What to do if you keep failing?

[WhiteAbyss]

I am lost. I keep trying all the advice I read online but I have found its all hot air. None of it can generate a stable income. I tried google adsense and having a website with a forum. Found it IMPOSSIBLE to compete with the big sites and bring in enough traffic to generate a living. Found it impossible to compete with social media.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have been applying for jobs since I was 16 and nobody will employ me.

I got into University as a mature aged student doing Engineering, but then found that too hard after the first semester of first year and dropped out( which wasn't surprising as it has a 60-70% drop out rate). I have since read online that the STEM push was designed to flood the market with STEM graduates, thereby allowing employers to cut their pay rates, and thus WASN'T about helping PEOPLE but just lining CORPORATIONS pockets. There NEVER was a STEM job shortage or a need for more STEM graduates, that was all a lie. And when they do hire STEM graduates they prefer DIVERSE hires from overseas. Nobody will employ a WHITE MALE these days.

I have never been interested in STEM or computers, so won't do coding. Why would I do complex math all day when I could get the same pay for doing something less mathematical? It doesn't make sense to push STEM at all.

I am about to try dog poo removal as that is my last chance. I am literally getting rejected from hundreds of jobs each week and if this doesn't work out I don't know what will become of me.

I even tried designing this egg cracking device that was supposed to optimize the egg cracking procedure at major fast food chains but that got nowhere BECAUSE NOBODY WAS WILLING TO GIVE ME A CHANCE.

I GIVE UP. Don't listen to online gurus who can say you can have it all and create your own business- you can't. Either your idea is taken in some form or the market is already saturated with it. Inventing something is useless, because unless YOU ALREADY HAVE THE MONEY(and thus defeating the whole purpose of going to the trouble of creating an invention) then your never going to be able to afford the costs associated with marketing it, prototyping it etc. Plus big companies don't accept ideas that originate outside of their research and development labs, so your basically ALL ON YOUR OWN if you invent something and try to sell it.

I don't know what the answer is, but false hope isn't it.

I also don't understand the thinking behind our job market now being an international one in Western countries. I mean there are literally more people than there are jobs. How can that be sustainable? The boomers and their parents didn't know how good they had it with their internal job markets where people would actually hire their own.

Why can't I just get a job like me parents and grandparents could without needing 5+ years experience? This society is INSANE.

[creditcardfree]

Your facts are wrong about STEM jobs. My daughter is shopping engineering schools. Many of the fields have 100% placement rates. You dropped out after one semester. If you put in the work, the jobs are there.

It also sounds like you see yourself as a victim. What you believe about yourself will come across in an interview. Confident people get jobs everyday. Consider getting advice from a career counselor who can advise on your skills, jobs that match those skill sets and help you to improve resume and interview skills.

[disneysteve]

I got into University as a mature aged student doing Engineering, but then found that too hard after the first semester of first year and dropped out

So you left the engineering program after 1 semester. What major did you change to? What degree did you earn?

[phantom]

It sounds like you just haven't found a viable career path that works for you. Yes, there are a lot of people out there falsely claiming that this or that is a sure path to success. Some of them are deluded into thinking that just because a path worked for them, it can work for everyone, and some are just charlatans. But, that doesn't mean that there's no way to succeed. It just means that making a successful career for yourself can be complicated and challenging.

I work in a STEM field, and in my experience, there are plenty of jobs out there, but there tends to be a mismatch between the experience employers are looking for and the experience employees have. I think most fields are similar. Most businesses want to get work done 2 weeks ago and don't want to take the time to train people. No one wants to train fresh grads only to have them jump ship for more money once they finish that first year. But, if some didn't do it anyway, there wouldn't be people with 1 year of experience out there now. Sure, you see a lot of companies that outsource whatever they can or bring in the cheapest employees they can get from overseas. But, that's far from a universal trend. There are plenty of other employers who see efficiencies in having employees who are all in the same time zone and speak the same language and don't want to deal with the visa process.

It's hard for me to say where you should go from here. The best I can do is advise you that starting a career is tough, but far from impossible. You're right to be mistrustful of anyone who tries to tell you they know the secret of making it easy, but you're wrong to assume that means it's impossible.

[TexasHusker]

The overriding issue is that your outlook is "the glass is half empty".

You will need counseling on that front.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I agree with you that affirmative action is unfair and a merit based policy should replace it.

[Singuy]

Egg cracking device..is that what cooks need? I feel that cooks are really good at cracking eggs. Your device most likely wouldn't save anyone anytime.

You know what you can try inventing? A battery that is 10x the capacity and charges at 1/10th of the time. This will change everything...stops global warming, stabilizes the middle east, and probably terraforms mars for a second home.


STEM is hard, but it is what bring us from hunters and gathers to where we are today. To say STEM is saturated is a troll post at best.

[Petunia 100]

Learn a trade. Learn to do something which can never be outsourced to India.

I have friends in Seattle who say it is darn near impossible to get a plumber. Everyone is going into the high tech careers and making a lot of money, but you can't hire a plumber if there aren't any available.

[AJ444]

Your facts are wrong about STEM jobs. My daughter is shopping engineering schools. Many of the fields have 100% placement rates. You dropped out after one semester. If you put in the work, the jobs are there.

It also sounds like you see yourself as a victim. What you believe about yourself will come across in an interview. Confident people get jobs everyday. Consider getting advice from a career counselor who can advise on your skills, jobs that match those skill sets and help you to improve resume and interview skills.

So true and incredibly good advice. With unemployement so low we are having difficulty finding enough people for entry level, the problem is a lot of people would rather not work than take entry level.

[AJ444]

Learn a trade. Learn to do something which can never be outsourced to India.

I have friends in Seattle who say it is darn near impossible to get a plumber. Everyone is going into the high tech careers and making a lot of money, but you can't hire a plumber if there aren't any available.

IMO trades have been wrongly demonized by our society, the overriding message to kids is you may get a 4 year degree. I have a friend that is a plumber and he banks.

[TexasHusker]

IMO trades have been wrongly demonized by our society, the overriding message to kids is you may get a 4 year degree. I have a friend that is a plumber and he banks.

I think we are going to see this trend continue. As it is increasingly out of vogue to do "grunt work", those folks that do are going to make a killing.

To your point, I am really bothered by public schools that are mounting huge banners that declare "College...No Excuses!" What does that tell the parents who are dropping their kids off everyday who are plumbers, carpenters, electricians, welders, lawn keepers, landscapers, framers, back-how operators, etc.? It says "You're second rate...but there's still hope if your kid goes to college!"

I'm sorry, but you don't HAVE to obtain a college diploma to be a good citizen and enjoy the American way. Not everyone wants to have a white collar job!

Without getting too political, this is yet another product from the elitist left.

Another misnomer is this: If you aren't at the top of our class, you're a nobody.

I take pride in telling people that out of my high school class of 500+ students, I was dragging up the bottom of the 4th quartile. The only college that would take me was a local junior college. Yes that is kind of embarrassing, but I think that kids get pigeon-holed very early in life by all of the smarties and it's a forgone conclusion about what they will or won't do in life.

I also have college friends and even a plastic surgeon friend who are serving prison time for murder or some other crime.

[~bs]

well, stem is not for everyone. to me, it doesn't make sense to try to plug a square peg into a round hole.

take a step back and figure out what you'd be willing to do and not hate for the rest of your life. you don't necessarily have to like or love your job/business choice, but that would be a bonus.

as people mentioned, examine the trades. plumbers will always be in high demand and get paid a lot of money, hell you're paid to go school as well. no one wants to dig **** out of pipes, but if you hate school, and want a decent job, maybe that's a direction to pursue.

[~bs]

IMO trades have been wrongly demonized by our society, the overriding message to kids is you may get a 4 year degree. I have a friend that is a plumber and he banks.

the problem is that over the last few decades, the mantra of "needing an education" bla bla has pushed way more people into college than probably should be. So now there's a huge glut of people with degrees, much of them useless or devalued by the millions of degree holders being pumped through the system every year.

[TexasHusker]

well, stem is not for everyone. to me, it doesn't make sense to try to plug a square peg into a round hole.
no one wants to dig **** out of pipes

I think you meant UN-plug a square peg from a round hole. 😎

[97guns]

Failure and success is all mindset, once I buckled down and actually started a career and had just a small taste of success I had to have more. There would be no failure in my mind