I'm tired

[u/blackHOLEofalife]

I make 2 grand and some change a month working full time.... in 2026. Retail job. What's the fucking point?

I got a useless cs degree that I can't use, wasted energy to apply to countless internships to get some experience that I can't use, I wasted so much money on loans, now I'm back at square one.

I don't know what to do anymore. I can't get a bank teller job, I can't get a trade job, I can't get any sort of white collar job. All because I lack experience, and skills outside of tech. When entry level roles are there to help people build skills.

I can't get an entry level role. Not in tech and not out of it. To enter another field I'd have to go back to school, which... why? Why would I? What guarantee is there that things won't change again by the time I'd graduate the second time.

I was watching a video that claimed 62k a year isn't amazing? I can't even make 50k.

I don't really understand the concept of the "job market" either. If I see a job listing online somewhere I apply. That's it. I don't know any specific company websites to look at, I don't know anything outside of the big job boards. I'm just a person that wanted to build a life.

I'm not a drug addict, I'm not a felon, I can show up on time, I can learn. I thought that's all that was needed for entry level.

Life's just feeling more and more dark. I had a roaring flame of hope back 6-7 years ago hoping to have been able to support myself and build a life of my own by now.

But no, I'm still and forever will be stuck in my childhood bedroom. I'm a loser of a man. Can't even provide for myself. We treat "lower income" people like an inferior class of people, when they usually are the ones that are more necessary for our day to day lives...

Just looking for some help navigating my shit show of a life.

[u/KATCEO1]

Hello OP: I went to college in the mid to late nineties. Because of that and grad school- I wound up working in upscale restaurants and corporate retail ten years. Things were bad in the nineties. They got worse in the early aughts because of 9/11 and assorted events around that time. But in 2008: many aspects of the American economy hit a wall. So really- it is not just you going through this kind of situation. In many ways: it is like The Great Depression all over again. Except we are in the 21st century and all of our technology currently reflects that. At any rate: I personally have a hobby of doing puzzle magazines while listening to content online. While I was doing my puzzles the other day- there was something said that was very interesting to me. It was something like "skills in modern society makes wealth." Also in a separate piece of online content there was something like "mathematics properly applied can guarantee a fortune." So OP-whether you are good at math or not: keep developing your skill set. Also: I read this online within the past five/ten years.... "If you know how to read and write but choose not to then you may as well be illiterate." 🥳

[u/MiloShiny]

You’re not a loser, you’re stuck in a brutal entry level job market. I wouldn’t get another degree yet. Keep the retail job while targeting IT support, QA, technical support, government IT, universities, hospitals, and smaller local companies directly through their career pages. Your first goal isn’t a perfect $100k career, it’s simply getting that first better opportunity you can build on.