请问HS：为正在挣扎的人提供职业建议
大家好。我目前在职业发展上遇到了一些困难，希望能听听那些在科技行业工作过、经历过职业转变或有一些有益生活经验的人们的看法。
大约一年前，我从一所知名的加拿大技术学院获得了软件工程文凭。为了成为有竞争力的申请者，我重修了所有高中数学课程，成绩优异，并顺利进入了该项目，期间也取得了优秀的成绩。我是一个成熟的学生，目标明确。
几年前，我获得了人文学科的硕士学位，并在高等教育和非营利部门工作。我决定转行有几个原因：我一直热爱科技，想利用它为世界带来积极的改变，并且我认为这会提高我的收入潜力。
不幸的是，我毕业时正值行业的低谷：COVID科技泡沫破裂，人工智能浪潮席卷而来。
我确实找到了一份合同工作，对此我心怀感激，最初这份工作主要是编程任务。但后来几乎完全转变为只能称之为“美化的数据录入”。
这真的很困难。我所做的工作毫无趣味，无法以任何有意义的方式发挥我的技能。我目前的收入也是我职业生涯中最低的。我感觉自己退步了很多，这对我的心理健康产生了很大的影响。
我已经请求承担更多的工作，甚至愿意接受较低的薪水来从事与编程相关的任务。很多员工都是合同工或兼职，因此指导和培训的效果参差不齐。
坦率地说，我从未感到如此缺乏参与感和动力。我的自信心受到了很大打击。最近，我甚至在完成工作方面都感到困难。这很棘手，因为我知道自己有很多可以贡献的东西，我热爱学习，做出优秀的工作让我感到自豪，我喜欢为团队贡献力量，等等。我有很好的推荐信，并且我认为我已经证明了自己是一个积极进取、勤奋工作的人。我确实认为，凭借我的背景，我拥有一套独特的技能，可以极大地惠及一个组织。
但是，像许多人一样，我几乎无法从申请的工作中收到回复。我会通过个人的LinkedIn消息跟进我的申请，并利用我的人脉，但到目前为止，毫无效果。
我知道我并不孤单——很多人，尤其是在这个行业中，许多人比我更有经验，也感到同样的困境。我对处于这种境地的每一个人都深表同情。
很长一段时间以来，甚至可能是第一次，我真的不知道该怎么办。我感到迷茫和不确定。我是应该回到之前的职业？还是继续在这个领域寻找工作？
我试图将这视为我生活中的一次小插曲，一个低谷，帮助我培养韧性，更深入地了解自己，这是一件好事。我也知道，在某种程度上，我在自我设限，我害怕做出可能需要我迈出下一步的事情，而这也是学习过程的一部分。尽管如此，现在经历这一切仍然很不舒服。
（我会提到，我在空闲时间做一些小项目，使用Go语言，努力保持和提升我的技能。）
如果你有任何反馈、建议或你所学到的经验，我非常希望听到并从中学习。非常感谢你花时间阅读这些内容。
查看原文
Hi, all. I'm in a tough spot career-wise right now and would love some perspective from those who've worked in tech, have undergone a career change, or have some general life lessons they've found helpful.<p>About a year ago, I graduated with a software engineering diploma from a well-regarded Canadian technical institute. To be a competitive applicant, I re-took all my high school math, did well, and was accepted into the program, where I also achieved excellent grades. I was a mature student with a goal.<p>Some years before, I earned a Masters degree in the humanities and worked in the post-secondary and non-profit sectors. I decided to switch careers for a few reasons: I've always loved technology, I wanted to use it to contribute a positive difference in the world, and I thought it would increase my earning potential.<p>Unfortunately, I graduated at what seems to have been an all-time low point in the industry: the COVID tech bubble popped, and the wave of AI came crashing in.<p>I did get a contract job, for which I am grateful, and it was initially geared towards programming tasks. But it's since shifted almost entirely to what can only be described as glorified data entry.<p>This has been really difficult. The work I'm doing is uninteresting and doesn't leverage any of my skills in a meaningful way. I'm also earning the least amount I ever have professionally. I feel like I've taken a big step back, and it's had a pretty big impact on my mental health.<p>I've asked to take on more work, and even offered to take lower pay to work on programming-related tasks. A lot of staff are contract or part-time, so mentorship and training has been hit-or-miss.<p>Frankly, I've never felt less engaged and motivated in my life. My self-confidence has taken a big hit. Recently, I've been struggling to even do the work. This is difficult, because I know I have a lot to offer, I love to learn, I take great pride in doing good work, I enjoy contributing to a team, and so on. I have excellent references and have, I think, proven that I'm a motivated, hard-working person. I do think, with my background, that I have a unique set of skills that would greatly benefit an organization.<p>But, like many others, I can barely get an email back from jobs for which I apply. I follow up my applications with personal LinkedIn messages, and I've leveraged my network, but so far, to no avail.<p>I know I'm not alone -- a lot of people, especially in this industry, many with far more experience than me, are feeling the same. My heart goes out to everyone in such a position.<p>For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I honestly don't know what to do. I feel lost and uncertain. Do I return to my previous career? Do I continue searching for a job in this field?<p>I'm trying to frame this as a blip in my life, a low point that will help me build grit and learn more about myself, and that's a good thing. I also know that, to some extent, I'm getting in my own way, that I'm afraid of doing what may be needed for me to take the next step, and this is part of the learning experience. All the same, it's uncomfortable to live through right now.<p>(I will note that I'm working on small projects in Go during my off-time, trying to maintain and build me skills.)<p>If you have any feedback, any advice, anything you've learned, I'd love to hear and learn from it. I deeply appreciate you taking the time to read this.