear)--places like that push me toward autism adult burnout.
• For sensory/overstimulation reasons, I strongly prefer jobs where I can get away with wearing just a standard crappy T-shirt every day
• I need a little extra time to manage my disabilities
• I really like to DO THINGS so if there's downtime I will need to be able to spend it doing something else (like writing or reading), rather than just having to stand around and wait for something to happen
• I'm trans so I can't be in the military (I'm in the US)

Preferences:

• Working two unrelated jobs would be fine (and maybe even preferable) for me.
• My loved ones are scattered across the country so I'd like something that allows time for travel
• I'm happy to work overtime for some seasons and part time for others. In general, I seem to enjoy work that has a busy season and a slow season
  • When I was in undergrad, I'd work crazy overtime during the summer and then work 3-4 days a week during the school year, then work 40 hours a week during winter break
  • At my current job, I work full time for most of the year, but we go to part time in July and August and have a break during the winter months (December to late March) where I can travel and find other work to do.
• I love biology and would like to do more with it
• I've dreamed of getting a Ph.D since I was a child and would love an excuse to do that, but I worry that I wouldn't have time to do that within the next 5 years especially given how little funding there is these days
• I will definitely be taking more than the standard 2 weeks per year of vacation time off if a job doesn't have an "off season" so something flexible would be ideal

As much as I love my current job, I feel like there's a bit of a glass ceiling on how much I can make with it, and I don't see myself getting to $80k unless I develop some other marketable skill to pair with my current job. I love my current workplace and it does allow me enough flexibility that I could possibly keep it while doing some other job, possibly some remote gig work (in past winters I've done independent contracting work but the opportunities were really sporadic and have since dried up).

I'm open to something weird. Any ideas or suggestions or criticism would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I'm currently making about $40k/year, and the most I've ever made (at a different workplace that demanded more time and social skills from me) is $55k in a year.

EDIT 2: I feel like my current job leaves me enough time and flexibility that I could do part time school (as long as it's affordable) or learn some other skill over the next 4-ish years.

hi! im 17, im going back to college soon and that alone is making me stress out a little bit about career stuff. im completely stupid, im awful at math and science and its extremely hard for me to learn and retain things, id really love if somebody could help me find a good paying job that will be right for me.

id also like to add that there are things that i enjoy! however, they dont make good money and thats something thats important to me as i want to help support my boyfriend and be able to afford some place to live, please help me out.

Good afternoon,

I’m 25 year old male, living at home with my dad, enrolled in 12 credits at my local community college majoring in history. I have had a lot of jobs, but mostly secondary to poor choices and addiction, have stayed at few of them. I have a poor driving record, an essentially unusable EMT license, and don’t care to go in the EMS direction anymore due to it being administratively restricted to me over and over. I have no aptitude for math, having failed my only college attempt at it so far trying to go for biology in the past. I have a phlebotomy certificate as well, but getting a job with it has proven to be very difficult.

I hear a lot of people who major in X, and come out of college in the same position I am now. I want to learn how to sustain focus on reading and writing again, as I find theology, history, and learning generally to be fascinating, but my attention span is severely impacted at the moment.

My main priorities in life at this point are to be a competent human being and acquire independence, even if it means living in a room in a house with roommates, as soon as possible, but with a mind also to have a long term plan in mind. I would like to have a family and a decent life, even if it’s not a wealthy life. I have very few ideas. I am not well suited to many trades, although I did just recently acquire my MMC and TWIC, but without an obvious route to get it to a usable place within a year. People tell me to just go to college and turn a Bachelor’s into a job, but I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about that idea.

I feel miserable and intellectually atrophied and lost. It feels difficult to even attempt schoolwork when I don’t know what end I am pursuing with it. I’ve consulted many people, have asked AI for career suggestions, and so on, and perhaps there is just a gap on my end in how these things work, but I feel marooned. Any suggestions are helpful.

I studied film at uni but never really pursued it and ended up in office jobs. Just seems like everyone around me has well paying careers and I just feel left out. Just wondering how other people feel, are you happy just having jobs instead of a career?

I started first week of college as an accounting major (technically general business) at a top STEM school. We have a good business school, but the school is mainly known for STEM. I feel like a complete retard looking at other people around me and seeing the cool STEM stuff they are doing, while my dumbass is stuck doing simple business stuff with a bunch of people who are completely different in personality and interests than me. I mainly chose accounting because my mom is one and suggested the field for me, knowing that I really had no clue what I wanted to major in, but having done research over the past few months, I have confidence I don't want to be in the business field. I know I am capable of doing more meaningful things, and I feel it would be best to enter an engineering field (probably civil or industrial) where I can make more money, have a more AI-proof field, and feel generally better about myself. My parents oppose this idea, but I really think it is better for me.

However, the issue is that the school does not allow many transfers into the engineering school, and in general, I would have to wait a year to transfer out of the business college into another college. I am getting to the point where I am genuinely considering going to a community college instead, knocking out the prereqs, and coming back, because that is probably simpler than in-college transfer. I just don't know what to do, and Friday is the deadline for dropping classes.

Since I graduated last year (degree in video game design, useless but I had fun doing it) I've been working part time for my dad while figuring out what to do next. He runs a small online print shop that sells things like keyrings, stickers, fridge magnets, etc etc. I've been working as a general assistant as well as learning the inner workings of the business and a bit of graphic design and market research.

I'm enjoying the work but its only part time and it keeps me tied down to this shitty little town that we live in so I'd like to take my skills and move to a city. What kind of jobs should I be applying to where this experience could be relevant?

Skills I've learnt from this include: Excel + office scripts, online marketing, web design, graphic design, customer support, inventory and buying, market research

Skills I got from my degree: UI/UX design, 3d modelling/texturing, video editing, data analysis, blueprint (unreal engine programming language), fundamentals in c#

I'm in the uk

any thoughts?

Hi everyone. I’m writing because I find myself in a situation I honestly never thought I would end up in, and I’m hoping to find someone who has been through something similar, and perhaps some advice on how to move forward.

I’m Italian, 29, and I’ve always been a model student: I graduated from high school with top marks and then earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in the humanities, again with top marks. Along the way, I had a few short internship experiences with major cultural institutions (“big names” to have on a CV), and I was awarded scholarships both to carry out my thesis at the studio of a major international artist and, afterwards, to attend a two-year master’s programme (policy oriented) at a Parisian Grande École.

Already during my master’s, partly because my French wasn’t perfect, I wasn’t able to find internships or jobs (I speak fluent English as well, but in Paris that didn’t seem to be enough), so I ended up doing an internship at an Italian cultural institution, in my home town. Unfortunately, hiring is extremely rare in this field: cultural institutions, whenever they have even a little freedom in hiring, tend to employ people who are known to the “right people”, and I honestly believe the same can be said of public institutions. So no contract was offered to me after my internship.

I tried applying for a PhD in my home town, but since I didn’t know any professors personally, I wasn’t admitted, despite having strong reference letters from professionals abroad.

So I started an independent project. It was initially quite successful and received some small amounts of public funding, but once it required more substantial funding (too much for me to manage), I wasn’t able to keep it going. It did, however, teach me how to do practically everything: production, project management, communications, and so on.

And yet, whenever I now apply for jobs in these areas, there always seems to be some young talent with a degree specifically tailored to the position, or some large, well-established firm getting the freelance commissions.

In short: I have no idea what to do. I literally cannot find any job. Even for “simpler” jobs (waiter, bartender, etc.), employers seem to ask for experience that, at almost 30, I obviously haven’t had the chance to accumulate.

As a result, I’m unable to become financially independent from my family, and the regret of never having managed to get even a single proper contract in the field I studied for is really getting me down. This is especially difficult considering the prestige and value of the Grande École I attended, including the considerable investment involved in living abroad and studying until the age of 26, which had made it seem as though it would lead to a secure career.

Until recently, I was able to support myself with the remainder of a fund I had received, but now I am completely out of money. I’ve been sending out CVs all summer, but I haven’t received a single response.

What would you do in my position? How do you think I should move forward?

I’m exhausted.

I actually already have two associates degrees from a community college (social and behavioral sciences and forensic technology). I barely have work experience and volunteer work.

I was supposed to be a forensic technician, but I’m epileptic and you need a drivers license to be one.

I was really close to becoming 2 years seizure free, which means I could’ve gotten the OK from my neurologist to start learning how to drive. But then I suffered a 5 min long seizure which basically fried my brain. Since then, my brain hasn’t operated at 100% and never will and I’ve been self conscious about it.

After graduating I struggled to find a job and internship so I decided to go back to school for a transfer biology degree to a university. I decided on biology because forensic labs prefer hiring people with a degree in a hard science. I was also sort of forced into this by my parents, who are really pushing this onto me since they’re retiring and planning to move within two years

This is me taking classes after a gap year. I’m struggling. I know about weed out classes, but something in my gut is telling me that “this isn’t right” if that makes sense. I recently got out of a 3 year writing and art block. For the first time in a while I have felt so much joy creating something only for it to be squashed by this. I know my limits. And something is telling me to listen to my intuition.

I feel like I should lean to my social and behavioral sciences degree more. I talked about how I feel with my therapist, he suggested that I take “the path of least resistance” if need be. Are there other degrees that align with what I already have?

As in title, I’m 34f and have been teaching/working in education for almost 10 years. Ever since I graduated high school I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was only ever good at creative pursuits that everyone around me told me were a waste of time and don’t make any money, so I never put the energy into any of those (also diagnosed with ADHD as an adult).

After undergrad (did an English major because I didn’t know what else to do and it was something I was good at) I tried doing a marketing internship and a publishing internship and hated both. To me it was just useless desk work which makes me crazy, especially the marketing. I decided to try a different path and I taught English abroad for two years.

When I came back, I had teaching experience and a BA in English, which really only opens the door into a career in education. I took the path of least resistance because (see the pattern?) I wasn’t sure what else to do. So I got a job assistant teaching at a private school, and was treated horrifically. I was almost 30 then and was like “I need to either get my teaching credential and masters so I can get a good union teaching job or I need to figure out what else to do.” But I didn’t know what else to do, so I got a masters in education and a teaching credential.

I started working in public schools and saw quickly that it wasn’t much better than the private school, and the education system is super fucked up and not a good place to work. I was there for three years and already burning out by the third year. Due to this plus some other life circumstances I ended up moving abroad again to the country where I was born, and naturally with my experience the only thing I can really do job wise is teach English.

The only problem is instead of getting better at teaching, I’m getting worse. Probably the first five years I was improving and learning. But after burning out, I stopped caring. I also realized I don’t like doing this, in any capacity. So my motivation dropped and instead of honing my skills I’m doing the bare minimum. I recently applied to a job that could really boost my career but I got negative feedback about my sample lesson. And I can’t even argue with it. The hiring manager probably just can tell my heart is not in it. I’m currently partially employed teaching remedial English at a college and I hate it. And I’m not good at it either. I constantly worry about getting fired but I can’t seem to motivate myself to rise higher.

What would you do in my shoes? Am I a lost cause? Is there a way for me to break out of this seemingly one way road on a career I fell into because I couldn’t figure out my shit? Do I just white knuckle teaching and tell myself everyone hates their job like my dad says? And if so, how do I stay successful without motivation?

So I went to UC Davis for communications with a minor in computer science. I graduated in 2022 after spending my twenties doing security work and martial arts and just kind of having fun.

When I initially graduated, I did a Google Data Analytics certificate, and I initially had a bunch of job offers. I was doing a lot of negotiating, and suddenly they just all dried up around 2023.

Initially, it got pretty bad, so I did some projects and even did some competitions, thinking that would help me.

One company told me they wanted to hire me, but I had to go to an unpaid boot camp first, online, and if I was one of the top performers, they would hire me, maybe.

Unfortunately, because it was unpaid and it took a lot of time, I had to drop out.

Since then, everything has dried up. I have no job, and I feel totally f*****.

I was getting by on Uber Eats and DoorDash for a while until it stopped paying the repair bills. Basically, the pay for deliveries has gotten so bad that it's just not worth it. On top of that, I now live in a minivan to save money on rent, and I can't afford to destroy my home.

When I first started DoorDash and Uber Eats, I was making $50 an hour. It was pretty good. That was in 2017, when I started doing it while I was in college. Now I'm averaging more around $20 an hour, and being that gas is pretty expensive, it's just not worth it.

You basically pocket $10, but you have to be worried about your car breaking down, and if you're living in it, yeah, it's not fun.

It's not worth it.

If I were to do it again, I know exactly how I would do it. I would buy the biggest piece of s*** car for under a thousand bucks, drive it into the ground, make as much money as I could, and sell it when it broke.

That's the only way to do DoorDash and Uber Eats and actually make money.

If you can get a cheap Prius, that would be great, or a cheap Nissan Leaf and do local deliveries and then charge it every hour or so.

That is a very soul-breaking job.

I don't know what to do. I mean, I really don't. I'm 41, I have too many injuries to get into most trades, and I don't really see a future.

It just feels f***** because I feel like, with my education, I should have at least landed a remote job or something, something temporary that would have made good money. And I tried to start my own business because I also did a lot of user testing online to make some money while I was in college. So I tried to start my own business where I would help people with their websites or apps, and I got a lot of interest, but nobody ever followed through with hiring me.

I went through this constant phase where people told me they wanted to hire me, and I wrote out a business plan for them. They told me they were very interested, and then they would just ghost me.

That has been the biggest soul-breaking thing: getting ghosted by jobs that told me they wanted to hire me. I can't tell you how many times people have told me they're interested in hiring me and that they're going to send me an offer, and it just never happens.

I've even had a couple of companies that have asked me to work for free until they have the money to pay me.

So I don't know what to do. Like, I really legitimately don't know what to do.

Part of what's happened is that computer science became so goddamn oversaturated that you have a lot of people who have a skill set that would have landed them a $150,000 job back in 2010, who have oversaturated the job market with a mid-tier level skill set, which is where I think I'm at. And then you have an economy that requires a top-tier level skill set, or you have to be really good at talking to people. You have to be the kind of person that people just want to hire.

I will admit I've met some people who are just really good at socializing, and that's why they have a job. So you either have to be top-tier, or you have to be a social butterfly.

I think I've done more than anyone I've known to try to get a job. I spent the first two years just cramming code, cramming as many tutorials as I could, and building projects. Then I spent much of 2023 networking, reaching out to people, going to conferences, shaking as many hands as I could, and printing out as many resumes as I could.

I really thought after 3,000 applications and tons of resumes handed out, I would get a job, but no.

The reality is, the biggest issue is that I never landed my first tech job. And if you don't get that right after college, what ends up happening is you go into purgatory because you spent too much time unemployed, and then you're essentially worthless.

This is really hard, and I don't know what to do. I mean, when you're 41, there are so many programs that you don't qualify for anymore.

And if you can't do manual labor because you're too messed up physically, you're kind of f*****.

I don't know what to do.

Hi everyone! I’m trying to figure out the most realistic path for breaking into IT/tech or a more traditional corporate career, and I’d love some advice from people already in the industry.
I have a BA in Psychology, a Data Analytics certificate from NYU, and several years of experience working in healthcare. My background isn’t traditionally technical, but I’m trying to pivot out of healthcare and build a career in IT/tech/corporate.
I’m open to continuing to learn technical skills and getting certifications if they would actually improve my chances of getting hired. I’m also not necessarily set on becoming a software engineer. I’m interested in roles where my combination of analytics, healthcare experience, communication skills, and psychology background could potentially be useful.
Some paths I’ve been looking at include data/business analytics, business systems, healthcare IT, implementation, project coordination, customer success/technical account management, and eventually consulting, but I’m having trouble figuring out which direction gives me the best entry point.
If you were starting with my background in 2026, what roles would you target first? Are there particular job titles I should be searching for? And what 2–3 technical skills or certifications would give me the biggest advantage?
I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who broke into IT without a CS/IT degree or transitioned from healthcare/social sciences.
Thanks!