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I suggest temping. When I needed to do that, I found only one agency out of like half a dozen in my area was any help. It was the same one that I got a job thr

I suggest temping. When I needed to do that, I found only one agency out of like half a dozen in my area was any help. It was the same one that I got a job through almost 20 years ago. So it's important not to give up if some of them seem to be wasting your time. If you need good benefits, then a government job may be the way to go. I've never known anyone who got one directly, but there can be loopholes, and temping is one route. Extremely boring companies and organizations are more likely to promote you from a low level job in my experience, because they're not drowning in talent in the first place. Get a job doing stuff manually, figure out how to automate it. Listening to people who have trouble explaining what they need can be far more valuable than pure technical skill. Treating nontechnical people as human beings is easier than anything people will tell you to do on HN.

topkai22 6y ago
It is no guarentee, but temping/contractor work is how I got into Big Tech. I did a good enough job and impressed enough people the team was willing to pick me up full time. However, I would warn the OP that the most important thing is to start building a portfolio of reliablity. Temping/contracting can be demeaning- you ABSOLUTELY are a second class citizen on the teams. You will be assigned the least strategic work, because if it was strategic they would have an FTE do it. The key thing is to push through and build up a basis of trust- you can do whatever is needed, when it is needed, even if its not what you wanted, and do so in a way that people enjoy being around you.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  >building a portfolio of reliablity That sounds excessively intimidating. The issue is that if you haven't had a job in a couple months, you can get tagged as unemployable. There's no point in telling people what you did six months ago if they are going to assume that you can't do anything (that you're not doing at the moment). All you have to do to get past that is subordinate everything else to being employed for the moment. It's a lesson in prioritization. You can get on the treadmill nearly as fast as you got off of it. At least if you think 6 months to a year is reasonable speed.

topkai22 6y ago

It is no guarentee, but temping/contractor work is how I got into Big Tech. I did a good enough job and impressed enough people the team was willing to pick me up full time. However, I would warn the OP that the most important thing is to start building a portfolio of reliablity. Temping/contracting can be demeaning- you ABSOLUTELY are a second class citizen on the teams. You will be assigned the least strategic work, because if it was strategic they would have an FTE do it. The key thing is to push through and build up a basis of trust- you can do whatever is needed, when it is needed, even if its not what you wanted, and do so in a way that people enjoy being around you.

perl4ever 6y ago
>building a portfolio of reliablity That sounds excessively intimidating. The issue is that if you haven't had a job in a couple months, you can get tagged as unemployable. There's no point in telling people what you did six months ago if they are going to assume that you can't do anything (that you're not doing at the moment). All you have to do to get past that is subordinate everything else to being employed for the moment. It's a lesson in prioritization. You can get on the treadmill nearly as fast as you got off of it. At least if you think 6 months to a year is reasonable speed.