Ask HN: Unemployed. What on earth should I do with my life?
17 by confused-c | 7 comments on Hacker News.
I've been unemployed for several months. I don't know what my next job will be, or how to get it. I humbly request your advice on: "What jobs should CC seek, and not seek? How can CC provide value to others?" Skills/talents: I'm much more interested in "how do I get $THING working enough to accomplish important tasks?" than "how do I optimize $THING performance?" My last job was in a CS research lab; I did no computer science but plenty of automation and process-improvement. I've written & implemented a text adventure. Emacs diehard. BA Linguistics (5 years analyzing patterns in syntax, semantics.) Outside computering, I'm a keen writer: between my journal and my website, I produce >100,000 words a year. I consistently make others laugh: in conversation, on stage, and through writing. I've been a Chinese translator and have decent spoken Mandarin. I've already: Applied to hundreds of jobs (interviewed for perhaps ten). Translator positions ask for native Mandarin and good English, not the other way around. Engineer roles select for those who can whip out perfect algo/DS on command (I understand the need for expertise, but my IRL experience is that not having the perfect construct memorized is never the bottleneck to success.) I've had "data analyst" interviews, but no offers, and no clinical research analyst callbacks despite having done that job. Sent loads of cold emails. Volunteered with techy/Chinesey nonprofits/meetups/interest groups. This has brought friends, satisfaction, and board membership, but not career advancement -- and COVID-19 has frozen all events. I'm now: Applying to automation-engineer jobs (thanks, HN "Who's Hiring.") Building server development skills: learning Flask, EC2. Looking at videogame writer jobs. Seeking out startups/small firms that might react positively to who I am/what I do. Considering grad school. My resume and I are at confused.computerman@gmail.com. Thank you for reading. Have a pleasant day. CC
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