Life Advice for Stuck Person /u/Miggy_Leaf CSCQ protests reddit

Hi there,

I came to programming as a hobby about 6 or 7 years ago. Back then it was something I would mess with on the weekends, I was mainly interested in making games on Unity, then I got interested in making websites using React and NextJS. I just kind of let my interest guide me.

Sometime during the pandemic, programming became an everyday thing for me, I got more interested in websites. I even made a few attempts to program in Solidity which is the programming language for Ethereum.

Then I found Python, Python really clicked for me, the cleanliness of the code, the structure of it really scratched an itch. I got into data science based stuff since I liked the experimentation that went into ingesting and manipulating data, I got into SQL around that time as well.

Then AI/GPT happened, and that became a core focus of my life, I hired a math professor to teach me Linear Algebra, and I took Kahn math courses to supplement. I got interested in cloud platforms around this time as I don’t have the resources to train models locally, and I built a few projects in different cloud platforms.

Around this time, I realized that my hobby really should be my profession as my current job is not fulfilling to me and I don’t like it nearly as much. However, the issue is that I don’t have a CS or STEM degree, I am mid career, I do have many projects and quasi contract jobs under my belt, but they are all in very different modalities, frameworks and languages, it was just whatever I was interested in at the time, it does not create a coherent picture for a hiring manager. I also live in a city that is not in the top 5 of tech job markets.

I have applied to somewhere around 700 jobs, I have changed my resume dozens of times if not more with professional guidance, and I have basically gotten nowhere. I got a few interviews through word of mouth and cold emailing hundreds of contacts and friends of friends, but nothing came of it. And the effort I had to put into just getting those lukewarm interviews/meetings made me realize it was just unsustainable.

AI/ML research jobs tend to require a MS degree at minimum as well.

So I have started the process of getting my Masters from the GA Tech in the OMSCS Program with a focus in ML. I am very excited by this and really relish the opportunity to learn a lot of things.

This comes to my other issue…This is that I do not enjoy where I live, I need to move out of here. The culture and vibe of the place does not fit me, I have lived here a long time, and have tried many fixes, but have decided I NEED a change of scenery, as I feel like my life – just like my career – is going nowhere and I have done all I can to fix it on my own here.

I also want to move to a large job center to improve my chances at employment: NY, LA, CHI, SF are at the top of my list, and they are all much larger and much more tech focused then where I live now.

However i’m kind of in a Catch 22. Perhaps a hiring manager can help me. I have a stable job now, but it is in a field completely unrelated to tech, and something I dislike, I also can’t do it remotely. I could look for a lateral job switch and do what I do now but in different city, but I might end up disliking this new job far more than my current job and it might take up way more of my time (one of the benefits of my current job is my boss is very nice and very lenient)… I could opt for a service job, in another life I worked in retail and managed a store, however I am worried about how this will look on a resume, If I go from having a career in a specific field to working as a waiter or store clerk while getting my MS, Idk how that will be perceived by hiring managers.

I could of course finish out my MS where I currently live and apply for jobs/internships in other cities later, but I am worried about the timing of this. My parents are getting older, I live in the same town as them now. Right now, they can care for themselves and are supportive of my direction in life, however if I fast forward a couple of years, I don’t know if I will have this same window, I might need to stay back and help them or atleast it will be much harder to justify leaving this city, health issues creep up from time to time and they are slowing down…I know from experience that life comes at you very fast. Make a plan and God laughs.

In general I feel as if my life past me by, I dont have much of a youth left if you can even call it that, I have an opportunity to leave to a better place, but I dont have the resources to stay once I get there, and I am worried that by taking any job I might hurt my chances later..I’m working on getting a job more suited to my interests and temperament, but this is proving to be a really tough and winding task.

Any one have any advice?

Hi there,

I came to programming as a hobby about 6 or 7 years ago. Back then it was something I would mess with on the weekends, I was mainly interested in making games on Unity, then I got interested in making websites using React and NextJS. I just kind of let my interest guide me.

Sometime during the pandemic, programming became an everyday thing for me, I got more interested in websites. I even made a few attempts to program in Solidity which is the programming language for Ethereum.

Then I found Python, Python really clicked for me, the cleanliness of the code, the structure of it really scratched an itch. I got into data science based stuff since I liked the experimentation that went into ingesting and manipulating data, I got into SQL around that time as well.

Then AI/GPT happened, and that became a core focus of my life, I hired a math professor to teach me Linear Algebra, and I took Kahn math courses to supplement. I got interested in cloud platforms around this time as I don’t have the resources to train models locally, and I built a few projects in different cloud platforms.

Around this time, I realized that my hobby really should be my profession as my current job is not fulfilling to me and I don’t like it nearly as much. However, the issue is that I don’t have a CS or STEM degree, I am mid career, I do have many projects and quasi contract jobs under my belt, but they are all in very different modalities, frameworks and languages, it was just whatever I was interested in at the time, it does not create a coherent picture for a hiring manager. I also live in a city that is not in the top 5 of tech job markets.

I have applied to somewhere around 700 jobs, I have changed my resume dozens of times if not more with professional guidance, and I have basically gotten nowhere. I got a few interviews through word of mouth and cold emailing hundreds of contacts and friends of friends, but nothing came of it. And the effort I had to put into just getting those lukewarm interviews/meetings made me realize it was just unsustainable.

AI/ML research jobs tend to require a MS degree at minimum as well.

So I have started the process of getting my Masters from the GA Tech in the OMSCS Program with a focus in ML. I am very excited by this and really relish the opportunity to learn a lot of things.

This comes to my other issue…This is that I do not enjoy where I live, I need to move out of here. The culture and vibe of the place does not fit me, I have lived here a long time, and have tried many fixes, but have decided I NEED a change of scenery, as I feel like my life – just like my career – is going nowhere and I have done all I can to fix it on my own here.

I also want to move to a large job center to improve my chances at employment: NY, LA, CHI, SF are at the top of my list, and they are all much larger and much more tech focused then where I live now.

However i’m kind of in a Catch 22. Perhaps a hiring manager can help me. I have a stable job now, but it is in a field completely unrelated to tech, and something I dislike, I also can’t do it remotely. I could look for a lateral job switch and do what I do now but in different city, but I might end up disliking this new job far more than my current job and it might take up way more of my time (one of the benefits of my current job is my boss is very nice and very lenient)… I could opt for a service job, in another life I worked in retail and managed a store, however I am worried about how this will look on a resume, If I go from having a career in a specific field to working as a waiter or store clerk while getting my MS, Idk how that will be perceived by hiring managers.

I could of course finish out my MS where I currently live and apply for jobs/internships in other cities later, but I am worried about the timing of this. My parents are getting older, I live in the same town as them now. Right now, they can care for themselves and are supportive of my direction in life, however if I fast forward a couple of years, I don’t know if I will have this same window, I might need to stay back and help them or atleast it will be much harder to justify leaving this city, health issues creep up from time to time and they are slowing down…I know from experience that life comes at you very fast. Make a plan and God laughs.

In general I feel as if my life past me by, I dont have much of a youth left if you can even call it that, I have an opportunity to leave to a better place, but I dont have the resources to stay once I get there, and I am worried that by taking any job I might hurt my chances later..I’m working on getting a job more suited to my interests and temperament, but this is proving to be a really tough and winding task.

Any one have any advice?