At 22, right out of college, I probably would have done basically anything to get a $40k a year job. I applied literally everywhere I could. Still, after 8 mont

At 22, right out of college, I probably would have done basically anything to get a $40k a year job. I applied literally everywhere I could. Still, after 8 months and thousands of applications, I was working for $13.50/hr as a cook. This forced me to rethink my strategy, and I decided to take a program in CS, which changed everything for me. I often think about how my life would have been if I had got one of those jobs that I applied for. Most were low level admin work for corporations with terrible reputations. Likely I wouldn’t have been able to go back to school (working in a kitchen from 5pm-1am means you can take classes in the day). I would have made just enough to live, but I couldn’t have advanced past a certain point. My friends who got these jobs either left them to go back to school, or got cost-of-living wage increases and are now “senior <low-level-administrator>“ people. It’s a trap. One that I was set and willing to fall in, had I been slightly more competent.