Posted on 08/05/2013 11:46:55 AM PDT by vwbug
This. Good Advice, and easily accomplished.
At my previous employer, we had a guy come in for a programming position who was morbidly obese. Pleasant fellow, and competent, he just had a hand-to-mouth problem. Fortunately, I wasn't on the programming team, I just heard all this over the water cooler.
He came exceptionally highly recommended by a trusted member of senior management. That's the only reason he was hired, and he *still* had to go through a six-month 'probationary' period. I doubt that there would have been any question whatsoever, if he wasn't carrying an extra person's worth of weight.
You have some knowledge of programming and could quickly learn to use html and css and php to develop and run your website. There is no reason to confine yourself to computer parts, you can sell anything (e.g., jewelry, pens, GNC-type supplements, etc. Everything is ‘pretty well covered’ — you can’t let that stop you. If you can figure out how to get Google to put you on their first search page, that’s all you need.
Be careful not to let your objectives limit you. That 4k, 15% thing is fine in the abstract but what you should be looking for is steady income.
In the old days, people who needed extra dough would “take in mending.” You can fix computers. Advertise. Put business cards everywhere, and brochures.
Then for regular employment, don’t laugh but retailers that sell electronics will happily hire an older person with your background. It won’t be the salary you’re used to but on the bright side, it’s income, and after you reach a certain age it will supplement your Social Security. Which by the way you can get at age 60, in some cases.
You might also look into teaching classes in what you know. On your own, or at a community college, or at a senior center.
Freelancing and part-time work give you flexibility and may well be better for you overall than an investment you have to tend anxiously all the time.
/my.02
The only way I made decent money driving a truck was by backing up the log book. That can’t be done anymore. You can drive 11 hours out of 24. That means you might get 500 miles a day. Plus there’ll be days you’ll be sitting and waiting on a load.
If you’ll notice there are any smaller trucks on the road anymore. Paperless logs put that part of the industry out of business.
Anytime you can take a bad break and turn it into something positive, it's a step that motivates you onward to even more accomplishment. Feeling good about yourself is a magnetic quality that others pickup on.
Many blue collar positions, unless supervision and etc., requirement more physical activity than engineering or white collar positions. In some ways, that can be beneficial both physically and mentally. Many of these positions pay well, compared to years past. Here, specialized maintenance personnel earn $35 and over per hour. That's 70K per year without any OT, and skilled blue collar worker positions are getting harder to fill.
Having electronics expertise is a lucky break for vwbug. Many new fields such as robotics, process controls, remotely controlled operations, and so forth are just beginning to proliferate in earnest.
Adapting electronic controls to real world applications is one of the top future fields to be engaged in. Some others are cutting edge medical, agriculture, and information security.
No doubt the economy is screwed through centralized control, social engineering, corruption and etc. But life still goes on and we have to find creative ways to adapt to the situation. It's called survival and it's something we've been lulled into a complacency about, at least those not reading FR. lol
Those who think the government will take care of them no matter what, will meet the same fate the millions who died last century met, I'm afraid.
What do you mean, backing up the log? Driving more than 11 hours? I don’t know, I never drove, my friend does it. Reminds when I use to drive a taxi in New York city (when I was out of my mind) They would constantly give us tickets and the more tickets you got the more you had to work because if you didn’t pay them they would suspend your license and then you’d be unemployed.
So I would pull “double shifts” driving 24 hours straight, - everyone ends up doing that - sometimes 48 hours straight. That is until the city introduced having to type in your license number into the meter which then got transmitted to the Taxi and limosine commission which started recording the driving hours of all the drivers, and if you drove more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period, what do you get? A ticket!!! lol
That’s when I quit because I realized what the city does is steal the drivers money until that driver is out of business. They don’t care, they got every immigrant on earth looking to drive those things. Nice scam.
I hauled expedited freight for almost one year. It was a 40’ Six Wheeler. Double tires in the back. If I sat somewhere for 24 hours that meant I had 13 hours to “play with”. So I’d drive for 11 hours then re-do my log book to show I had left 13 hours earlier. That meant it looked like I’d been sitting in that spot for 13 hours. Then I’d get back on the road and drive another 11 hours. I once drove 40 hours straight. I know that was stupid.
But doing it the way I did it I could bring in 10 to 12 grand a month at 72Cents a mile. Then the company got scared they were going to be audited so they started giving me runs I could legally make in 11 hours or less. Couldn’t make enough money so I quit.
Holy God, 11 -12k a MONTH!?? Oh maaan, I’m doing that! I know what you mean though, I use to drive those hours, it was nuts but I didn’t make nowhere as near as that much. I remember one time I was going over the 59th street bridge from Queens to Manhattan on about the 18th hour of a 24 hour shift and I reached the top of the bridge and this car was in front of me going going maybe 40 mph..Next thing I know this guy is shaking me. What happened was I instantly fell asleep and smashed into him going down the bridge and I never even realized it much less felt it. Just *pop* instantly went to sleep out of nowhere like a switch was shut off lol Oh yeah then i use to fall asleep when I had passengers and they use to scream at me and run out. That was freakin’ nuts thank God I didn’t kill anyone or myself. I use to eat these ephedrine pills like candy, I forget the name of them. They were diet pills with ephedrine when ephedrine use to be legal over the counter.
In spite of Obama’s policies there is some manufacturing going on. I know, I’m a small manufacturer that just now signed some big contracts. But I am not hiring anyone and I can’t really find anyone anyway. Aircraft companies always need good EEs and in my shop I see people that need motion control and automation control EEs. I think you will see a lot of shops like mine invest in robots rather than employees with Obamacare. And as suggestion you may just have to move or at least be willing to travel. There are a lot of opportunities out there with temp agencies. I did the contract scene for many years while I built up my savings. Good luck.
Been there. Done that and have the t shirt. Best advice. Searchable resume on dice and a good resume on linkedin. This is where I got myast two jobs.
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