Is it too late for me

I'm turning 28 in a few months. I have about $800 in the bank and $800 in debt, and a chevy worth $1200 with 150k miles. My current job is the latest in a never ending stretch of underpaid shitwork to get by and pay my rent.

I completed an associates degree seven years ago and never followed up with a bachelor's degree which was my only reason for going in the first place. I had good grades and ran the newspaper for a while, had scholarships but those are gone now because of disuse. My impostor syndrome grows stronger by the day, realizing that I am about 6 years behind my peers who graduated and started working after college. Going into student debt at 28 seems really fucking retarded but I'm also tempted to do it if not just to ease the suffering of my pointless wage slaving existence. I've considered the web dev meme but am under the impression from talking to industry folk that even if I managed to get a dev job my earning potential would be cucked by lack of degree.

I would be happy earning 50k-60k, it would be enough to afford myself a very comfortable lifestyle because I am extremely frugal. I'm not really willing to work 80 hours a week in some shit job though, it is completely pointless unless you are earning way more. I want work life balance, and I know from experience that I wouldn't be happy as an electrician or other such tradesman.

Has anyone had a similar experience to me and been able to break out? I'm interested by web development but haven't put the time in, and also have about a decade of experience in photography/video as a hobby and have been told by professionals that I am good, but I have never really been the type to seek commoditization of my creative work(besides the fact that most people shit on you for saying you want to work in a creative industry, on top of this I know crazy talented artists who gave up to do shit like real estate because the art industry burns people out and slowly kills their passion).

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I'm also nearly on the verge of selling my car to zero out my debt because I live in a very walkable city and have dirt cheap rent. I am worried I may not be able to afford another car for a long time though which is honestly demoralizing at my age, hard enough to explain to women that you basically have no career or direction in life on top of not owning a car, though I'm not exactly dropping panties with my full size sedan beater.

Why the fuck do you have $800 in the bank and $800 in debt?

Step 1. Zero out your debt.
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Pay for shit with a credit card and pay it off next month.

Was that not obvious?

I had some extenuating circumstances and needed to buy plane tickets. I literally don't earn enough to pay off my debt in a single month and also afford rent, internet, phone bill and insurance on my car. It is under control, and honestly the least of my problems at this point.

get a hard working gf


go on food stamps

idk

good luck OP

i make 250 a week as a prep cook

im 27

have a gf who is 20 and we split the food and bills

we live for free in my aunts house.

Haha, Jesus fucking Christ. Has life always been like this shitty for us or are we just living in a carefully obfuscated depression? I also have a friend my age who works full time and has a fiance who works, they live with her parents after having rented for a while.

I went back to uni age 25 with no regrets. Doing postgrad now, there's plenty of people there older than me.
You're not going to make real money as a dev with no degree. You're not going to make real money as a photographer even with a degree.
Swallow your pride, get a trade and become self employed? I got a trade before I went to uni and can work part time for a decent wage, pick my jobs and my hours etc. It is shitty work though, but I can literally do it for 1 day a week and have enough to pay for rent, bills and food.

Good luck OP.
Also, not your blog faggot.

>I went back to uni age 25 with no regrets. Doing postgrad now, there's plenty of people there older than me.

I'm getting fed up witht the amount of people asking "am I too old for university?"

Don't get me wrong, age discrimination is very real, but people should absolutely not let that stop them

Im in a similar boat except i left school at 14 and began shitty factory jobs. Zero education on paper. Im farming now and earn about 45k nz. I do own a house worth 200k with a 60k mortgage though. I grow and sell 'plant matter' and have a few k in shitcoins. I am learning programing because even the shittiest IT jobs here are about 60k. Big step up so i dont care about earning less than uni fags. also It would be amazing to be a proficient programer and work on your own ideas. I dont think it would feel like work.

Most people don't start their real careers until their 30's. You're not special, you're not unique, and you don't need student loans to get a McDegree which will open the doors to better jobs.

It's all out there, and it's on you for not going after it. What do you want to hear? There's no magic solution here - you're either clueless, lazy, or you're trying another angle to get some NEET here to give up their hidden memecoin that will make you rich with no effort, like 75% of the other posts here. And which don't exist.

People that ask that are looking for excuses to not go, in my opinion. They all think they need to go into massive debt, too, and haven't looked into local state universities and grants, which are affordable. Not everybody needs or can go to an Ivy League school, or UCLA or Cal Berkeley. In fact, if you're just getting a basic degree for a basic job, an upper level school makes no sense, unless you're focused on a career that needs it - and most careers can drill down in the more expensive schools for a masters - and there are stll lots of companies that subsidize master's degrees.

This forum isn't about doing anything, don't be silly. They're just looking for validation to sit on their asses and hope for another "bull run", which isn't coming.

Alright.

I am 28 as well.

But never had a job. Always passive income right when I was 16.

Come from a third-world country.

Look at this:

> I would be happy earning 50k-60k
> I'm not really willing to work 80 hours a week in some shit job though

You gotta grind, my man. Work hard. In fact, work harder than everyone else out there.

Even in your shit job that doesn't pay you by the hours.

Hard work is your only way to sort your life out and 80 hours per week isn't gonna do it.

Make it a 100 hours per week and work your ass off for the next 12 weeks.

You will notice miracles.

Most people are lazy and stupid and want an easier life without working hard. And that's good for you as all you have to do is beat your competition.

>My impostor syndrome grows stronger by the day, realizing that I am about 6 years behind my peers who graduated and started working after college. Going into student debt at 28 seems really fucking retarded but I'm also tempted to do it if not just to ease the suffering of my pointless wage slaving existence.
Would you rather be 28 and getting into student debt or 30 with no degree?

Some people can hack it without a degree: they have an in demand skill that doesn't require a degree (programming, sysadmin, IT in general, business, trades, some other office jobs, entrepreneurship, arbitrage, sales, forex/stocks/shitcoin trading ,etc), are entrepreneurial, get in with the right people, have the right connections, apply to startups (which care less about degrees), etc.

You are not one of those people. So you need a degree to pull yourself up to a middle class salary. That's OK.

Yeah okay, I will "get a trade" and then go back to school, maybe I will graduate when I'm 32 and then me and a 22 year old grad will be starting on the same footing. Sound advice.
Idk man you're already doing infinitely better than me. Not really relevant to my situation at all.
Where exactly do you think an American gets a bachelors degree without student loans on a sub $15/hr job while having $800 in bills? You sound like a clueless boomer
Yeah In already have an associates degree. Should be pretty obvious that I didn't do it at a university.
It isn't really a middle class salary if you put 30% of your earnings into paying off a loan.

> Wasted his career/education opportunities because he’s lazy
> Dreams about photography and web development but too lazy and scared
> Wants to make 50k-60k but too lazy to work hard
> Thinks about going to college but too scared of debt
Geez OP I wonder what your problem is. If you weren’t lazy and had some balls all of the things you mentioned could EASILY earn you 50k-60k/year. You aren’t special. People who work minimum wage shit jobs don’t do it because they enjoy, they do it because they are lazy, have no drive in life, are brainlets and have no balls - EXACTLY like you.

>what's the matter kid, you too SCARED to pay your dues to Schlomo McFedstein? Sounds like you're LAZY
No, I actually spent the past five years traveling pretty extensively and not all of my jobs have been minimum wage, but those are usually seasonal in nature. I was hoping to hear from anons who have gone into dev without a traditional education and all I am getting is literal boomer posting

People who work minimum wage jobs are not doing it because they are stupid or lazy. They simply need money. Due to whatever circumstances (I not fucking stupid enough to generalize) they find themselves in that "situation", and many of them actually enjoy the satisfaction in what they do.

You sound you like someone who's probably worked hard, but not in a minimum job wage. I can assure you, it's not easy. I worked McDonald's. During busy times, making orders and maintaining food supply inputs is not easy. You must be very methodical, aware, communicate with others, and also potentially have to deal managers who are going to get tough on you, because they don't give a shit if you're struggling. You have to be able to manage and clean many different cooking utensils and stove ware. You have to keep inventory records to make sure there's enough containers/ food stocks to meet expected levels of demand.

In comparison, learning something like Accounting at university was a fucking cake walk. Just learn some accounting standard statutes, see them being applied in lectures/tutorials, do some assignments, tests/exams, then it's on the road to some shithead white collar job that people think you have to "work hard" to get. That's not hard not work.

I strongly empathize with people who have to put both physical and mental (and sometime emotional) effort into what they do, just so that they pay rent and eat, and scratch some "existence".

You should not judge so harshly what, I assume, you don't fully understand/appreciate.

I’m a 23 yo self-made millionaire. I used what I learned in college to start a business. The truth is you’re no different than everyone else working shitjobs. Of course you want a decent income and a fulfilling job without having to work hard or take any risks. EVERYONE does, but that’s not how things work unless you’re really lucky in life.

All of the things you mentioned are decent options if you’re willing to work hard.

I agree. I probably was too harsh.

Sorry if I came across as an asshole. I’ve had a tough day. Good luck...

This experience is more or less most young men growing up in the western world today

I'm going to be 29 soon, and I had to completely restart.

I've got a decent job and like 2k in savings.

Going somewhere is better than treading water forever, so I'd do whatever will get you motivated.

Most people work shit jobs are content going home and playing video games while high until the next day.

your post reminds me why the world sucks

yeah it's pretty much a risk/reward calculation. is the effort worth it? many would say fuck no