Think longer-term. Don't over-focus on the money. Unless you're already living independently, you're in a privileged position wherein your expenses -- while sti

Think longer-term. Don't over-focus on the money. Unless you're already living independently, you're in a privileged position wherein your expenses -- while still annoying, I'm sure -- are far lower than they will be at any other point in your life. You can take advantage of that by adjusting your priorities. Rather than having a primary goal of earning money, your primary goals should be building up your expertise, your portfolio of work, and (especially) your passion -- (since passion can carry you farther than just about anything else in life). So, first and foremost, look for projects/companies/organisations where the work is both maximally interesting and maximally personally challenging. There's a lot of living-on-the-edge startups and NGOs that can't pay very much, but wouldn't care about your age if you've got the skills they need. The monthly Hacker News "who's hiring" threads are littered with such companies. The best hire I ever made was via a "who's hiring" post -- I had a scrappy but exciting startup, and was thrilled to find an incredibly talented developer who wanted to work on it at way below market rate. Took me almost a year to find out that he was 19. Really didn't matter, given his competence. He's now accumulating a co-founder's worth of equity, so hopefully the investment will ultimately pay off for him. Tl;dr, here's your sort algorithm, in order of priority: 1. They don't ask and/or care about your age. (You don't need that BS.) 2. Company/organisation/product is something you actually feel quite passionate about. 3. The role you'd be given is very challenging and would do a lot to develop your skills. 4. Last and least: salary.