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Ask HN: 36 years old, no skills, no job – what can I learn?
I was making $170k in biotech, doing operations. This job was not enjoyable and hard to quantify/describe. Basically, just putting out fires all day. I got laid off and biotech sucks right now. I'm prepared to retrain, but I want to make a similar salary. Unfortunately tech seems to have downturned as well - so I'm not sure what to do. I had some contacts at some SaaS companies that peripherally served life sciences, but this seems to have fizzed out as well. Also, did some sample work for equities analysis in life science, no response.
- GianFabien 3y agoIf you learn something new, then you probably have to start with an entry-level position. The only way I know of sustaining your salary expectations is to demonstrate your ability to immediately deliver value at say 5+ times your recent salary. As they say you either make them money or save them money.
- highwayman47 3y agoI'd be willing to take a stab at 1099 sales jobs - I just haven't found many
- GianFabien 3y agoI didn't know what 1099 sales were so I did a quick Google. You mean like this one? https://www.simplyhired.com/job/fRVLWuMczwz2jxh7yVv35FuovuVIsliB9Xs1oIhD1w7rKEdxpsyvAg?jobCardTrackingKey=5-pdx1-0-1hjs7021uisbu800-58e6774ca6b5e67b https://www.simplyhired.com/job/fRVLWuMczwz2jxh7yVv35FuovuVI... With your background, similar ones might work out well for you.
- dorongrinstein 3y agoyou can be a product manager, project manager, product marketing manager, sales engineer, sales person, designer (if you are graphically inclined) and of course, you can be a front-end engineer or backend engineer but you need to spend a couple of months immersing yourself in it and get an entry level development job to get your skills up and rise up. none of the options will be handed on a silver platter and you've got to put in hard work and make it happen. See what most attracts you (it may be something off the list above of course) but go all in and do not accept defeat. become as best you can. It is a competitive world and you have to compete to earn. no skills? gain the skills. through working on yourself. good luck, you can do it!
- highwayman47 3y agoI appreciate it - what's the best way I could leverage my life sci background?
- adamhp 3y agoI literally just got an email from some Biotech company in Maryland that is hiring Python Engineers. Learn Python. Apply to some Biotech companies as a Python Engineer. I'm almost certain your biotech experience would make up for your lack of actual engineering experience if you could do a leetcode interview or whatever.
- wrx100 3y agoI usually advise friends and family to try what they already know first if they are out of work. Is there any way you can contract to other biotechs to put out their fires? Can you start a business as a supplier of contractors or other services and products to the biotech industry? Are there any other inefficiencies in the biotech industry that you can exploit by setting up a company?
- highwayman47 3y agoyes there are inefficiencies - but biotech is expensive - I can't just start a business. My credentials aren't good enough for consulting either.
- mhrnik 3y agowhat if you start with a good job?
- highwayman47 3y agowhat do you mean? I've been trying to get a good W2 job.
- austin-cheney 3y agoI am a former JavaScript developer who did that for 15 years. The I see missing most are: written communications, basic concepts of organization, data structures. JavaScript was painful to abandon as a career. I loved the expressiveness of the language and the creativity it allowed. The jobs though were just putting text on screen and your peers were exceedingly young, insecure, and highly untrained. It’s like having a live for automobiles but becoming an auto-mechanic means your peers likely lack education, have low income potential, and drink more. It is time for expectation management. If you want to start over in a different field you are not going to make what you making. You need to gain some experience in your new field to qualify a return to a high salary unless you can leverage your prior experience directly with credentials to laterally slide into a new field.
- navjack27 3y agoStop lying to yourself saying you have no skills. You have skills. Frame them in your advantage.
- giantg2 3y agoEh, I don't have skills either. So it's believable others might not too.
- highwayman47 3y agoWhat do you do for work?
- giantg2 3y agoMoney?
- lulznews 3y agoNo worry. Most jobs require no skills.
- FlopV 3y agoI know of a marketing company for life sciences. How do I get in touch with you?
- highwayman47 3y agoI appreciate it - what's the company?
- alexander2002 3y agoGl!
- highwayman47 3y ago?
- rapfaria 3y ago> I want to make a similar salary. That's not the spirit
- highwayman47 3y agoI have bills - I was broke before. Debt from a few failed business ventures.
- gaws 3y ago> 36, no skills, no job > I want to make a similar salary. Zero chance this will happen, buddy.
- giantg2 3y agoThw median developer makes something like $115k, so this might not be the best choice. Getting into management might be your best bet to get to $170k. Very little technical knowledge needed in management too.
- 6R1M0R4CL3 3y agothere are some occupations that are in need of people. some are manual labor and pay well because there is not enough people there. you want to work with your hands for a good wage ? or you want to work in some office ? we need more details :)