Ask HS: Career Advice for Someone Struggling

First, thank you for taking time to respond. I really appreciate it.

> You pushed through a math refresh and excelled in a technical institute towards the goal of working in software. Also, getting a Masters degree is no joke - that's a lot of effort and likely takes getting accepted to two programs, pushing through all the work required, possibly doing presentations, etc.

Thank you for the kind words. This is encouraging. It did take a lot of time and effort, and I'm proud of what I accomplished. I do hope this comes across to potential employers.

> Maybe volunteer at a non-profit that interests you personally and see if they have IT or software related things they need help with.

This is helpful advice. My favourite job was at the non-profit -- the work was meaningful and the people were great. My dream role would be to work for a non-profit, one ideally geared toward environment / ocean / clean energy causes, so I'll look at opportunities here.

> Also learn to use AI in your coding efforts.

I've definitely been taking advantage of this. I use Perplexity and Claude (paid), and they've proven to be valuable learning tools. I focus on using them as tutors, to help explain ideas and concepts, and resist using them to do the work for me.

This actually brings up another, somewhat related question. I graduated with someone who uses AI tools to do almost all his coding. He's created some really cool projects, but I'm not sure if he fully understands what he's made. Still, he's putting in the time and effort to create something, and I respect that.

I'm trying to limit how much AI does for me, but that means I work slower and have fewer projects. I'm not sure how to walk this line -- AI can certainly help to build things more quickly, but I also know, especially for juniors who don't know what they don't know, that this can lead to bad habits and gaps in knowledge. To what extent do I use AI? I'm still figuring that out...

Frankly, I'm humbled that you created an account to reply to my post. Thank you for taking the time to do so.

> You'll be alright and at the very least, I hope you take away that you're always more than the sum of your parts.

> You have no control over those variables and you're better than that.

These are life-long lessons that I continuously learn and re-learn and, imo, can never be overstated. Thank you.

> ... you may want to try and leverage your non-profit creds and see what NP consortiums are out there.

This is excellent advice, and something I will start doing.

Thank you again for the advice and kindness. It means a lot.

Great post. I do think every experience has something to teach; that can be very difficult -- I'm experiencing that now! -- but we just have to be open and thoughtful. Thanks for sharing this.

There are jobs out there. Sure, it's a bust cycle for the dev economy, but coding jobs do exist, and some people are going to get really lucky and get those limited jobs.

If you want those jobs, you have to find an edge, and hackers have it better than most. Hack the job search and you'll win.

Send me an email (it's on my profile) if you'd like and I can share some of the hacks I've come across to get you started. An example of a job-hunt hack, for example, is applying for a job that isn't being offered at a company you love, and offering to work for free for a week or two. I have stuff like that.

Thank you for the kind response and offer. I've sent you an email.