The job market doesn't want employees, or business owners, it wants slaves.

I know plenty of people who went into contracting (aka self-employment) and later found full-time jobs (frequently with clients) across multiple white collar industries, including programming. They were all in their 30s and 40s. In many cases, going the self-employment route actually made them more valuable to future employers. I also know plenty of people without a degree who went into programming.

Over the years I've built my own Linux distro from scratch, developed a heavily customized version of the Chromium web browser, and other interesting stuff.

If this were true you'd be gainfully employed by now. Coming out of COVID, companies were hiring people just because they knew what an IDE was.

Based on your comments though, it's easy to understand why you haven't been able to find a job. I wouldn't want to work with someone as negative as you and I can't imagine anyone would want to work with someone so emotionally draining.

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facepalm1 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> If this were true you'd be gainfully employed by now.

So you're saying it's not true? You're calling me a liar?

> Based on your comments though, it's easy to understand

Let me stop you right there. No, you do not, in fact, actually understand anything at all. Profound, lasting, unassailable ignorance is a defining characteristic of your life. Yet you still feel an overpowering need to share your clueless, uninformed, and reductive opinions and judgments with us anyhow.

Fact check: you do not in fact know me, my situation, or anything about my life other than the brief sentences I just now chose to share with you. Your haughty judgment is ignorant and worthless.

Thanks for your useless comment. Drive through.

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underlipton 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Someone is going to chime in about the tone of this post, with the ramifications of a decade-and-a-half of rejection on one's outlook flying right over their head. If the underemployed and NEETs got half the consideration that extroverts jonesing for just one water cooler chat (just one, man) got during the pandemic, we'd be one our way to solving not only their problems, but also the ones that they're uniquely equipped to tackle.

	▲	facepalm1 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> with the ramifications of a decade-and-a-half of rejection on one's outlook flying right over their head. Thanks for having a clue. EDIT: I would say more, but what's the point? If any honest feelings are expressed that in any way reflect negatively (perish the thought) on anyone here or their crock-of-shit pet theories, it will be flagged and censored with no recourse. Because God is the moderator of this forum, and His judgment is all knowing and perfect. It's not possible to criticize these raging assholes or any of the daily doings of their fucked up, selfish, corrupt society, as they have outlawed all criticism of themselves. Only they are allowed to criticize others. This place is a toxic shithole, and I can't wait to watch it burn. Go ahead and flag this one too, fucking losers.

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gamblor956 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Thank you for proving my point. Enjoy being unemployable.

You don't need to be an extrovert to be employed. I'm not, and neither are most of my coworkers. But you do need to not be a hyper-aggressive sack of negativity that emotionally drains everyone around you. So deal with that, and you might be able to land a job before you pass.

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	▲	thatwasdumb 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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