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Ask HN: 36 years old, no skills, no job – what can I learn?

11 points by highwayman47 ↗ HN
I was making $170k in biotech, doing operations. This job was not enjoyable and hard to quantify/describe. Basically, just putting out fires all day. I got laid off and biotech sucks right now. I'm prepared to retrain, but I want to make a similar salary. Unfortunately tech seems to have downturned as well - so I'm not sure what to do. I had some contacts at some SaaS companies that peripherally served life sciences, but this seems to have fizzed out as well. Also, did some sample work for equities analysis in life science, no response.

25 comments

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GianFabien
If you learn something new, then you probably have to start with an entry-level position.

The only way I know of sustaining your salary expectations is to demonstrate your ability to immediately deliver value at say 5+ times your recent salary. As they say you either make them money or save them money.

dorongrinstein
you can be a product manager, project manager, product marketing manager, sales engineer, sales person, designer (if you are graphically inclined) and of course, you can be a front-end engineer or backend engineer but you need to spend a couple of months immersing yourself in it and get an entry level development job to get your skills up and rise up. none of the options will be handed on a silver platter and you've got to put in hard work and make it happen. See what most attracts you (it may be something off the list above of course) but go all in and do not accept defeat. become as best you can. It is a competitive world and you have to compete to earn. no skills? gain the skills. through working on yourself. good luck, you can do it!
highwayman47
I appreciate it - what's the best way I could leverage my life sci background?
adamhp
I literally just got an email from some Biotech company in Maryland that is hiring Python Engineers. Learn Python. Apply to some Biotech companies as a Python Engineer. I'm almost certain your biotech experience would make up for your lack of actual engineering experience if you could do a leetcode interview or whatever.
wrx100
I usually advise friends and family to try what they already know first if they are out of work.

Is there any way you can contract to other biotechs to put out their fires? Can you start a business as a supplier of contractors or other services and products to the biotech industry? Are there any other inefficiencies in the biotech industry that you can exploit by setting up a company?

highwayman47
yes there are inefficiencies - but biotech is expensive - I can't just start a business. My credentials aren't good enough for consulting either.
mhrnik
what if you start with a good job?
highwayman47
what do you mean? I've been trying to get a good W2 job.
austin-cheney
I am a former JavaScript developer who did that for 15 years. The I see missing most are: written communications, basic concepts of organization, data structures.

JavaScript was painful to abandon as a career. I loved the expressiveness of the language and the creativity it allowed. The jobs though were just putting text on screen and your peers were exceedingly young, insecure, and highly untrained. It’s like having a live for automobiles but becoming an auto-mechanic means your peers likely lack education, have low income potential, and drink more.

It is time for expectation management. If you want to start over in a different field you are not going to make what you making. You need to gain some experience in your new field to qualify a return to a high salary unless you can leverage your prior experience directly with credentials to laterally slide into a new field.

navjack27
Stop lying to yourself saying you have no skills. You have skills. Frame them in your advantage.
giantg2
Eh, I don't have skills either. So it's believable others might not too.
lulznews
No worry. Most jobs require no skills.
FlopV
I know of a marketing company for life sciences.

How do I get in touch with you?

rapfaria
> I want to make a similar salary.

That's not the spirit

highwayman47
I have bills - I was broke before. Debt from a few failed business ventures.
gaws
> 36, no skills, no job

> I want to make a similar salary.

Zero chance this will happen, buddy.

giantg2
Thw median developer makes something like $115k, so this might not be the best choice. Getting into management might be your best bet to get to $170k. Very little technical knowledge needed in management too.
6R1M0R4CL3
there are some occupations that are in need of people. some are manual labor and pay well because there is not enough people there.

you want to work with your hands for a good wage ? or you want to work in some office ? we need more details :)