4 ms·

When I was a little kid I too aced anything I wanted to, without trying (granted I never signed up for particularly hard stuff, like this). My parents, and all

by speeder 12y ago

When I was a little kid I too aced anything I wanted to, without trying (granted I never signed up for particularly hard stuff, like this). My parents, and all their adult friends were convinced I was going to be the "Brazillian Bill Gates" (I think mostly because I was the only person interested in computers at that time in their social circle...) Now I am 26, unemployed, and desperately looking for a coding job... Now everyone is interested in computers, everyone is a gamer too (when I was a kid when I said I played computer games people looked at me like if I was an alien), and I did not even entered a CS course, so I am just a regular jobless coder. It is making me very, very desperate to not fall into depression, specially when I compare my life now and my life as a kid, and realize that my life is essentially stagnant since I was 16, the same things I had while 16, is what I have now, except health (that now is worse).

fibonachos 12y ago
The folks in the various programming subs over on reddit tend to have good advice for landing that first programming gig. There are probably several posts that cover situations similar to yours, so do a little searching and reading before you post. /r/programming would probably be a good jumping off point.
- speeder 12y ago
  I already had jobs before, but I spent all my money then to pay university debt (that thankfully is now 100% paid... but I still wish I never went to college, it made more negative than positive difference on my life). My problem now is that the startup where I am working ran out of money, and I have no money (I don't own a car, house, or even a decent cellphone! I am using a borrowed dumbphone right now). I sent hundreds of resumes, but companies don't even invite me to interview.
  - dudurocha 12y ago
    Hey Speeder, where do you live in brazil? I could probably help you out. I work in a VC firm and know several it companies in brazil.
    - speeder 12y ago
      I live in São Paulo right now, but I ran out of money and will have to move back to my parents home soon.
      - Woost 12y ago
        I know it's hard, but stay positive here. You just had someone effectively offer to put in a good word for you with several companies in your country. Instead of 'I ran out of money and will have to move back soon', which reads a little negative, try 'Thanks! I live in São Paulo right now, but I'm willing to move anywhere in Brazil for an opportunity, though my funds are a bit low so traveling will be tough. I'll send you an email/my email is in my profile'
      - gonzo 12y ago
        We employ someone in Sãn Paulo. Send a resume.
        speeder 12y ago
        Hello! Send to where?
    - personlurking 12y ago
      Hope you don't mind, Speeder. This might help some, dudu. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8394490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8394490
  - computerjunkie 12y ago
    Do you have a portfolio of work you have done? Personal website where you blog about technology? Present your small projects online so that people can see what you have done. I don't have a git-hub page yet but a lot of people host their work there, and there are plenty of recruiters looking at peoples github pages. From what I've gathered about the programming industry, its a lot of "show us what you have done" rather than I have a degree in X(although its beneficial for companies who insist on degrees.)
barbudorojo 12y ago
I seems that you are in a very sad situation. I wonder what piece of advice could you give to the five years old child to improve his future? Is there a single thing you would change in your past that you think could have contributed to you having a better future? Do you think that posing great expectations in a child is a bad way to prepare him for the future? Do you think someone else can learn something from your experiences? Can you give any advice to take away? What happened when you where 16? How you stagnated? Could you have escaped from that situation? Is the problem about you or it stems from your environment and social circumstances? Sorry for the many questions, just curious to know whether someone can learn an important lesson from such a difficult and sorry experience, wish you the best.
- speeder 12y ago
  I think in my past the following critical mistakes were made: One, I never made friends, my father is anti-social himself, and as a Christian family in a age were people socialize getting drunk, I never learned how to do that. Most jobs today are NOT posted on internet or classifieds, instead they are advertised to chains of friends of the job poster. Also as Startup owner, my startup make games, and most game startups that had any success, it was because they had important connections (usually with the media, example: Braid, that the author was a journalist, or Minecraft, where journalists used to play online games with him, non-game example: Bill Gates could sell stuff to IBM because his mother asked a friend of hers in IBM board to invite Bill Gates over to see his software). Mistake two: My parents and their very high expectations were highly annoying, making me hate school in general (in fact, I think mandatory schooling is a problem in general, but nevermind now), but also they never taught me to... work. Like I wrote in my post, I could ace any test without any effort. Now that I get into real world jobs, stuff are nothing like tests, you MUST work to get stuff done, and to me that is very hard, it requires enormous amounts of mental effort to pay attention and do what must be done. And what happened when I was 16? Nothing in special, the problem is that I am 26, and I am not one step closer to creating my family than I was when I was 16, I still have no friends, no job, no money, no house, no car, nothing, the only thing "new" on me ever since is my college education, that for now at least is proving to be absolutely useless.
vixen99 12y ago
26 is no age at all. Retrain - there are tons of free courses. Put your capabilities to good use. Whatever, get working on something at least - probably the hard stuff! Good luck!
cturner 12y ago
Mid-twenties can be nasty. You lose all the external structure of youth, become more aware about how awesome you are not, and it can be a struggle to find meaning in things. My experience has been that things get better.

by speeder 12y ago

fibonachos 12y ago

The folks in the various programming subs over on reddit tend to have good advice for landing that first programming gig. There are probably several posts that cover situations similar to yours, so do a little searching and reading before you post. /r/programming would probably be a good jumping off point.

speeder 12y ago
I already had jobs before, but I spent all my money then to pay university debt (that thankfully is now 100% paid... but I still wish I never went to college, it made more negative than positive difference on my life). My problem now is that the startup where I am working ran out of money, and I have no money (I don't own a car, house, or even a decent cellphone! I am using a borrowed dumbphone right now). I sent hundreds of resumes, but companies don't even invite me to interview.
- dudurocha 12y ago
  Hey Speeder, where do you live in brazil? I could probably help you out. I work in a VC firm and know several it companies in brazil.
  - speeder 12y ago
    I live in São Paulo right now, but I ran out of money and will have to move back to my parents home soon.
    - Woost 12y ago
      I know it's hard, but stay positive here. You just had someone effectively offer to put in a good word for you with several companies in your country. Instead of 'I ran out of money and will have to move back soon', which reads a little negative, try 'Thanks! I live in São Paulo right now, but I'm willing to move anywhere in Brazil for an opportunity, though my funds are a bit low so traveling will be tough. I'll send you an email/my email is in my profile'
    - gonzo 12y ago
      We employ someone in Sãn Paulo. Send a resume.
      - speeder 12y ago
        Hello! Send to where?
  - personlurking 12y ago
    Hope you don't mind, Speeder. This might help some, dudu. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8394490 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8394490
- computerjunkie 12y ago
  Do you have a portfolio of work you have done? Personal website where you blog about technology? Present your small projects online so that people can see what you have done. I don't have a git-hub page yet but a lot of people host their work there, and there are plenty of recruiters looking at peoples github pages. From what I've gathered about the programming industry, its a lot of "show us what you have done" rather than I have a degree in X(although its beneficial for companies who insist on degrees.)

barbudorojo 12y ago

I seems that you are in a very sad situation. I wonder what piece of advice could you give to the five years old child to improve his future? Is there a single thing you would change in your past that you think could have contributed to you having a better future? Do you think that posing great expectations in a child is a bad way to prepare him for the future? Do you think someone else can learn something from your experiences? Can you give any advice to take away? What happened when you where 16? How you stagnated? Could you have escaped from that situation? Is the problem about you or it stems from your environment and social circumstances? Sorry for the many questions, just curious to know whether someone can learn an important lesson from such a difficult and sorry experience, wish you the best.

speeder 12y ago
I think in my past the following critical mistakes were made: One, I never made friends, my father is anti-social himself, and as a Christian family in a age were people socialize getting drunk, I never learned how to do that. Most jobs today are NOT posted on internet or classifieds, instead they are advertised to chains of friends of the job poster. Also as Startup owner, my startup make games, and most game startups that had any success, it was because they had important connections (usually with the media, example: Braid, that the author was a journalist, or Minecraft, where journalists used to play online games with him, non-game example: Bill Gates could sell stuff to IBM because his mother asked a friend of hers in IBM board to invite Bill Gates over to see his software). Mistake two: My parents and their very high expectations were highly annoying, making me hate school in general (in fact, I think mandatory schooling is a problem in general, but nevermind now), but also they never taught me to... work. Like I wrote in my post, I could ace any test without any effort. Now that I get into real world jobs, stuff are nothing like tests, you MUST work to get stuff done, and to me that is very hard, it requires enormous amounts of mental effort to pay attention and do what must be done. And what happened when I was 16? Nothing in special, the problem is that I am 26, and I am not one step closer to creating my family than I was when I was 16, I still have no friends, no job, no money, no house, no car, nothing, the only thing "new" on me ever since is my college education, that for now at least is proving to be absolutely useless.

vixen99 12y ago

26 is no age at all. Retrain - there are tons of free courses. Put your capabilities to good use. Whatever, get working on something at least - probably the hard stuff! Good luck!

cturner 12y ago

Mid-twenties can be nasty. You lose all the external structure of youth, become more aware about how awesome you are not, and it can be a struggle to find meaning in things. My experience has been that things get better.