If you don't care about passion and want a steady paycheck, I'd say apply to web development positions with C#/Jquery (just say you know it. It's easy)/SQL (again. Pretty easy) requirements. There should be many positions open, and you get to work with a great/common technology stack.

Would just C#/JQuery/SQL be enough to start? I see a lot of technologies with weird names in those resumes - I can't possibly learn them all, and I don't know which to choose.

And who would hire a now-junior web developer at 40?

It's plenty to start. Don't apply for a junior position, just try to demonstrate great C#/JS skills in your interview. What kind of salary do you need at minimum?

I have become jaded thanks to a lifetime of predators attacking me since toddlerhood, and what few people I thought were my allies turn traitor at the most damning opportunity.

I program because it is the strongest skill I know, and the only skill in demand enough where someone might overlook their hatred of the other enough to hire me. But even that is coming to a close - people have grown to hate the other so much I have become unemployable.

You keep bringing this up without elaborating. You seem very insecure about something and I understand how that feels, but we might be able to give you advice more tailored to your situation if you went into more detail about why you think people hate you and don't want to work with you. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, maybe you could give us some examples of the shit that's happened to you so we understand your jadedness?

I do not have passion - passion is too fickle and unreliable to be appropriate in the workplace. I got laid off from my last place of employment because too many people with "passion" didn't do their job. I would never hire a person with "passion"

May be you are misunderstanding what passion means in the general context of a work place. Another way of stating this is - loving your job, wanting to be there, wanting to do the job (... not just for the sake of the pay-check), wanting to learn more and progress in the career.

If you satisfy this then you have sufficient passion for your career

I see life as something to endure - I continue living only to spite my enemies.

I have become jaded thanks to a lifetime of predators attacking me since toddlerhood, and what few people I thought were my allies turn traitor at the most damning opportunity.

I program because it is the strongest skill I know, and the only skill in demand enough where someone might overlook their hatred of the other enough to hire me. But even that is coming to a close - people have grown to hate the other so much I have become unemployable.

I suppose it makes no difference now - I have been priced out of the apartment market, and will be homeless come September. I am guaranteed not to get a job then.

Step out of yourself for a moment so you can take an objective view. I've been there. Its seems the whole world hates you and all is crashing down on you. But you need to step out of yourself in order be objective

A

Write down your strong points (assets and skills).

Write down the good things you have done and are proud of

write down things you have created and produced

write down the qualities that you think gave you your previous jobs

B

Write down your weak points and skills you lack.

Write down the bad things you observe have done and not proud of

write down things you wish you can do and create but can't

Be very mindful of A and B and take some steps to work on improving A and overcoming B. You can start a project to hone your skills. You can join some volunteer group to improve your inter-personal communication skills and social and professional relationship skills. When things go wrong don't be quick to think it the other people's fault (it may well be) but first look inwards at your self first. Have a person close to you (spouse, best friend...) to critique you first, and try to be open minded

Repeat the above and gradually, hopefully, you will see changes

It's not your age (you're way younger than me). You just need to get that depression under control, nobody needs that around the workplace, and trust me, interviewers see it right away.

In which case I'm screwed - I'm depressed because I'm not employed.

If you don't care about passion and want a steady paycheck, I'd say apply to web development positions with C#/Jquery (just say you know it. It's easy)/SQL (again. Pretty easy) requirements. There should be many positions open, and you get to work with a great/common technology stack.

Would just C#/JQuery/SQL be enough to start? I see a lot of technologies with weird names in those resumes - I can't possibly learn them all, and I don't know which to choose.

And who would hire a now-junior web developer at 40?

It's plenty to start. Don't apply for a junior position, just try to demonstrate great C#/JS skills in your interview. What kind of salary do you need at minimum?

The problem is they won't even give me the interview; I've only had 3 phone interviews in the last four months for my native field - no on is going to touch me with a ten-foot pole for something out-of-specialty.

I have become jaded thanks to a lifetime of predators attacking me since toddlerhood, and what few people I thought were my allies turn traitor at the most damning opportunity.

I program because it is the strongest skill I know, and the only skill in demand enough where someone might overlook their hatred of the other enough to hire me. But even that is coming to a close - people have grown to hate the other so much I have become unemployable.

You keep bringing this up without elaborating. You seem very insecure about something and I understand how that feels, but we might be able to give you advice more tailored to your situation if you went into more detail about why you think people hate you and don't want to work with you. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, maybe you could give us some examples of the shit that's happened to you so we understand your jadedness?

I didn't want to elaborate because I didn't think it was appropriate to this board - I was hesitant to even share that.

The fact is that throughout my life, people react strangely to my presence - they are either afraid, increasingly agitated, or immediately violent. For the longest time I had no idea why - I simply had to deal with the fact that humankind had declared a war on me, and if I wanted to get a job, I needed a skill so in-demand and so superior that it would override their hatred and they would *have* to hire me.

So far, that strategy hasn't worked. Human fear and hate far exceeds even the profit motive.

I recently learned that people who have been abused in childhood have psychological markers that trigger predatory instincts in human beings. Finally, a reason for this madness.

Unfortunately this information may have come too late - I don't have the time or money to even have a therapist investigate what these markers are, much less have someone remove them.

I didn't think an analysis of my psychology was appropriate to a game-developer-business board, so I hesitated to post this.

Step out of yourself for a moment so you can take an objective view. I've been there. Its seems the whole world hates you and all is crashing down on you. But you need to step out of yourself in order be objective

A
Write down your strong points (assets and skills).
Write down the good things you have done and are proud of
write down things you have created and produced
write down the qualities that you think gave you your previous jobs

B
Write down your weak points and skills you lack.
Write down the bad things you observe have done and not proud of
write down things you wish you can do and create but can't

write down the qualities that you lack that lost you the jobs at your previous interviews


Be very mindful of A and B and take some steps to work on improving A and overcoming B. You can start a project to hone your skills. You can join some volunteer group to improve your inter-personal communication skills and social and professional relationship skills. When things go wrong don't be quick to think it the other people's fault (it may well be) but first look inwards at your self first. Have a person close to you (spouse, best friend...) to critique you first, and try to be open minded

Repeat the above and gradually, hopefully, you will see changes

I have spent the last 35 years looking inwards, improving myself, brutally forcing myself to be a better person at all costs. I am way ahead of you in the self-critiquing game - I had to be as close to perfection as possible in order to survive, because people threatened to kill me if I didn't live up to their ever-rising standards. I have no insecurity about my own skills - I know I still have room for improvement, but I have no doubt that I can be a valuable member to any development team. What I have severe, evidence-backed doubts about is humankind's ability to overcome their prejudices and recognize the value of those skills.

The game industry is really the only part of high tech that has a talent oversupply.

It sounds like you should focus your efforts on other parts of software development, if you need your skills to be absolutely in demand.

It sounds kind of like you've got some paranoid schizophrenic tendencies... Seriously consider see'ing someone to rule out/confirm if this is the case. If in your head it makes sense that everyone has been conspiring against you to hurt you because of a past trauma, you need to seriously try and evaluate the chances of that from a neutral perspective.

It sounds kind of like you've got some paranoid schizophrenic tendencies... Seriously consider see'ing someone to rule out/confirm if this is the case. If in your head it makes sense that everyone has been conspiring against you to hurt you because of a past trauma, you need to seriously try and evaluate the chances of that from a neutral perspective.

You're accusing me of being a psycho, because of legitimate misgivings about the human race?!? Real classy. Is this the type of conduct that is to be expected from this board?