
Ask HN: How to get through college as middle-age and highly unemployed? - pvem
I don&#x27;t know if I&#x27;ll receive a lot of responses here as my situation is highly unusual for someone of my age and background.<p>I&#x27;ve read experiences of people who are of older age than I am who end up in a difficult spot to find employment after being fired or laid off from an otherwise stable job for many years. They&#x27;re usually older people in their 40&#x27;s and 50&#x27;s.<p>At age 36, I am relatively young, but as those older people, I too am having trouble finding my acceptance in the job market. The last job I worked full-time was in late 2014 and I no longer see my job seeking efforts as seeking employment, but seeking re-acceptance for software development.<p>I live with my mom as I don&#x27;t have the means to rent my own place anymore. I am still obligated to pay other bills as long as the money lasts (expected to run out in June). My day-to-day life of home chores and job searching gets old fast. She can&#x27;t take care of me forever and plans to retire this year and fly back to her home country.<p>To fix my life situation I want to return to college. While some people return to college to pivot into a completely different career, I&#x27;m doing it to revitalize a dead-end career of 7 years (started 2007). I&#x27;m a self-taught software engineer with a BA degree.<p>Nobody wants to hire me for web dev work anymore. Maybe it&#x27;s the huge glut of bootcamps that are saturating the market, because I&#x27;ve fallen behind. Most employers view me as someone who is senior in years but junior in skill. My job history mostly consists of working under-paid jobs in small companies, and I don&#x27;t think working for another company like this will save me.<p>My goal is to to get into low-level embedded work in the space industry. I&#x27;d like to contribute to the vision of space exploration. And from what I&#x27;ve heard the easiest way to get into that industry is via internships.<p>So what advice would you give me to make sure I can make it on my own in college this fall? And get a job reputation again?
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pvem
Some personal points I want to add (since I would go over my character limit
in the OP): I'm 36, male, single and no children, living with single parent.
Almost completely shut off from my friends and peers. Zero debt, but also
almost zero dollars in savings.

Potentially, being single with no children would make me very flexible for
work anywhere in the US, but long term under-employment and lack of personal
funds is seriously holding me back.

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PaulHoule
You are thinking about getting an MEng?

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pvem
I am still deciding between a BS or MS, as I'm not sure yet which would be
appropriate for my background.

The main point I want addressed is how do I make a living while attending
college for a second time, after a dead end career and facing long term
unemployment.

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PaulHoule
A Master's of Engineering can be very good for the kind of career transition
you want to do as you could get hands-on contact with space systems or
anything else.

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pvem
So ideally, I'd like to get an internship at NASA or an aerospace contractor.
Do you know of any good colleges that provide the following:

1\. internship opportunities like the one I described

2\. good financial aid options for those returning for a MS degree

3\. job assistance while attending school (like a work-study program that can
pay for my way of living)

