So after the encounter with my teacher at Home Depot, I posted my resume on dice.com. A trade school contacted me. I went for the interview, and the founder as

So after the encounter with my teacher at Home Depot, I posted my resume on dice.com. A trade school contacted me. I went for the interview, and the founder asked me "Do you think you could teach?" I replied with confidence and said "Yes." I had no clue if it were something I would do right. All I knew was I would give it everything I had. I ended up working at a trade school as a teacher making $25/hr. I had to travel ~2 hours in one direction and would get home around 2 am. I was too afraid to quit working at Home Depot so I kept both jobs. It wasn't until I got a job at a start-up company making $30k a year during the .com boom. I was severely underpaid, but I was happy that I finally had a full-time job in IT! Until the company went belly up a year later and everyone got laid off. So what happened next? I was on unemployment for six months and refusing to work in IT. I was angry that after all of my dedication and hard work, I would be tossed aside. I read JavaScript articles by candlelight because my electricity was turned off for not being able to pay the bills early on. So I felt violated and used. A manager from that startup company asked me to come interview at a company where he was working. I decided to give IT one more change. That job paid $40k a year. Granted I was still underpaid, but I had hope. Although I was underpaid, I was now able to pay bills and not struggle. I rented an entire home for $400/month. Side note, I was renting a house from an ex-drug dealer who didn't own the home. Instead, he took an abandoned home, cleaned it up and said he owned it. I didn't know this until years later. By 2005, I was only making $48k a year, a far cry from what I make now. I learned how to negotiate and obtain my worth. I make it a point to teach people about how to achieve their proper worth. e.g., Never negotiate with yourself! You know that mental process when you want to ask for $$$ but decide on asking for $$? Learn how to value being told "No" during an interview vs. doing and accepting anything to "Yes." Hope that answers your question.