Now that we're all adults here...

[Battler]

Originally Posted by xesf

Yeah @Battle, I agree that you should be able to find development roles with the knowledge you have. You can use all your tools in LBA as a portfolio and use that to show your motivation and dedication during interview process.
If permanent roles are not possible, there should be plenty of contract roles as well.

I don't think many employers are going to be impressed with stuff written in Visual Basic 6. If anything, it's more likely they're going to laugh at me.
Now, I could put my 86Box emulator in the portfolio as that's written in C but even that I'm not sure what employers will think of, since C is not in that much demand, people care more about C++, C#, JS, Node, etc. these days.

[leoboe]

Originally Posted by SpaceGuitarist

Thanks for the detailed explanation! Education in Germany seems to be really above / among the highest standards in the world. Math and music is a great choice. If you do compose your own music, I'd very much like to listen it.

I very much enjoy listening to bands that play this genre called "math rock", which are mostly instrumentals. I don't know if this would have any relation to what you do but I figured I'd mention it.

The education for teachers does has a quite high standard, unfortunately germany's education system suffers in different areas (large classes, an antiquated separation system year 5 and upwards and many more), but it's still not as bad as some popular examples.

Unfortunately I don't compose. Learning about so much music theory actually prevents you to do so, because it hinders the creative process. But I sometimes arrange pieces to play with an orchestra or write very little songs for school work.

PS: what makes you a "rock star" UI developer?

I think he means Rockstar as in Spoiler:

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Anyways congratulations

[Bestary]

Cool, many of you here chose creative specialties And mee to, I'm child illustrator.

Unfotunatly, I didn't work a lot, many years was wasted to cure me from clinical depression. When I felt myself better I worked on freelance. My life is strange. Russia not very needs in my skills, and my English skills not very awesome to work to another country. And, like Buttler, I'm unemployed now.

But there are two areas I want to devote my life: drawings and writing stories about my imaginary worlds. Especially last one, cause it curing my psyche sometimes.

[DarkOnistar]

I'm from the UK, unemployed and currently struggling on welfare (Universal Credit + appealing PIP).
Spoiler:

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I have an interest in IT and have from an early age.
I remember the days of DOS, Windows 3.1 and having to solve problems in order to play games. In recent years I've helped people on my teamspeak server overcome various obstacles tech related where I can.

My skills are - SQL, AutoCAD, Java, C#.

I've worked:

• Noise Control Industry - AutoCAD (technical drawings)
• Automotive Recall Industry - SQL (databases)
• Games Industry - Games Tester (NDA 0-hour contract ~ Hours random & unpredictable).

Job hunting has been making me feel depressed, especially with the welfare system being pessimistic everytime I've gone in.. looking for an excuse to kick me off their system.
Most of the jobs popping up lately have been 0-hour contracts which do not cover rent or insist they are apprenticeship only, which makes me ineligible.

____________

Besides job hunting I've been helping out at local charities.
I'm learning GoDot 3 Engine (there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube).

I'm trying to keep myself busy and avoid all the negative peer-pressure I'm getting from housemates.

[Illumina]

Originally Posted by Bestary

Cool, many of you here chose creative specialties And mee to, I'm child illustrator.

Unfotunatly, I didn't work a lot, many years was wasted to cure me from clinical depression. When I felt myself better I worked on freelance. My life is strange. Russia not very needs in my skills, and my English skills not very awesome to work to another country. And, like Buttler, I'm unemployed now.

But there are two areas I want to devote my life: drawings and writing stories about my imaginary worlds. Especially last one, cause it curing my psyche sometimes.

Not always an easy path working on creative passion for a living but I'm happy you're following your path. Hope you find your place to live off it, fellow Russian.

A few people might be aware some years ago that I've been doing music projects. Well, after graduating with Bachelor of Arts degree, I am slowly getting into the audio engineering in terms of live events and home studio production. (Shameless advertising: If anybody needs their recording mixed or mastered, I am offering my services on Fiverr. PM me and I'll share the link)

Besides that, I deliver morning papers for a living since find full-time jobs for my qualifications is tough, so you're kind of not alone there.

In free time, though, I got lucky enough to front a local cover band playing hard rock.

[Quetch]

Well, my love for LBA turned me into a programmer ages ago when I was a kid/teen. Then I graduated engineering, tried out a few jobs ranging from hardware (chip manufacturing, silicon industries, etc.) to software (signal processing, etc.), also media content creation since I was always into arts as well.

The media thing was for a big TV channel/station and I had to make news props, banners, art and pretty much everything which pops up on the screen. It was hideous, as the shifts were a nightmare (u had to cover all news bulletins day-round). Needless to say, I quit after 3 months.

I've tried getting employed in Gameloft, Ubisoft, EA Games and Amber Studios, but Gameloft's offer was a bad joke, EA Games' offer was a good joke but still a joke, Ubisoft and Amber Studios never replied.

Then, since I also have a huge passion for music, I tried working for a music studio. Didn't turn out that well, since all the money came from from the crappiest music you can ever imagine. Then I started working in a guitar shop as a tech/luthier and electronics engineer, since I was doing this on my own for many years but with little to no revenue. That was the best time of my life. However, due some very upsetting events I felt I had to quit.

So I went back into programming. Tried for about 1 year to make my small company together with a friend. We were making mobile games. Long story short, without a serious financial backup geared towards ads, you'll never be the next Flappy Bird. So I closed down the thing after less than 1 year.

Then went into automotive (currently still there). I'm a SW manager and although I really don't like the industry at all, I prefer to make my life more enjoyable doing something I don't really like necessarily, but making enough money to be able to do the things that I DO like and want to do. Don't get me wrong, I very much like the idea of "quit the job you don't like and dive deep into bla bla bla" motivational life changing videos on YT, but truth of the matter (for me at least) is that it ain't always sunshine and rainbows, you mostly always need to make a compromise, so I chose mine after being for so long on the other edge of the knife (doing what I loved and starving to death).

[SpaceGuitarist]

Originally Posted by Quetch

I prefer to make my life more enjoyable doing something I don't really like necessarily, but making enough money to be able to do the things that I DO like and want to do.

^ ... Precisely where I am at this moment, brother.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[SpaceGuitarist]

Originally Posted by DedalousDiggle

It's a physical job so it keeps me in shape, and I get to interact with and entertain people for money, so that's pretty cool.

That's what she said

[DedalousDiggle]

I'm still doing the same thing, moved onto a new place. It's more casual, more fun, busier. Had a group of people there for 7 fucking hours the other day. One guy was joking around with me every time I came by, eventually got kinda flirty, finally tried to get me to leave with him. Got a lot less friendly when I told him my girlfriend was meeting me there for dinner when I was done. Awkward.

[SpaceGuitarist]

Originally Posted by DedalousDiggle

I'm still doing the same thing, moved onto a new place. It's more casual, more fun, busier. Had a group of people there for 7 fucking hours the other day. One guy was joking around with me every time I came by, eventually got kinda flirty, finally tried to get me to leave with him. Got a lot less friendly when I told him my girlfriend was meeting me there for dinner when I was done. Awkward.

That's the problem with most people, they are mostly friendly when there's something that interests them in you, as soon as that is gone it's like they couldn't care less.

[Snapman]

I'm a Data Analyst. I don't know how I got this position - I'm absolutely useless with Excel and SQL but I just seem able to blunder my way through projects.

It's okay. I've had worse jobs.

[DarkOnistar]

Originally Posted by Snapman

I'm a Data Analyst. I don't know how I got this position - I'm absolutely useless with Excel and SQL but I just seem able to blunder my way through projects.

It's okay. I've had worse jobs.

Having worked with SQL in a similar role I can relate.

Originally Posted by Quetch

I prefer to make my life more enjoyable doing something I don't really like necessarily, but making enough money to be able to do the things that I DO like and want to do. Don't get me wrong, I very much like the idea of "quit the job you don't like and dive deep into bla bla bla" motivational life changing videos on YT, but truth of the matter (for me at least) is that it ain't always sunshine and rainbows, you mostly always need to make a compromise, so I chose mine after being for so long on the other edge of the knife (doing what I loved and starving to death).

It is so reassuring being in full-time work as opposed to part-time work or 0-hour contracts where my anxiety can spike wondering if I'll get enough hours.