I’m 22 and I’ve failed

I don’t think you failed, you just haven’t found the groove you fit into yet. In college I made a similar series of missteps and even found myself sitting alone at a Dunkin’ Donuts outside at 3 AM when a drunk guy came up and harassed me with his terrible app ideas.

I had no friends at the time and that was halfway through my college career. Things only went uphill from there. Well, not really because they went momentarily downhill as well. But overall it has been positive.

Keep working at finding your fit, and flesh out that portfolio with at least one finished project.

Happy to chat, pc.peterso at the Mail of G

You've not failed. You're 22. You probably know as much as any graduate does.

There are companies out there who don't put a lot of emphasis on a degree. A degree is a good filter, but that's it. You have good programmers with a degree and you have people who really make you wonder how they got a degree.

I'd recommend not exclusively looking for jobs through job seeking websites but instead email directly as an enquiry. Just say upfront that you don't have a degree, you know how to code and you're looking for a junior position to get the professional experience and learn from your peers.

Write this up in a cover letter and send it with your CV.

Don't focus on the glamorous tech jobs, they seem nice, but there's just as many interesting challenges to solve in many other companies. And remember, this is just a career starter.

Hey, when I was 22 I had a laptop which I had taken in exchange for work which I hadn't delivered due to my poor work habits, an honours program that I'd dropped out of, no money, no one successful project I could point at, and some experience in a computer shop and the helpdesk on campus as my entire work experience.

Once the shop that had provided the laptop threatened to repossess the laptop I finally got off my backside and delivered the project for them (an online directory of lawyers written in PHP, would you believe - in 1999).

At 22 is definitely the best time to fail! If you've learned skill that will make you valuable somewhere, then you definitely haven't failed for ever.

P.S. do come back and post about your success in 20 years, and let the next 22 year old "failure" know that failure at 22 isn't that big a deal even if it feels like it right now.

I didn't start my first degree until I was 21. Life is long...

It's only failure when you give up, I see this blog post as a part of your success story that you'll laugh over some years later. You're only 22.

The 8 years of tinkering experience you have puts you ahead most, if not all, devs who started in college.

Do some side projects to completion (google for ideas; but things like to-do lists, unsolicited redevelopments of some existing apps/games, etc) and pick a stack to focus on. Work on it every day.

If you do that, I'm sure you'll get a job within 6-12mo, and I don't see the harm in staying with your parents for that time. Good luck!