straight white "cis" 26-year-old male. been programming video games and websites (front and backend) for almost 15 years, nearly entirely self-taught. went to school, dropped out because the school was a scam (long story), but aced two years of CS classes.
definitely not an expert at programming but DEFINITELY better at, at LEAST, entry-level work, when compared to your average fuckin CS grad student who's never worked on any projects of their own outside of schoolwork and will be functionally useless at any company that hires them for at least a few months until they get readjusted.
I've had zero luck finding work in games, webdev, and even general programming. nobody wants to hire me. I interviewed at one major MMO developer and that was cool, but hired someone else in favor of me.
my lack of employment in my chosen profession(s) has been ongoing for three years now.
two years ago I had the realization,
>if I was anything other than exactly who I am, i.e. non-white and/or non-straight and/or queer and/or non-male, but I still had the same set of very nearly entirely self-taught skills that I currently possess, I would be up to my nipples in job offers, and I'd probably be able to work wherever the fuck I want.
I almost killed myself.
I've met a ton of people in the field, especially in game development specifically, and there's a ton of retarded faggots who happen to be """queer""" and/or women, almost zero programming ability, yet have jobs I could only dream of.
I thought the Internet-connected America I grew up in would allow for people to discover their talents by teaching themselves how to use technology, and then to transmute that know-how into gainful employment. I was wrong as shit, and I would do a billion things differently if I could do the last decade of my life over.
I do work as a cashier at Walmart though, making $10/hr in South Dakota, which isn't as bad as it sounds.
I've come to accept that I'll never get my dream job.