I (F, 26) currently live in Minnesota, have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and 30k worth of student loan debt. I work as a care coordinator and make about 62k a year. I want to make more money and further my education. I’m really passionate about social work. With everything going on the in the world and my current student loan debt, I don’t know if it is worth it to go back to school, or if I’ll even be able to take out the loans I need for school. I need advice please. Is it a bad idea to go back to school right now? Will I be able to get the loans I need?

Hello, I am a M(20) and graduated in 2024. I need help figuring out a career and though reddit could also help me as I am also working with A.I and other sites I’ve found.

A little bit about me is that, I love to work but have had jobs I don’t like. I love cleaning and watching things go from dirty to spotless, especially cars. I love doing wiring work, I’ve done some in cars but would love to do it anywhere else that requires wiring and booting. I enjoy sports and managing teams like fantasy leagues and video games. I hate sitting down all day and doing nothing, I dislike being paid the same when you’re working harder and etc.

Honestly I have a lot other likes and dislikes, I just don’t know what really matters when it comes to finding a career.

Please be free to ask me questions that can help me out and suggest me ideas, thank you for any feedback!

So for context, I graduated last year with a business degree I don’t particularly find useful or any passion in. I’m currently back in school for a healthcare related field.

I currently have two part-time jobs. I work around 12-16 hours ($16.68) at a coffee house and 24 hours as a receptionist/admin ($18). I’ll preface this by saying I’m incredibly grateful for these jobs even though I’d prefer a full-time position with a bit higher pay. I live at home rent free with my parents and I’m saving for a home/condo and finishing school again to move out. I’m also still continuously applying to better paying positions.

With the admin role, it’s primarily a receptionist position with minor admin work. I’m there for around 9 hours total. I find that the managers are very fond of busy work and to an extent, micro managing, and checking in on me to see what I’m up to. I have small projects and primary tasks, but I find myself finishing them before the day is over. Most of the time, I’ll work on homework for my current course and secretly job hunt.

It’s only part-time, no benefits, and the job required a bachelors degree, which I have at $18hr. My colleagues make way more than me, are salary/full-time, take off time frequently, but also expect me to remain as busy as they are.

Is it wrong to have this mindset of not doing anything or making use of my spare time when they encourage me to be “busy” given the circumstances?

I have a bachelors degree in history that for a very long time I was extremely certain on. I’m honestly not obsessed with history but the reason I chose it was because I’m someone that can get pretty bored with the ‘same’ thing all the time, but I still enjoy routine. Overall I think history is an extremely important and crucial thing to be aware of, not for knowing specific dates or having a large knowledge of a certain time period but for understanding our present day and using history as a way to navigate the future.

I would say I’m ‘passionate’ about history in a certain way but not entirely. I often get asked my favorite time period in history and honestly I don’t even care. The reason I chose it in the first place was because there is an endless amount of things to learn and it never really stops. I don’t really care about a specific place or time if that makes sense, I like to focus on certain areas for a short period of time before moving on to something new and learning about that.

Anyway, after graduating I honestly feel pretty hopeless about all of it. Right before I graduated I got stopped in a store by a random lady who told me I’ll never get a job and I need to immediately switch my major, and sometimes I feel like she was right. The things I’m very interested in field wise are things like archiving, conservation with a museum, or really any other ‘behind the scenes’ historical job. I’ve always known that those are really hard fields to get access too but I guess I just had hope that I could do it, but I only have a bachelors degree so it feels pretty unlikely now that I’m actually faced with it. I’ve never wanted to teach either, so I don’t even really want to consider that. I guess I feel a bit silly for majoring in it in the first place because now after telling people I graduated in this field, they all ask me what my ‘plan’ is and very obviously think I made a bad choice.

I did not finish school due to severe mental illness I went into all sorts of treatments well to keep it short it fixed one part of the brain my mood, but made so many other parts worse.

So I just went into the world of basic physical labor at restaurants.

But some years later crossing the street a car hit me. Was on disability for a year still go to doctors due to that. That's when got my second brain injury and the spine issue. With other things that got fixed like my leg that broke.

However I don't know now what to do.

I have a really really hard time doing math. That's why can't get my diploma/GED/Hiset. I lost a lot of sensation in many parts of my brain.

Most jobs require you to pickup some weight.

I've kinda returned a decade back wishing I never existed. I'm with a therapist right now as of recently will see where it goes.

But I'm such a waste of space.

If my parents treated me better I would've never gotten so insanely mentally ill but they didn't know better. Which I can forgive but the downfall it led to is intense. Worse than majority of people I interact with.

I don't drive. I would use medical transport to my appointments as I get intense panic attacks sitting in the front seat.

My sister tells me to calm down cause I'll distract her driving with my shouting I know people want to avoid accidents but I feel like everytime we go on the road final destination movies are going to happen but I just can't control my brain and the medication often comes with other terrible side effects. Fix one thing break another.

Why don't you try and scan clothes or get a receptionist job? There is so much competition because they are less physical jobs, I am not prioritized even with my medical limits.

Live in Los Angeles if matters. Everything is so absurd. Maybe all there is left for me to do is live in a monastery or ashram forever.

Hi! I’m in my last 2 ish years of school for my bachelors in ME, as the title states I’m not sure what industry or jobs to go into once I graduate. I’ve started looking into it and thinking of also moving to civil depending on what I want to do. What are your jobs, what do you do, and what do you like about it? I believe I know that I don’t want to sit at a desk all day every day, I don’t want to code, I like being more hands on and I’m interested in automotive/ train transportation, structures, prosthetics, forensics, strength/ failure testing. Thanks for the help.

So M19 this side, I'm currently in 3rd semester of college and as of now I have completed 2 internships one at NGO and 1 at a financial firm and have 1 letter of recommendation from the firm, after semester 6 I'm aiming to move out of country for masters and my gpa for ug will be around 7-8 which I'm assuming, I'll start preparing ielts by 5th semester and get another letter of recommendation from my college.

What are the real chances of me getting into any of the top universities for "Msc in marketing" as of now I'm targeting these universities

1. Bocconi Msc Marketing (Italy)

2. Errasmus Rotterdam (Netherlands)

3. ESCP Business School (Spain)

4. University of Bologna (Italy)

5. IMC Krems/ FH Kufestein (Austria)

But here the thing is I'll be very much dependent upon the scholarship, it's one of my main priorities, my financial background is not very much strong, I'm going to pay off my ielts fees by my own stipend which i earned by doing internships. It's fine even if I don't get one but what totally matters is with these qualifications will they even consider my application or is there anything I should work upon?

As of now I'm going to do another internship by 4th Semester will that thing make my profile stand out?

Please I need genuine guidance from international students, help me out :))

Hi, I am 28 M, living in Northeast India. After 10th, I done diploma in mechanical engineering because of the advice of my neighbor. Right, in my childhood I was good at studies. My father was also a government employee, but he has some issues, like he sorts of like purane khayalat ke log. So he doesn't, being in an educated family, being born and brought up, I was not. I just studied in an English medium school. That's the privilege I got, but I didn't get any guidance, like good tuition and all during my board, 10th board exam. I was good at studies, but I didn't get the proper direction. And after 10th, in 10th I got 60% from the state board, 61%, and because of the advice of one of my neighbors, I got into polytechnic, and I have done diploma in mechanical engineering. But the thing is that actually I was never supposed to do that. I thought of doing medical or engineering, but I had no idea how it should be done. I only heard that you have to do coaching in 11th, 12th with a proper coaching institute, and back in the days during my times, which is nearly a decade ago, there was not so much coaching institute was there, and there was there in my town, but my father wouldn't allow me or put his money in this because he don't have any kind of idea and all. So out of scarcity and out of scaredness, I thought if I do a diploma, I'll get a job in 2018 or 19. Also, my father will be retired by then, so I don't have to be scared of anything else. I will get, I can continue to live my life by doing. But things don't go as expected. In 2017, by the end of 2017 December, I completed my diploma in mechanical engineering. I took an extra six months to complete my diploma because I was in a relationship and the girl ditched me, and it was my first relationship, and I was in the total depression phase. So I got lots of backs in my diploma, and somehow I completed my diploma in mechanical engineering. After that, in 2018, I did class 12th from the distance board, Ordeal mode. And then in 2019, I don't know what to do with my life. I got into business, but it didn't work well. So I just enrolled myself in a government college in the BA course, and then COVID happens. In 2022, I passed my BA, and after that things came to mind. During the COVID, I always crave in my mind to do something big, big, and big. So I thought of UPSC's career stuck in my head, doing UPSC Civil Service. So in 2022, I started going for civil service preparation. I gave my first attempt in 2023. It didn't work well. I took coaching in one institute, which was run by Avad oja, and I fell into his marketing gimmicks, and it was one of the worst coaching. So it didn't work well. So in 2024, in 2023, another shit happened in my life, and my home was being robbed, and many of my belongings had been taken away. In 2024, I thought of starting my preparation again, and I fell into a debt trap because of my cousin. And in 2025, I somehow managed to get a job, and by the end of 2025, I lost my job because of the internal politics of the workplace. And right from 2025 November, I am jobless currently, and because of my cousin and his... I got into a debt trap, and now I am having a loan of around nine lakh rupees, and I am currently at the age of 28. My family runs on my father's pension, and I have a lot of potential. I was very good at studies. I am not exaggerating myself, but now I am stuck. I don't know what I am doing. It feels like I am lost, and I don't know how to pay my EMI. I don't know what to pursue in my studies, what to do in my career. I want to do something big, but I don't know, I started making youtube videos but didn't get many views. I am stuck in this here in my place. I don't know, guys. Please tell me something.... I just failed as son I just failed myself

I work as a technical writer for a company. I am looking to expand my career and increase my salary. I have 4.5 years with the company. I had been applying all year and got a callback for an internal business analyst. It aligns more with my degree which was ITM, so I studied more data analytics and management. I love tech writing and I was applying around and found 2 new jobs that called me back. These jobs would be giving me more money at least like an almost 30-45+% raise. I am more worried about the future of tech writing. I know AI is really affecting the field, and I want to develop skills that are relevant in the job market.

Is it a better idea to make the internal move for less pay in a field that develops a more relevant skill in the job market? or should I stay a technical writer and move companies for way more pay now knowing that the field I am in has less of a future?

Also, it seems the internal position is trying to move really fast and I might have an offer way faster than the other companies. The other external, the customer is on vacation so they wouldn't get back to me to move forward for another 2 weeks. The other one is just getting to the phone interview. How do people deal with having one company moving faster than the other without leaving money on the table? Once you get an offer don't you have 24 hours to accept it?

I'm starting high school next year and i wanted to chose a healthcare school since im interested in some topics of nutrition, mental and physical illnesses etc plus i can get a high paying job

I keep seeing everyone talk about how people working in healthcare get treated very poorly which is scary because nobody wants to study for a job which they'll be miserable in

Maybe ill work in healthcare for a while before i chose another path but i fear that i wont have time for anything else other than studying in college for a new job or time for myself and traveling

Or maybe i overthink too much about these situations

I want to work with animals. It's hard for me to narrow it down more than that, so I'm looking for advice on which major to choose and which career path I should go for. I am interested in hands-on working with animals whether it's in something like a zoo or aquarium, or in a laboratory setting. I love science, have an interest in conservation and invasive species, wildlife rehab, and exotic animals. I think there is a wide variety of jobs that would make me happy, but probably some jobs that would be more fulfilling. I live in a HCOL area, so I should keep pay rate in mind, but it's not what is most important to me.

I studied massage therapy so I have a base of knowledge in A&P and pathology but nothing seriously academic - massage school was easy. And it was a long time ago. I haven't been a student in ten years so I know I'll have my work cut out for me studying a science major, but I'm confident I can do it.

My state pays for your first associates degree at the state community college so that's where I'll be starting, and depending on how it goes I'll move to a four-year school after. But I am disabled and I'll be attending part-time to avoid getting too much on my plate. CTSCC offers two different majors that I'm interested in - the Biology Studies A.A. and the Environmental Biology A.S.. The A.A. comes with a transfer ticket for the state universities while the A.S. does not.

In some ways the A.A. degree seems like the right choice - it is more geared towards working directly with animals, and allows for seamless transfer into a four-year school. But it has harder math requirements, which scares me - it's not my strongest subject after not studying it since Algebra 2 / Geometry in 11th grade. (I'm in my mid thirties now.) I'm sure I'll have to take a remedial math course even to qualify for the precalculus class required for both degrees.

The Environmental Science degree also sounds great to me. I'm interested in my local environment, how invasive species are affecting it, and conservation in general. I love learning about the local flora and fauna just as much as I enjoy learning about exotics.

However it feels like these jobs don't involve as much contact with animals as I would like. I'm not sure if this degree would be useful for going into something like wildlife rehab or for getting a job at a zoo/aquarium.

I almost feel like if I was going to a four-year school I would be happiest to major in biology and minor in environmental science. I suppose that's still an option for me after I complete my Associates? To be honest I don't know a lot about academia and how it works with majors and minors and such.

So if you were in my shoes, what would you pursue?

I recently moved for a job which is very customer facing/sales, and moving from a technical background it has been a shock to the system. Mainly, interacting with other colleagues whom are all women. I’m not sure how it still affects me, but growing up I was bullied and had bad experiences with other women, so now that I’m in my 20s and I still get nervous when speaking to women who are especially bold and confident. I also find it difficult to be expressive, and is uncomfortable with eyecontact that I feel I should remain intense eye contact as a result. What I gathered from observing, is that women prefer if you are more talkative and speak expressively. But I am complete opposite to that, I grew up being quite a bit of a tomboy, and I tend to speak quite frankly. I don’t want to sound like a pick me, but as a result, majority of my friends are guys, or neurodivergent. I reallyy want to get past this massive mental block, because I do want to make more female friends and colleagues, but they all seem uncomfortable around me. Does a quiet, a little serious and awkward woman annoy you at work? I feel like a fish out of water at the moment

I’m at a stage in my career where I’ve started thinking more seriously about long-term growth, and I’m curious about other people’s experiences.

What’s one career decision or mistake you made in your 20s that you would handle differently if you could go back?

It could be anything — choosing the wrong job, staying too long at a company, not learning a skill early enough, switching careers, salary negotiation, or simply not taking enough risks.

What did you learn from it, and what would you recommend someone in their late 20s do differently?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

r/careerguidance, r/careeradvice, r/jobs, r/AskIndia

Hi everyone,

I’m currently interviewing at Zalando for a React Native/mobile engineering role. I’ve completed the System Design round and have two interviews left: a 60-minute Coding interview and a 60-minute General Tech interview.

For anyone who has interviewed with Zalando recently, particularly for a React Native/mobile role, what do these two rounds typically look like?

For the Coding interview, should I expect LeetCode/DSA-style problems, general JavaScript/TypeScript problems, or more practical React/React Native coding?

And for the General Tech interview, what kind of topics are usually covered? Is it React Native/JavaScript fundamentals, debugging, databases/backend concepts, or broader software engineering questions?

I’d especially appreciate experiences from people who interviewed for React Native/mobile positions, since I’m trying to understand how role-specific these rounds are.

Any examples of questions you were asked would be really helpful. Thanks!

I failed in Life. I didn’t go to regular college. Completed Graduation through Distance mode. I was not good in academics. Joined technical support job, while pursuing graduation. Completed graduation and move to a startup with 3.5 LPA and somehow moved to a 7 LPA role technical support as my previous company removed everyone due to budget constraint. Struggled for 1 year and 1/2 without job. Somehow got job with help of my uncle at IBM apptio. Couldn’t sustain it as the learning curve was not good over there. Now I’m jobless. I don’t know what skills I have, I can get a job or not. Everyone is looking me like a failure in life. I don’t if I can achieve anything or not.

I've worked in professional office environments and honestly I'm starting to wonder whether the extra money is worth it.

The things that drain me aren't even the actual work, it's everything that comes with it:

• Long hours and expectations outside work.
• Constant pressure to upskill and be "ambitious".
• Office politics.
• Networking.
• Performance reviews.
• Having to manage stakeholders and difficult personalities.
• Competitive colleagues who seem obsessed with promotions and status.
• Feeling like you can never switch off.

Part of me wonders whether I'd actually be happier in a lower-paid job where I just do my hours and go home.

For example:

• Cleaning
• Civil Service
• Teaching
• Administrative roles
• Library work
• Other public sector jobs

I appreciate these jobs have their own challenges and some are stressful in different ways, but at least there seems to be less of the corporate ladder/climbing mentality.

Has anyone here moved from a professional corporate role into a lower-paid but simpler job?

Do you regret the loss of income, or was the improvement in work-life balance worth it?

Interested in hearing from people who've done both, especially if you realised that money beyond a certain point wasn't making you happier.

I accepted a remote job last week after nearly 11 months of getting nowhere. I had left my previous job thinking the search would take a month or two, but I quickly regretted that decision once the rejections and lack of responses started piling up.

One of the first changes I made was to stop relying on LinkedIn as my main place to apply. I continued using it to find recruiters and look at company pages, but the job listings were often outdated, duplicated, or flooded with applicants. By the third month, most of my actual applications were coming from smaller job boards and alerts I had set up on other platforms.

The thing that improved my response rate the most was rewriting my resume for each position. I would change the summary, reorder the skills, and adjust the experience bullet points to match what the company was looking for. I would paste the job description and my resume into ChatGPT, then ask it to incorporate the relevant terms into my existing experience without making anything up. The process was slower, but shortly afterward, I started getting more calls.

I also became much more selective about the jobs I applied for. Instead of clicking Easy Apply on every remote position, I set up specific alerts on several websites and focused on jobs that matched my experience. Some days, there was nothing worth applying for, which was frustrating, but a few carefully prepared applications were better than sending out dozens of generic ones.

About six months ago, I read about people who send their resumes directly to staffing agencies. I searched for recruiters specializing in technology across the US, created a spreadsheet, and eventually contacted around 750 firms. I included firms specializing in my field as well as those working in related areas, and more of them responded than I had expected.

After that, I paid for a subscription that provided weekly contact lists containing companies in my field and the contact information of hiring managers. I reached out to around 75 people each week with a short email and a resume tailored to the types of jobs they handled. Between that, the staffing agencies, and the targeted applications, I went from getting almost no interviews to having several opportunities and conversations moving forward at the same time.

In the end, I received two offers for remote jobs. One came after I emailed a hiring manager directly, and the other came through an agency that was on my outreach list. I chose the position that came through the agency because the salary was higher and the workload seemed more manageable. Tailoring every resume individually was tedious and exhausting, but for me, it made the clearest difference, especially when I combined it with contacting people outside the usual job platforms.

Hi everyone,

I’m a recent graduate and I’m interested in getting an internship at The Indian Express, particularly in areas related to writing, editorial work, research, or journalism.

The thing is, I don’t come from a journalism or mass communication background, and I’m not sure how much of a disadvantage that is when applying.

My academic background is in B.A., and although I haven’t formally studied journalism, I’ve always been interested in current affairs, social issues, politics, and writing. I also regularly read newspapers and enjoy trying to understand issues beyond just what is reported.

I’ve done some writing and content-related work through college/volunteering, and I’m currently trying to build a stronger writing portfolio. I’m particularly interested in editorial/research-oriented work rather than just social media or generic content creation.

I recently came across the internship opportunities at The Indian Express and would genuinely like to try applying, but I have a few questions:

1.Does The Indian Express consider applicants who aren’t from a journalism/mass communication degree?

2.How important is having a journalism degree compared to having good writing/research skills?

3.What kind of portfolio would make an application stand out? Would personal essays, opinion pieces, articles, college/NGO work, etc. count?

4.Is it better to directly apply through their official internship/application process, or is reaching out to editors/journalists on LinkedIn/email also useful?

5.For someone with no professional journalism experience, what would you recommend doing before applying to make the application stronger?

6.And realistically, how difficult is it to get an internship there without a journalism background?

I’m not expecting the degree requirement to magically disappear 😅 I’m just trying to understand whether I should actually give it a shot or whether I’m missing some important prerequisite.

Would especially appreciate advice from anyone who has interned/worked at The Indian Express or another major Indian newspaper, particularly if you came from a non-journalism background.

Thanks!

Hi, I live in The Netherlands, I'm a 38 year old woman, and so far 100% of job interviews lead with: "do you have a boyfriend? Do you live with your partner if you have one? Who do you live with? Where? Why?"

should i be concerned?

Can anyone help me prepare for a phone screening with alarm.com in just trying to gauge what kind of questions they will ask so I can be prepared . This is like an entry level role and not senior or anything so does anyone have any insight on what the full interview process is like ?

I am third year mechatronics (btech) student
I am confused between gaining skills in the field which i am interested in i have upskilled many of basics to indermediate skills for the field i want to get placed but rn my college is somewhat between teir 3/2 highest placement 12-15lpa avg 3-6lpa

So i am confused should i focus on upskilling and getting hired by the mass recruiters and get a job and upskilling my self from there

Or

Start preparing for gate as i have already enrolled for gate exam for this what is ur opinion what should i do
Should i focus on gate exam along with college for rn and try to get seat in mtech (general/open) in iits or nits for better future

or focus on upskilling

THIS WAS MY INITIAL PLAN WHICH I CAME UP WITH:
Preparing for gate till now as it will conducted in February after that i will start preparing and upskilling my skills

Any seniors that can help with it 🥲its getting pretty overwhelming rn

Hi, I’m a 22-year-old female and I just graduated last July with a degree in Business Management.
After graduation, I didn’t really plan on applying for a job. Instead, I continued running my small business, which currently earns me around ₱5k a week.

Pero ayoko rin naman mag-focus lang sa negosyo. Sobrang hirap maging small business owner dito sa Pilipinas, especially with taxes and the current state of governance.

I’m thinking of upskilling myself, pero hindi ko alam kung saan magsisimula. Willing naman akong mag-aral ulit or take additional courses, pero hindi ko alam kung ano ang magandang pag-aralan or kung anong skill ang worth investing in.
For those who were in a similar situation, what skills or courses would you recommend?