I'm in financial trouble

ayesee345 · 2016-04-18T01:08:41+00:00

Do what I do for a side job - mow grass. It's simple, doesn't require much skill, and depending on how many you can do in how long, you can make $100+ a day. You just need to get your hands on some equipment. Take some odd jobs or do gardening until you can afford a mower, weedeater, and blower - then you're set.

And I get you're trying to change your life but don't lose who you are. If video gaming was a part of your childhood like it was mine, then doing something drastic like deleting them maybe isn't as necessary a measure as really finding out who you are and the places all these things have in your life.

I still have my old video games and even action figures in my home and it's never prevented me from saving money, staying in shape, or getting leid. Who you are is all of those components, if & how you wear them on your sleeve, and how you balance them in life.

Bromato99 · 2016-04-17T21:15:04+00:00

Maybe look into get a certification in something medical? (CNA, Phlebotomy, anything) Medical jobs are always in demand, pretty rewarding and pay more than pizza delivery or whatever. I personally made around $11.20/hour as a phlebotomist and that's straight out of school, which took me a little over two months to complete.

joseph_fuzzco_Jr · 2016-04-17T22:26:01+00:00

Bartending. Thats what i did/ am doing. Gets you more social, more physical work than mental, but its a decent option for where you're at now. Remember that this is temporary for you, so be looking to advance your career in the meantime

JanusBifrons · 2016-04-19T08:28:28+00:00

First things first. You are taking responsibility. Personally, it took me way too long to do that, so good on you for that. You're one step ahead of a lot of people in your situation. Next thing, ditch the "I'm a loser and people will just use me" attitude. It's not doing you any favors. I recommend /r/meditation for that. This should also help with any anxiety you may be experiencing as your time counts down. Additionally, you have some time. If you were graduating tomorrow, then sure, go be a barback or wait tables. But you don't need to do that right now. You can always fall back on that if you have to. And ignore the people that are saying you will be taken advantage of. That mindset is not going to help you, and will only be true if you let it. You are in control of your life and the outcome of it. You wasted some time, but you have the ability to correct it. It's never too late.

On to your question. I've been trying to find a way to tell certain people this, but they are never asking for it, so there never seems to be a good way to suggest something that is unwanted in the first place. Now that I have someone asking, I'd like to recommend something for you. You want a plan that you can take action on in 6 months that will keep you afloat and that's what I'm going to give you. It's not going to be the easiest thing in the world, but there is good news: there is a huge support network out there with a ton of people willing to help. Become a "Salesforce Administrator." I know you can use google to find out what Salesforce is so I will just give it to you in tl;dr: It is a proprietary cloud-based database and Customer Relationship Manager tool that has a browser user interface. As a Salesforce Administrator, you will work for a company that has purchased Salesforce and you will configure and customize it for them. I have been one for ~3 years but more on that later. I will elaborate on what this means, but first let me tell you some things that should interest you:

Salesforce is the #1 biggest CRM solution in the world. It's not going anywhere anytime soon. This means the documentation, training materials and support community are top notch.
Salesforce professionals are in extreme demand right now. Companies will be willing to bring you on board with less than expansive experience. It's easier to find something with experience, but not impossible to find something with only 6 months under your belt if you are committed.
In 6 months you are looking at a salary of $30k-$45 depending on how desperate you are to accept something with your timing. This is assuming you are committed and can put in ~15-20 hours a week for 6 months learning and studying. Proof below in the plan.
In 2-3 years you are looking at $55k-$100k+. (I have 3 years experience and make $75k-$105k depending on bonus but live in an expensive city. Had I not half assed my last job I could be making more. I started with zero knowledge of Salesforce and no one gave a crap where I got my degree from.)
This does not require a computer science or technical undergrad degree. This does not require you to learn how to code. All that you will be doing is problem solving, planning, "designing" and clicking and dragging around in a browser. You will be able to do the "designing" aspect because you will cover this in the 6 months you have now with your classes, studying and hands on trial and error practice. You only need to be decent at using computers. Being technically minded is a plus but not required. I have seen plenty of people that I don't consider technically minded making more than me doing this. One last thing, you'll also need to be able to communicate decently and be patient with people (and some idiots that try your patience) in order to gather business requirements from them so you can build what they need.

Now for your plan, should you accept.

Your bible: Salesforce Trailhead. This is an official training website made by Salesforce to make it extremely convenient for you to learn Salesforce effectively. It's in their best interest to provide this for people for free so it grows their product.

Your support system: Salesforce success community. This is where all the Salesforce professionals reach out to and help other people.

Your manual that you will most likely not read first, but will need to refer to at some point: How to be Successful with Salesforce. This is the official documentation. There is both PDF and web based version.

You can google the rest. This is what I did, I googled everything, never took an official class ($4,000 for a week-long instructor led class), and was able to pass two certifications with no outside help.

Once you start to educate yourself and reach a baseline of competency, you will need to get certified. This will cost you $200. This is unavoidable if you want to get hired with only 6 months of experience. It could be done but is not worth the effort compared to having the cert. It is $100 for every time you retake it should you fail. Trust me, get the cert. The cert you will be going for will be "Salesforce Certified Administrator Exam." There are several exams but this one will be your key into your first position.

Being certified alone isn't really enough. Your one-two punch that will land you your first paid job will be certification + experience. If you have one but not the other, companies will be wary. With both, you will get hired. I can guarantee you that.

So, to get your experience for your first position, you will doing pro-bono work. Yep, you are going to help non-profits for free! (Look at the sites at the bottom like "Taproot", where I found mine.) You will start to get in contact with them once you realize you've learned enough and you realize you know what you're talking about. You can start doing this probably 3 months in for basic tasks. Guess what, they don't give a shit if you have no experience, they will work with you anyway if you don't sound like an idiot. Sure, they would prefer someone who is certified and has experience, but beggars can't be choosers. Alternative: get your cert first and they will be drooling to work with you. That's up to you.

Either way, you will pull up your big boy pants and find a way to convince them to let you work with them on a project. You can even show them the work you've done in your own "development org" that you will have when working with Trailhead. Make up a fake company, customize Salesforce to fit their needs and then let them log in or do a live demo if need be and show them how you've customized Salesforce for your fake company. This is just to demonstrate proof of concept that you know what you're doing. You have all the tools. By month 4 and 5 you will be able to help with more intermediate tasks. By month 6 you will have worked on 2-4 projects (10-30 hours for each project) and you will have experience to put on your resume for your first paid job. Bonus: pro-bono work also looks great on your resume in general.

There will be a lot of jobs that require 2-3 years of experience. However, these are jobs which will be paying $55k-$95k. We will focus on something that is more obtainable once you graduate. Should you choose to stay the course, and are serious about improving your career situation (independent study outside of work hours), you can be making that money in 2 years from now. I recently got a new job so I have been looking at a lot of postings. I've come across some that only required 1-1.5 years of experience for a Salesforce Administrator or a Junior Salesforce Administrator. Within 6 months, you will be applying to those that "require" 1+ years of experience. Keep in mind companies post requirements above what they may be willing to take. They have to do this to keep out the riff raff. There will always be people applying to jobs above their skill level, which forces companies to raise their requirements. If they posted 0-6 months experience, they would get garbage applicants. So go forth, study, help non-profits, get your cert and apply to jobs with said cert and experience. Oh and here's my proof I mentioned earlier that you can get certified in the time I mentioned. You'll see that people have gotten a ton of certs in way less time. Also a great site to use on your journey.

If you think this all sounds like a sales pitch, I get it. I drank the kool-aid a bit with Salesforce, however I'm happy in my job with what I do. You're talking to someone who failed out of college, as in I went on probation for my grades and still couldn't pull it together so they kicked me out. It took me 8 years until I got it together and went back and finished. I am just thankful to have stumbled upon it and wish someone had shown it to me sooner, so here you are. Time for me to go to bed.

Good luck, Brother.

Kosmoknots · 2016-04-18T15:16:02+00:00

What kind of engineering?

You should wait tables or be a bartender in the meantime. It should be a rite of passage for everyone.

Mohandor · 2016-04-18T17:50:01+00:00

My personal experience:

If you are skilled with computers at all, earn a Microsoft certification. If you truly have 6 months, you can learn a valuable skill that will pay you a middle-class wage for a few hundred bucks. Might I humbly suggest the MCSA in SQL Server?

Here's the deal. IT is a meat market, no doubt, but demand is incredibly high. The market is flooded with web developers and iOS programmers who want to make the next Angry Birds. Database work and "Business Intelligence" involve organizing and deriving information from boring shit like numbers and addresses, and a lot of people skip it. They don't really teach good database administration in the schools. In many ways, we are the plumbers of the computer industry. Nobody wants to do it because it's not "sexy", nobody thinks about it when it works, and companies will pay top dollar when the floor is flooded with shit due to benign neglect and poor capacity planning.

I have been in this industry as a SQL specialist for 14 years, and I have made a relatively cozy life out of it. I didn't graduate college at all (though I took some classes later in my career). It takes effort, but it's not rocket science.

Doesn't have to be Microsoft, doesn't have to be database, but here's why I think you should. Microsoft: businesses use it. It's almost as good as other platforms, it's familiar, and a lot cheaper. SQL Server: 80% of the stuff you learn translates to other database platforms. ALL companies past a certain size use professional-grade databases that use the "SQL" language. Even if you move away from the platform, your skills still mean something.

So if you are serious, I would buy/download the official Microsoft curriculum books on the certification tests, install the Developer editions of the software, and dedicate that video-game playing time to learning this stuff instead. Set goals, schedule tests, and take the tests.

When you have the certification, upload your resume to Monster.com. You will probably have to accept a contract job (no benefits), you may have to leave your metro (if you aren't in a major city) but SOMEONE will hire you and the pay will be decent, I promise.

Rawesome · 2016-04-20T06:35:11+00:00

30M ME basically you in 5yrs.

Get your EIT right away. It's basic & you should pass if you got through classes with Bs.

Really think through the job you'll be doing and what you'll feel most satisfied from when you get home to work out, do laundry, hang w/ friends or whatever you do... It'll catch up w/ you & smack you in the face in 5yrs before you knew what happened.

Think thru the career ladder where you're going. What industry do you support philosophically? Which companies provide service or products that you agree are most valuable? This will ensure you're aligned with your work & should be satisfied with at least that puzzle piece in life.

A Myers-Briggs guide for careers I'm reading is called "Do What You Are" (by Tieger & Barron) and it's a straightforward read w/ some tools to guide you through this crucial self-exploration of your interests, thinking style and professional preferences.

Good luck! You really need to try your hand at solving problems that you think may be interesting. Can't knock it till you try it so find the problems you want to solve and see how you like investigating, organizing and presenting/reporting on results you turn up.

Title	I'm in financial trouble
Author	Mohandor
Upvotes	19
Comments	26
Date	April 17, 2016 8:31 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/becomeaman
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/becomeaman/comments/4f8bq9/im_in_financial_trouble/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/becomeaman/im-in-financial-trouble.137753 https://theredarchive.com/post/137753