Well, what stinks is that I have a degree in software engineering, and quite like it. Neurotypicals in my situation would work on personal projects and that’d help them eventually get a job… but I really need the structure of a job to get work done. Otherwise, I just end up writing little scripts for random stuff, things I can complete in a few hours…. But they’re not resume worthy projects.
I’m working on social anxiety rn, but hopefully I can get networking and then maybe do like you said, I can find some cool people that can get me in at a workplace that may be enjoyable even if not the best paying.
What about volunteering for an NPO? There are thousands that need help building systems that don’t have the ability to hire engineers. I’ve known a handful of folks that built their resumes like that and were able to pretty quickly get hired somewhere.
There’s a dev volunteer group that finds NPO projects to help with, Ive lurked in a couple of meetings. Seems promising, just gotta deal with the social anxiety… and actually get involved.