There are no good jobs...

[abcdavid01]

I would be willing to hand-sand wooden baseboard for $12/hour. I would be willing to do odd-jobs like that to earn cash. The problem is that I can't find jobs like that or I don't know where to look.

The only catch would be I would want it in cash and I would want to do it under-the-table.

That is generally how it is done around here. Under the table cash transactions are the only way that most people can afford to enough for workers to make any kind of living. The men doing the jobs are not generally young guys starting out but rather ex-farmers, underemployed tradesmen and the like who have all the skills and equipment and so can afford to do the jobs for effectively less than the overall true cost. This is why young men really can't get ahead other than through official channels. The nature of the slow financial collapse means you would be competing with experienced workers with skills, equipment and word-of-mouth reputation who often still aren't making any money.

Another example - at one time the town had six large gyms with a population that would support perhaps two. Why? The slow collapse means that people who have previously been making a good living suddenly find themselves out of work. Often they think that it would be nice to start their own business in something they really enjoy, in this case running a gym. Most of them will go broke of course, but it will take them some time to go broke because they are starting from a healthy financial position. In the meantime, they are making it impossible for young men starting out to compete in the market. In general, it is becoming impossible for all but the favored few to earn a living, and it is not for a lack of hard work or initiative. Indeed the more aggressively people are prepared to go after every dollar, the worse they are making their collective condition.

Cornfed's absolutely right about this. It's how my parents would pay for home repairs, under the table transactions with tradesmen aged 40+. They'd usually pay a couple hundred or so per job in cash.

[droid]

This is crazy, I got three job offers through Linkedin.com last week, and then a former boss also called me offering literally a whack'o'money for my coding services.

Fricking unreal. It was pretty tough to decline these offers, but my plans are pretty much set in stone now, given my age and p*ssy-hunt relocation, which can't be delayed anymore.

I really recommend getting into the embedded software area, as there's not that many people willing to do it or possessing the skills/patience. It has a great competitive advantage.

[Cornfed]

I really recommend getting into the embedded software area, as there's not that many people willing to do it or possessing the skills/patience. It has a great competitive advantage.

How would one go about this?

[Jester]

That is generally how it is done around here. Under the table cash transactions are the only way that most people can afford to enough for workers to make any kind of living. The men doing the jobs are not generally young guys starting out but rather ex-farmers, underemployed tradesmen and the like who have all the skills and equipment and so can afford to do the jobs for effectively less than the overall true cost. This is why young men really can't get ahead other than through official channels. The nature of the slow financial collapse means you would be competing with experienced workers with skills, equipment and word-of-mouth reputation who often still aren't making any money.

Another example - at one time the town had six large gyms with a population that would support perhaps two. Why? The slow collapse means that people who have previously been making a good living suddenly find themselves out of work. Often they think that it would be nice to start their own business in something they really enjoy, in this case running a gym. Most of them will go broke of course, but it will take them some time to go broke because they are starting from a healthy financial position. In the meantime, they are making it impossible for young men starting out to compete in the market. In general, it is becoming impossible for all but the favored few to earn a living, and it is not for a lack of hard work or initiative. Indeed the more aggressively people are prepared to go after every dollar, the worse they are making their collective condition.

Brilliant observations here.

[droid]

I really recommend getting into the embedded software area, as there's not that many people willing to do it or possessing the skills/patience. It has a great competitive advantage.

How would one go about this?

You and Tsar seem like logical guys and could probably get a knack for this field.
Many people start with the "Arduino" line of microprocessor boards, doing simple programs that flash an LED etc,
and then build their way to more complex boards/chips and subroutines.

For those that haven't formally pursued an engineering degree, I think it's still possible. There would be a few subjects that one would need to
catch up in either a few community college classes, or if you are disciplined enough, Wikipedia/online sources are great.
I would recommend spending a few weeks on the following:

-Basic electronics concepts, like Volts, amp, resistance (i.e. Ohms law).
-Basic understanding of numbering systems, like converting from decimal to binary or hex.
-Basic algebra. mainly for the proper use of parenthesis really.
-Some basic calculus. Although not required to code per-se, some actual applications use it (motor acceleration routines etc).

The main thing in this field I think is the ability to figure-out/look up the stuff you don't already know; That's one of the main values you provide an employer (or your own startup).

Someone can build these abilities as a hobby, to get started with. I think when it comes to this, it's more important to be able to show what one has done (i.e. projects) as opposed to a degree.

Additionally, somebody showed me the page Odesk.com the other day. In there you can see plenty of freelancers for Windows and web applications, but there is not even a section for "embedded", as there aren't that many.
I'll attempt o do some freelancing once abroad, that would be real nice.

[Tsar]

I'm not really interested in computers or IT. I'm more into practical things, entrepreneurship, or working with investments. Engineering or programming are two things that I never had an interest in pursuing. What about going abroad and trying to sell unique cultural objects online while living abroad? I personally know a variety of unique goods from a variety of foreign countries that would sell well in America, many with a high mark-up compared to their purchase price abroad. The only difficulty is funding those purchases, getting a retail store would be expensive, selling online could save money but trying to sell them on eBay might do well but start off slow. Everything comes down to having the funds.

I am willing to take other jobs as long as they are engaging, not always boring, not too complicated (more practical or business related), and pay enough (relative to the cost of living and provide savings). A job is worthless if it doesn't advance you to your goals and dreams in life. If you can't save and can't get what you want in your life, you are basically a slave. So if I were offered a $45,000 job in NYC then I would decline, if offered a $40,000 job in Tampa I would accept. The absolute minimum I would accept would be a $30,000, assuming it isn't a 40 hour workweek and the cost of living are low enough that justifies me accepting that job.

I already receive some money. I am doing nothing (if adjusted to the equivalent working pay, adding monetary values for: 40 minute commute time, estimated gasoline bills for commuting to work, stress, loss of personal time, taxes, and 8 hour workdays, then it would be an estimated $22,000 per year, despite actually being about 30% of that figure). Most people only measure the money, but happiness is another factor that deserves to be measured. No matter how you look at it, if you're working hard for $26,000/year then that is not happiness and in a country like America it is not a lot. Most people look at a job as it pays more money, but what is the point of having a job if it's not something you want to do and you just get stuck? I would rather be poor, than working poor. Being poor is better than being an indentured servant or slave. Taking a $26,000/year would in my mind be a major pay cut.

[zacb]

Like someone mentioned before, you can work at call centers in Guatamala which pay 1-1.5 k a month, and only tax 7% tops. There is always the middle east, which most don't tax you on your income, as well as learning portable occupations.

[Tsar]

I decided to take previous advice consider a term of service in the Navy as a potential option if I fail at getting a an interesting and acceptable civilian job.

[zacb]

Sorry I don't buy it bro! I'm a big believer in YOU are responsible for pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Such a belief is incredibly stupid. The reality is that the current economy is essentially Soviet style communism, with most resources under the control of a few corporate entities. If you want to work with those resources, you need their permission, and they will hire the number of workers they want based on whatever criteria they want. If they don't want to hire you for whatever reason, then most likely you can't have a job. Moreover, many jobs could not be done outside that system. If you want to be a scientist or a coal miner, you can't do it with your own basement laboratory or bucket and spade respectively. You need to do so as part of a the corporate system, and if the system people decide they don't want to hire you or don't want to do that activity at all then you are out of luck.

This idea of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is completely ridiculous. We function as members of a community. The most successful people are successful because they benefit from the most elaborate systems to carry them along. An accomplished surgeon didn't get where he is by "pulling himself up by his own bootstraps". He got there by being passed through a system designed to train him up to that level involving thousands of people that, if he had to pay the true cost of, would have cost millions if it could be done at all. Professional athletes benefit from training and organized competitions from a young age, staffed by volunteers and both publically funded and privately funded professionals. If this were not the case then it would be impossible to produce skilled workers.

You get the training and you move to an area where jobs are available.

Wrapping your head around the issue shouldn't be that hard. If is simply a case of elementary school mathematics. If there are X jobs that are being funded, Y people that want the jobs and Y>X, then Y-X people will not have jobs. To look at it another way, if you take a situation of full employment and then add lots of potential employees in the form of females who were previously housewives and third worlders who were previously peasants, and then subtract a bunch of jobs due to automation, global rationalization of jobs and such, then you don't still have a situation of full employment. If you can’t even see that then an adult guardian should be appointed to handle your affairs.

While I agree that in America it is very hard to pull yourself up these days, I believe that there are still bastions of free market capitalism where you can actually do stuff without red tape.

[Devil Dog]

I'm not really interested in computers or IT. I'm more into practical things, entrepreneurship, or working with investments. Engineering or programming are two things that I never had an interest in pursuing. What about going abroad and trying to sell unique cultural objects online while living abroad? I personally know a variety of unique goods from a variety of foreign countries that would sell well in America, many with a high mark-up compared to their purchase price abroad. The only difficulty is funding those purchases, getting a retail store would be expensive, selling online could save money but trying to sell them on eBay might do well but start off slow. Everything comes down to having the funds.

... Job requirements snipped.

Your problem is that you want a position which you are not qualified for. Who wants to hire an inexperienced graduate from a second-rate business school to "work with investments? You have an entitled attitude, of course nobody will hire you.

As for entrepreneurialism, you are not an entrepreneur. You are a wantrepreneur. Entrepreneurs make things happen. You mention an entrepreneurial venture which could EASILY be bootstrapped, but of course you can't do it because it takes too much money.

[Cornfed]

While I agree that in America it is very hard to pull yourself up these days, I believe that there are still bastions of free market capitalism where you can actually do stuff without red tape.

What would be an example of that?

[Cornfed]

Your problem is that you want a position which you are not qualified for. Who wants to hire an inexperienced graduate from a second-rate business school to "work with investments?"

Who wants to hire a slag who has studied nonsense for four years like you daughter? Oh that's right, guys who want their dicks polished. Shame on Tsar for being born a man and not being the productive self-help success story your daughter is.

[zacb]

Well, someone mentioned you can earn 1-2k in Guatamala at phone banks, getting taxed only 7% tops, in the mid east there is large demand for teachers, oil workers, and tech workers, and they pay very well. Mexico's economy is thriving. Fort Mac in Canada and the Dakotas in the states are booming. I hear David, Panama is looking for a lot of cooks and IT people, as well as other types of workers If you have a portable trade like writing, computer programming, HVAC maintenance, being a dealer or trader of some type, investing, among other things. In terms of areas, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Bolivia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Angola, Rwanda, Macedonia, Bulgaria, among other countries all have entrepreneurial potential (especially tech in Eastern Europe).

[Cornfed]

Well, someone mentioned you can earn 1-2k in Guatamala at phone banks, getting taxed only 7% tops, in the mid east there is large demand for teachers, oil workers, and tech workers, and they pay very well. Mexico's economy is thriving. Fort Mac in Canada and the Dakotas in the states are booming. I hear David, Panama is looking for a lot of cooks and IT people, as well as other types of workers If you have a portable trade like writing, computer programming, HVAC maintenance, being a dealer or trader of some type, investing, among other things. In terms of areas, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Bolivia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Angola, Rwanda, Macedonia, Bulgaria, among other countries all have entrepreneurial potential (especially tech in Eastern Europe).

So you're just being silly then.

[Tsar]

Your problem is that you want a position which you are not qualified for. Who wants to hire an inexperienced graduate from a second-rate business school to "work with investments? You have an entitled attitude, of course nobody will hire you.

Why should someone from Harvard get a job? Why should someone with an internship get a job? They aren't any more deserving. What do you think someone should do? Become a slave working for someone that doesn't allow a person to get a girl, live a good life, or become something in the world?

Why should other people be granted the opportunities when they're young? I wasn't ever granted those opportunities and it shouldn't be expected that I would start at the bottom just because of an unfortunate circumstances?

Either a person gets a job in investments or they don't get into that type of work. There is no entry into that work without being in it from the beginning.

Everyone IS ENTITLED to a job that allows them to live a good life. Do you think a person should be satisfied being a low paid corporate lackey, a slave working for minimum wage, or an overworked cattle?

There is no point in working if working doesn't give a good life. If you see a point, then please tell me what you see? If you think someone should work in a go nowhere job that won't help them get to where they want to go or do in life, then tell me why? If you can't give reasonable answers, then you already proved you are just giving an emotionless response that demands people accept cruel circumstances and be at the bottom of someone else's boot.

Do you know how the elites and the upper-class view their lower workers? Lower workers are viewed like a stray dog that only deserves to lick whatever crumbs remain on the plate. It doesn't matter to them if the workers starve or just a miserable excuse of a life. They think the workers should be thankful they are able to lick the crumbs.