r/LifeAfterSchool

Hi, I’m 21M and I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Software Development almost a year ago, with no internship experience. I focused too much on finishing fast and didn’t pay attention to internships, and now I regret it. To add context, I did a competency-based online degree at my own pace and finished it in under a year. I also relied heavily on AI during it, so I don’t feel like I truly grasped the fundamentals and core knowledge.

Most jobs now require either LeetCode skills or strong communication skills. I honestly struggle with LeetCode and algorithms. I’m not really a math person, and I feel like I may have made a big mistake choosing this career. English is not my first language either, so communication and interviews are also difficult for me.

I also tried starting a Shopify dropshipping business. I spent over $1,500 out of $3,000 with no real success, and now I’m scared of making more expensive mistakes.

I considered the CompTIA A+ certification, but the idea of IT help desk work discourages me, sounds so draining.

I’ve also thought about other career paths, but I have almost zero motivation to work for someone else. The idea of building someone else’s dream feels empty. I’d rather become a business owner someday, maybe a local shop or an online store, but I don’t know how to start or network in that direction.

Maybe I’m too focused on money instead of passion, but right now I don’t feel like I have a real passion at all.

I want to buy a home for stability and freedom, and to be able to travel while having somewhere to come back to in the US. I also want to eventually afford a relationship, but dating is REALLY expensive.

Lately I feel unmotivated. I like drawing, anime, and Japanese culture, but I don’t see a clear way to turn that into a high stable income. Lost of tools are now generating pictures, drawings and even animation...

My living situation doesn’t help. I don’t have my own bedroom and share the living room with my dad and brother in a small apartment, so I don’t really have space or a desk to focus.

I still work at Walmart and have been there for over two years. I feel exhausted and sometimes ashamed because I feel like I haven’t made real progress since graduating.

Thanks for reading. I just wanted to vent and put my thoughts into words.

I’m a senior in college that graduates in Dec 2027. My internship search has been brutal for my dream career in social media marketing/advertising. I’m putting my absolute best effort in my classes, reaching out to career coaches on campus, going to job careers/workshops on campus and seeking guidance on a career in this field.

I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others. But as a person who struggled all their life with depression, anxiety, inferiority complex and neurodivergency, it’s very difficult. When I go to career trips and see how underprepared I am for a job outside of graduation, I feel scared. I feel scared and worthless and question if my life is worth living. I reflect that these rejections are proof of my low value as a human being. I just need the reassurance that what I’m doing is right and I need to keep on going.

Note: I’ve been seeing a therapist and on medication for the past 2 years.

Recently somewhere I heard that summer is a great time to glow up, especially intellectually. As college is over for summer vacation, I got around 3 months of time to spend on a skill or intellectual property. What do you guys think?

I'm thinking about cultivating language skills and reading overall literature and field based books, and I have a plan to do them.

What would you do during summer? (Besides working part or full time)

Where are the best cities with twenty-something post-college Gen Z communities? In so many places, it seems like communities are just for college students or people over 30.

I'll give my answer: Cincinnati! Post-college twenty-somethings run that city.

Doomer answers not accepted, I know they're out there 😄

my daughter is graduating from HS on Thursday. And all the emotions are driving me crazy. No grad party because we have literally no family (neither me nor my husband have siblings, his parents passed and mine are in Germany - and they don’t understand the American graduations anyways). We really not close with anyone who lives around here - that’s fine we can deal and she is kind of used to it anyways. Ex military family so we never really got to lay down deep roots. We will take her to a nice dinner and that will be just fine.

What really hurt my heart for her though was that she started making a wish list for her dorm mainly and looked at me earlier, started laughing and said I actually don’t know why I’m even making this - I have no one to send it to. I know she laughed about it but I could tell it bothered her a little given that all her friends are telling her about everything the are getting in the mail already. And then she cried. Real tears. This child hardly ever cries and it’s not something I’m used to.

She will get what she needs but I think to her, half the fun of this is just getting surprise “gifts” and just feeling “loved” because someone thought of her.

Everything is so emotional right now with all these big chnages and her feeling “excluded”

It’s such a “first world” problem and I am not a “gentle parent“ but that shouldn’t mean I can’t be a little sad for our situation. Thanks for coming to my whining and thank you for any advice 🫣

I’m 25 years old and just moved back in with my family after living abroad for 2 1/2 years. Unfortunately, I only have $1200 to my name. The money I earned abroad was not near enough when converted to USD. I’m desperately looking for a job, applying every day to minimum 10 with detailed cover letters, resumes, etc., but since I just moved back and have no car, I’m limited to remote ones. Those are extremely competitive.

I’m at a loss. I feel trapped. My family can barely eat and have no money to help. I’ve paid for everything myself and have lived on my own, paying for my college, getting my own apartment, moving abroad, paying for my family - all since I was 18. My family has never helped me. I’ve never had a car. Never had enough money to buy one.

As soon as I graduated university, I immediately moved abroad and loved having public transportation, freedom, and less stress about my home life. Living abroad was nice, but the money didn’t pay enough to cover my U.S. bills and student loan debts, so I had to come back.

My family said to come home and stay with them while I look for a job and attempt moving out in a year, but, again, I don’t have much money. I also was unaware of how bad their home situation was. I was raised by my grandparents all my life, but they are now living on social security and disability. I knew that. However, I didn’t know the state of their current bills and situation. I would send money every month, but now that I’m living here, I see it’s much worse.

They don’t make enough to even eat, and we will even be losing my childhood home and relocating to Georgetown in a month.

Before I came back, they never told me it was this bad. They encouraged me to come home and said it would be better for me. I’m worried for my family, but now I’m trapped in a situation I didn’t even know the extent of until I came home.

Does anyone know what I can do to get a very cheap car or get a job while having no transportation? I’m just really sad.

I graduated from university three days ago, flew back to my home state, and right now I’m trying to find a job. I have about six months, and I’m scared that I won’t be able to find a job given how rough the current market is. I’m already hating life and feeling very overwhelmed by everything. I’m feeling homesick. I miss my home and my family (they have moved out of state, though they will fly back to see me next week), and I miss my therapist (she has supported me so much, and I’ll see her next week). I just hate being an adult. I want to be a kid again.

i am out of work & tho i am still productive everyday and also make time to use it in a fun way im still curious how else i could be spending or using my time

I graduated college a year ago and have almost hit my 1 year at my job. I acknowledge that I’m still new and junior but I feel extremely under appreciated/unseen/overlooked, etc. again, I acknowledge that I’m still learning and will have to prove myself but it feels like I’m just a number. I support 2 teams, both have said “we love having you on our team!” but then have certain team discussions/meetings/events without me? I’m not terribly jealous/sad they exclude me, I don’t think I even care, but it’s just frustrating hearing I’m “part of their team” yet they don’t act like it.
I don’t want to leave this job quite yet. But I’m feeling so drained most days and then I’ll spiral and think about moving out of state lol.
For anyone who’s in a similar position/have experienced this, what’s your advice? Should I just suck it up and butt kiss for the next few years bc I feel like that’s what I’m gonna be doing.

Adulting is realizing that choosing an unconventional life doesn’t mean you chose the wrong one just because hard things eventually arrive.

I’m 38. I chose to marry someone 22 years older than me. And right now that means helping walk a 94 year old through the end of her life while many people my age are in completely different seasons.

And despite how heartbreaking and exhausting this experience is, I keep finding myself thinking: my love is worth it.

This season has stripped away a lot of black-and-white thinking for me. About relationships. About aging. About control. About God, the universe, meaning, suffering, all of it. I don’t fit neatly inside one definition anymore, and honestly, maybe part of growing up is accepting that life is far grayer and stranger than we were promised.

Not hopeless. Just… real.

Because choosing someone is not choosing a shiny object or a perfectly curated future. It’s choosing the person you want beside you when life becomes deeply human. When bodies fail. When grief enters the room. When plans change. When you’re exhausted and scared and still trying to love each other well through it.

And strangely, this experience has strengthened my bond with my partner more than easy times ever could.

I wish no one had to go through decline and loss like this. But adulting, at least for me, is becoming less about constantly wishing reality were different and more about learning how to fully live inside the reality that’s here.

To love anyway.
To stay anyway.
To find meaning anyway.

I know. Both terrible options. I got into a school I really wanna go to, App state. I want to go for dance as it’s been something that I’ve always loved. For all of my senior year, I’ve been really depressed. And just now I’m getting out of it. My biggest turn off about this all is getting rejected FASFA and my tuition if i would’ve gotten it would be 90K.

I want to get out of my abusive house, but they do provide for me. They’re just very emotionally abusive. I want to leave this town, but I feel like I could stay. There’s an opportunity to do competition dance here for adults. And I’ve wanted to do competition dance for a long time. I have until Friday to confirm weather or not I’m going. And while a fresh start would be nice. I don’t know if it’s needed.

I’m F17 and I’m turning 18 next month and I still haven’t gotten a job and I need advice! I have previously done some volunteering in a small shop in school for work experience - in total about 4ish months but apart from that I’ve done nothing. I have no experience and im worried about my future however I feel like I’m really restricted as where I live is extremely rural and there is no shops no paths no transport. Just one bus that comes ever 3-4hrs (if it even decides to come at all)the only way I could get a job is if I had a car. But I need a job for driving lessons and a car etc because I have no money and can’t afford it. I feel so stuck and I feel like I have no options at all.

I’m currently in my second year of colllege (uk) and I’m on the verge of being kicked out because my attendance is so low but it’s mainly because the bus rarely comes. I’m also retaking my maths GCSE which is mandatory in order for me to get any job and because of where I live I can’t get to college and study or even take the exams. I really don’t know what to do.

I was thinking about working remotely however I have no experience and I feel like they wouldn’t hire me -also I don’t know what remote job to go for.And also Id like a physical/in person job because I think it might not look as good on my CV and also i know its important for me to socialise so having an in person job would be important especially because I have no friends now.but I feel like that isn’t an option for me especially because of where I live. It’s so depressing living here. I haven’t been able to experience normal teenage because I live so rurally. I really need advice on what I should do as I really need a job!

Edit: also I cannot get a job after college (I must mention in England college is NOT university.in England we go to college when we’re usually 16-18 then we go to university when we’re 18+) the reason for this is because the bus only comes every like 3-4hrs and the last bus comes at 5pm and I finish at 4pm and I have to get another bus to get to that bus stop so there is no way I’d be able to get home if I had to work.

i feel like im at a plateau in life right now. just finished my first year of college at UT Austin, but career-wise, I am literally the most lost I have ever been. started as a computer science major, wanted to switch into business so tried to internally transfer but its extremely competitive and my GPA after finishing the year is not even competitive anymore so i have kind of lost hope in it practically speaking. But mentally, i am not doing well at all. i ended up being so burnt out and it showed in my classes, I was extremely stressed and didnt realize i wasn't managing my stress and i ended up breaking down towards the very end of the semester.

i am writing this because i want to regain myself mentally and eventually other areas of my life. Where can I start to first get myself mentally "stable" because everyday i think about the flaws I have from things i have noticed friends have said to me in the past semester or just things i notivced have changed about myself and want to be better. then theres also career wise idk what i want to pursue at this point, i have interest in business, but no idea what sector of business.

So considering everything, i am looking for some viable leads into making myself better mentally, physically and professionally. what resources can I use to get started and such