Having gone through financial trouble after quitting a job to do a start-up incl. living with parents etc. here's my advice:
1. You can have two paths in life as it currently stands; one doing C++ and one not doing C++.
The C++ route will probably pay well but won't make you happy, but the right kind of job doing C++ might be something you can bear. Also become more social and better at it; Michael Feather's book is your friend, start to hang out on stackoverflow etc. Perhaps go and work in one of the cooler places to work like media etc. so the feel of the place makes you feel differently. iPhone development?
The not doing C++ route, without any kind of education diplomas in this current financial climate will probably not pay well. If you're not someone who feels they need a lot of money then you're likely to be happier, but have fewer choices.
2. If you chose the latter of those then sorry to say this but like a lot of people under the age of say 60 you probably need some set your expectations lower (I'm 36 and have done and I'm happier). As it currently stands I'd say earning enough for a house, a cheap Japanese car and 1-2 holidays a year is reasonable. Mansions, Ferrari's and supermodels are not.
3. Now go and do research on jobs that you think would keep your interest on a day to day basis potentially for the rest of your working life. Those people who change careers later in life fall into two camps; lucky genius b!stards, and those who earn less than people who are 15-20 years their junior. You probably wouldn't be one of the lucky genius b!stards, so put some real effort into it; go onto forums etc. and ask people about how their jobs are etc.
4. I'm guessing you're from the US, so your education opportunities are somewhat limited by a lack of funds? If so, go abroad. There are plenty of good universities from around the world that will give you pretty much all of the education you would get in the states (some better, some worse) at far lower cost. Google is your friend.
Although what you're experiencing now is very distressing, it actually won't last forever, and at 20 you're far from being unemployable. When you're in your 40's and you do this its a different world for sure, so better to take the risk now, reboot and set yourself on the right path for the rest of your life.
So you could possibly do another crappy job for 6 months, save as much as you can and then go to university in a foreign country, and then graduate in whatever field you want and get a job in 3-4 years when there's no recession.
OR
You could look for the more bearable of the crappy C++ roles and go with those knowing that what this buys you is time to replan, refocus, recover, have fun again, not feel responsible, and know that its not forever because you're putting things in motion to be a better candidate for the next better role.
A great idea especially if they try to attack one market at a time.
They should mandate a very small (but popular) set of hardware that will be supported so if you want to use it that's it and then it reduces their support issues (they could even sell pre-installed boxes). Possibly create some drivers for Virtualbox drivers to allow people to dabble with it prior to building their own compatible hardware.
I'd like to see them include much needed secondary features in Intel optimized C with a roadmap for them to be reimplemented in ASM as time permits.
If they could develop/get a static web server with the speed of Nginx (or better) I'm sure this thing would explode in popularity; I'm sure CDN's etc. would see the benefits.
1. You can have two paths in life as it currently stands; one doing C++ and one not doing C++.
The C++ route will probably pay well but won't make you happy, but the right kind of job doing C++ might be something you can bear. Also become more social and better at it; Michael Feather's book is your friend, start to hang out on stackoverflow etc. Perhaps go and work in one of the cooler places to work like media etc. so the feel of the place makes you feel differently. iPhone development?
The not doing C++ route, without any kind of education diplomas in this current financial climate will probably not pay well. If you're not someone who feels they need a lot of money then you're likely to be happier, but have fewer choices.
2. If you chose the latter of those then sorry to say this but like a lot of people under the age of say 60 you probably need some set your expectations lower (I'm 36 and have done and I'm happier). As it currently stands I'd say earning enough for a house, a cheap Japanese car and 1-2 holidays a year is reasonable. Mansions, Ferrari's and supermodels are not.
3. Now go and do research on jobs that you think would keep your interest on a day to day basis potentially for the rest of your working life. Those people who change careers later in life fall into two camps; lucky genius b!stards, and those who earn less than people who are 15-20 years their junior. You probably wouldn't be one of the lucky genius b!stards, so put some real effort into it; go onto forums etc. and ask people about how their jobs are etc.
4. I'm guessing you're from the US, so your education opportunities are somewhat limited by a lack of funds? If so, go abroad. There are plenty of good universities from around the world that will give you pretty much all of the education you would get in the states (some better, some worse) at far lower cost. Google is your friend.
Although what you're experiencing now is very distressing, it actually won't last forever, and at 20 you're far from being unemployable. When you're in your 40's and you do this its a different world for sure, so better to take the risk now, reboot and set yourself on the right path for the rest of your life.
So you could possibly do another crappy job for 6 months, save as much as you can and then go to university in a foreign country, and then graduate in whatever field you want and get a job in 3-4 years when there's no recession.
OR
You could look for the more bearable of the crappy C++ roles and go with those knowing that what this buys you is time to replan, refocus, recover, have fun again, not feel responsible, and know that its not forever because you're putting things in motion to be a better candidate for the next better role.
PS. Start working out too; preferably weights.