Hello everyone, a bit of context: I (28M, EU citizen) arrived in Germany in December 2022, and last February I finished my Ausbildung in Mediengestaltung Digital with an overall grade of 2. Since then I've been unemployed and looking for a job.
As many of you are aware, the job market is rough right now, especially in the IT/creative area, and with AI tools becoming more capable the chances of landing something feel even slimmer. I kind of feel like I'm in a rut and honestly a bit disappointed with how things turned out after three years of sacrifice and hardship, living on a salary that barely covered my rent, I should be harvesting the fruits of my labor, but here I am living off unemployment benefits and not doing much productive.
But I digress. I never really felt fulfilled with the classic office job, staring at a screen 40h/week, and the whole corporate world in general so this might actually be an opportunity to pivot into something new. I've been seriously considering switching to a trade or a blue collar job.
So I wanted to ask: what are my options? Given that I already have a finished Ausbildung, is there a faster route back into the job market? I wouldn't mind moving to a different city in Germany (in fact I'd prefer it, as I'm looking to leave Berlin for several reasons)
I've heard of the Umschulung and the Bildungsgutschein but I'm not sure if those apply to my situation or how to go about it. I've also considered something in construction or even Triebfahrzeugführer (train driving). I just wouldn't want to go through another 3 years of barely surviving financially but maybe with a finished Ausbildung and support from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit there's already a faster route available.
Any advice or personal experience welcome. Danke!