27 Years Old, Feeling stuck, Investing, Scamming

[RealCrownHeights]

I'll skip the sob story and sad stories but I'm almost at a crossroads. I have a B.A. in English from a reputable University but my graduating GPA was a 2.4 My former co-worker moved to Jacksonville and is a teacher now and is saying I can make a decent wage there and they are in high demand for a male black teacher over there and the cost of living is low. I'm currently at a dead-end non-profit and have been since I graduated college with no career trajectory.

On the other hand, I have people who I went to school with soaring pass me and getting offers for $130k and higher for consulting jobs and living in better apartments then my family who have been in NYC there whole life. Then I have my friends from high school etc that are scamming and have had beamers since we were 16, while I tried to be a good kid and go to school and take 3 trains to work.

I'm just unsure of what to do now and I don't want to do anything drastic and contact those friends but the shi* is frustrating. I'm able-bodied and applied for FDNY, failed by 1 point and my relatives keep telling me to apply for state and city jobs and I have for years and haven't got anything. I bought books on investing and bitcoin and have been reading to bring some additional income in.

 

[Koli_Kat]

You have to make a decision at the end of the day.

Ignore the scammers, one day years from now you will read in the papers or watch on the news 100+ got detained by feds for scamming. Some of those will be your friends from HS.

If you want to make it at the end of the day you have to grind.

Go teach, take classes after work or go to school to learn a high income skill that you have at least some interest in and apply for city jobs while doing the above two.

Everybody is not born with a silver spoon. Some of us gotta bust our ass. That some is me and you.

 

[Ozymandeas]

Do not start scamming. You will fukk yourself over, go to jail and all your hard work will be worthless. If you’re trying to be a teacher you can’t compare yourself to people going into consulting or banking as the pay will be different. Maybe consider going back to school for your masters. There are some schools that will accept you with your gpa and if not consider taking additional classes at a city college for cheap to build an alternative transcript with a higher gpa. Then hit it out of the park with your GRE. If you want to do something outside of teaching, consider going into finance or banking. Having an English degree will make some interviewers side eye you. Wont lie. Just take some certifications online for finance and put it on your resume. There’s thousands of banks and firms out there. Someone will hire you. Then from there onward your gpa and your degree major will stop mattering as time goes on. Then you can follow the first example (building an alternative transcript somewhere and doing well on the GMAT) to consider getting an MBA somewhere if you want.

 

[Tr0yTV]

Man up and go back to IT. No one is gonna figure this shyt out for you. That’s your cross to bear.

 

[Insensitive]

I'll skip the sob story and sad stories but I'm almost at a crossroads. I have a B.A. in English from a reputable University but my graduating GPA was a 2.4 My former co-worker moved to Jacksonville and is a teacher now and is saying I can make a decent wage there and they are in high demand for a male black teacher over there and the cost of living is low. I'm currently at a dead-end non-profit and have been since I graduated college with no career trajectory.

On the other hand, I have people who I went to school with soaring pass me and getting offers for $130k and higher for consulting jobs and living in better apartments then my family who have been in NYC there whole life. Then I have my friends from high school etc that are scamming and have had beamers since we were 16, while I tried to be a good kid and go to school and take 3 trains to work.

I'm just unsure of what to do now and I don't want to do anything drastic and contact those friends but the shi* is frustrating. I'm able-bodied and applied for FDNY, failed by 1 point and my relatives keep telling me to apply for state and city jobs and I have for years and haven't got anything. I bought books on investing and bitcoin and have been reading to bring some additional income in.

What are your living expenses ?
Calculate those first, look at the difference you'd see moving to jacksonville and if the opportunity
is better, GO.

Once you've got a wrangle on your finances begin investing IMMEDIATELY.
Not tomorrow.
Not a month from now.
Start RIGHT THIS SECOND.
Don't expect any big major paydays or any kind of special schemes.
Invest slow and steady and stay the course, over time your investments will snowball.

It won't seem like much initially, (I started at 0!) but overtime the growth is
Ignore the fast money and whoever makes more money than you, focus on YOU.
This phrase should ring in your head "What you/they eat, don't make me shyt".

People will pass you up or do grimy shyt, that's just the game.
I know people who used the government assistance and came up on thousands of dollars.
I know people who're doctors (physicians) making $120,000+ or have doctorates who make 70+ grand a year.
Hell at my own damn job, I interact with people who make 30,40,50,100 more grand than I do regularly.
That's just life.

In the same token, I've also interacted with people who have WAY LESS saved or have no real net worth
to speak of or it's all tied up in a house they don't fully own yet. They're living "Check to check" despite having
access to way more money than the vast majority of Americans.

Your goal should be to out save and out invest everyone you know even the "working rich" that seem like they're
doing it big.

 

[King]

Yeah I’m in a similar position. Sometimes I just don’t know.

The same people I graduated and worked on projects with are making 300k+ as FANG engineers. Others are working at Goldman. Hell, others were Chinese exchange students now working for their fathers hedge fund here in the US.

I on the other hand haven’t gotten shyt. Had a lot of people turn their backs on me and act brand new. Especially black professionals.

I talked to a CEO dude I worked with when I was into building startups and he told me I would have to find my own way. I missed the traditional route and don’t have the connections to get my foot in the door so he said I would have to create those.

 

[Swirv]

I'll skip the sob story and sad stories but I'm almost at a crossroads. I have a B.A. in English from a reputable University but my graduating GPA was a 2.4 My former co-worker moved to Jacksonville and is a teacher now and is saying I can make a decent wage there and they are in high demand for a male black teacher over there and the cost of living is low. I'm currently at a dead-end non-profit and have been since I graduated college with no career trajectory.

On the other hand, I have people who I went to school with soaring pass me and getting offers for $130k and higher for consulting jobs and living in better apartments then my family who have been in NYC there whole life. Then I have my friends from high school etc that are scamming and have had beamers since we were 16, while I tried to be a good kid and go to school and take 3 trains to work.

I'm just unsure of what to do now and I don't want to do anything drastic and contact those friends but the shi* is frustrating. I'm able-bodied and applied for FDNY, failed by 1 point and my relatives keep telling me to apply for state and city jobs and I have for years and haven't got anything. I bought books on investing and bitcoin and have been reading to bring some additional income in.

Whatever you do, do not resort to illegal activity! Please breh it’s not worth it.

Investing is not a get rich quick thing. You might knock it out of the park on your first try but it’s much harder to replicate the success. Educate yourself on the tax implications in addition to learning about stocks and crypto movements.

Really it sounds like you are looking for direction in your life. If you have no children I would relocate to another place for a change of scenery and employment. Something is out here for you, just give yourself a chance.

 

[Silkk]

If you start scamming just be ready to handle what comes with that and don’t cry when it does.

 

[Dad]

I think you should start scamming, breh .

 

[Steel]

Pick a new career path and stick with it. What were you planning to do with your English BA?

You also dont have to move to become a teacher. Apply for teaching roles all over the NY and NJ.

Also look at trades and trucking. There are a lot of brehs eating of trades and trucking

 

[RealCrownHeights]

Pick a new career path and stick with it. What were you planning to do with your English BA?

You also dont have to move to become a teacher. Apply for teaching roles all over the NY and NJ.

Also look at trades and trucking. There are a lot of brehs eating of trades and trucking

I wanted to be a Sports Journalist, Nobody in my family knows anything about College, they thought me going would end up in a high paying job regardless of major. And he told me it's notoriously harder to get into NYC and NJ DOE unless it's Charter but in Florida you can teach on the Certification while obtaining a masters and taking classes. Plus I would probably have to live with mad roommates while dealing with all of this.

I'm down for trades or teaching at this point just whatever pays the most and lets me get a whip and a place with space. I excepted every job ain't gonna be cherry and roses a long time ago.

 

[MoneyTron]

I'd move down to Florida, get your money right, and then if you're looking to pivot, go back to school.

My GPA in undergrad wasn't much better than yours. I had a 2.7 overall. I studied hard for the GRE and still got into a good MBA program.

 

[BlackJesus]

I'll skip the sob story and sad stories but I'm almost at a crossroads. I have a B.A. in English from a reputable University but my graduating GPA was a 2.4 My former co-worker moved to Jacksonville and is a teacher now and is saying I can make a decent wage there and they are in high demand for a male black teacher over there and the cost of living is low. I'm currently at a dead-end non-profit and have been since I graduated college with no career trajectory.

On the other hand, I have people who I went to school with soaring pass me and getting offers for $130k and higher for consulting jobs and living in better apartments then my family who have been in NYC there whole life. Then I have my friends from high school etc that are scamming and have had beamers since we were 16, while I tried to be a good kid and go to school and take 3 trains to work.

I'm just unsure of what to do now and I don't want to do anything drastic and contact those friends but the shi* is frustrating. I'm able-bodied and applied for FDNY, failed by 1 point and my relatives keep telling me to apply for state and city jobs and I have for years and haven't got anything. I bought books on investing and bitcoin and have been reading to bring some additional income in.

Think of something you are good at or passionate in and start a YouTube channel.

Download tubebuddy and study your competitors. YouTube is an excellent source of extra income

 

[Crayola Coyote]

Scamming for losers. Fast illegal money never ends well. Don’t believe all that hype it’s a distraction

 

[phcitywarrior]

OP, sorry to hear things haven’t been clicking all that much. I know you made a similar thread/post about a year back asking for some advice and the general consensus IIRC was:

a. Get into IT/get some certs
b. Go to grad school
c. Join the military

I still think option A is your best bet for now while trying to figure out your longer term career plans. Also, look to get a mentor/network of sponsors that will advise and pull for you.

Another thing to stress here is this: you wanna get on as soon as you can. People are forgiving when you’re in your 20s and “still tryna figure things out”. When you start getting towards 30 they’ll cut you less slack as the expectation is you’re more of a seasoned professional. So you gotta really hit the career search hard.

I think you went to Morehouse so I’d hit up the alumni network in your region for help navigating your career.

EDIT: Forget about consulting for now. The top/better consulting firms usually only hire post college for an Entry level analyst or post grad school/MBA for an associate (there are exceptions).

Scamming for losers. Fast illegal money never ends well. Don’t believe all that hype it’s a distraction

This!