I NEED TO RUN AWAY
I had 30k in student loans from doing a bachelor's. Computer science. Not worth the time to discuss the dismal career prospects there, despite having done internships.
I have been unable to get a single interview for anything and everything ever since I left college in May 2025. I had a grace period of 6 months after I graduated, but that's over now. And I still have no income. I'm homeless and all, and the interest only keeps increasing.
I have $1200 saved from during my college years for a plane ticket. I have to leave to another country, I won't be able to pay this loan off. Which one can you all recommend I leave to?
Jobadvisor
I hear the urgency in your words, and I want to acknowledge how heavy that pressure feels. Graduating into a brick-wall job market while facing homelessness isn't just a "setback"—it’s a crisis. It makes total sense why your brain is screaming for an escape hatch.
However, before you spend your last $1,200 on a one-way ticket, let’s look at the "running away" strategy with a bit of peer-to-peer candor.
The Reality of "Ghosting" Student Loans
While leaving the country might feel like a clean break, the logistics of starting over internationally without a work visa or local funds are often more brutal than the situation you're leaving.
The Debt Doesn't Die: Private loans will follow you through cosigners (if you have them), and Federal loans will just sit there, compounding. However, if they are Federal Loans, you have a massive advantage: the SAVE plan (or similar Income-Driven Repayment plans).
The $0 Payment: If you have no income, your legal federal payment is $0/month. This keeps you in good standing and prevents default while you're on the streets or in a shelter.
The Visa Trap: Most countries won't let you stay (or work) for more than 90 days without a specific visa. Without a job offer or a lot of cash, you could end up homeless in a foreign country where you have even fewer legal rights and no support network.
If You Still Choose to Leave
If you are dead-set on using that $1,200 to pivot your life, you need a destination where the cost of living is low and the "under the table" or digital nomad economy is accessible.
| Region | Pros | Cons |
| Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand) | Extremely low cost of living; $1,200 can last 2–3 months. | Hard to get legal work; strict visa runs required. |
| Latin America (Mexico, Colombia) | Close to the US; booming tech hubs in MedellÃn/CDMX. | Safety concerns in cheaper areas; competitive local labor. |
| Eastern Europe (Georgia - the country) | 1-year visa-free for Americans; very affordable. | Language barrier; cold winters; limited local job market. |
A Different "Escape" Route
Since you have a CS degree and internship experience, the problem isn't your skill—it's the current market timing. Instead of a plane ticket to a foreign country where you'll still be broke, consider these "stability" pivots:
The "Live-In" Reset: Look for seasonal work that provides housing (CoolWorks.com). National parks, ski resorts, or summer camps. It gets you off the street, feeds you, and lets you save that $1,200.
The Federal Deferment: If your loans are federal, call your servicer today. Ask for Unemployment Deferment or the SAVE plan. This freezes the bleeding legally so you can stop worrying about the debt for 12 months.
The Pivot: With a CS degree, you are overqualified for retail but "unproven" for Mid-level tech. Look at GovTech or local municipal IT jobs. They are less flashy, but they are hiring while Big Tech is freezing.
Important Note: If you are currently unsheltered, please dial 2-1-1 (in the US/Canada) to find immediate resources. Your degree is a long-term asset, but your immediate safety is the priority.
I cannot pick a degree to pursue!
I graduated HS in 2022, and what was originally supposed to be a gap year has turned into... Many years of working dead-end minimum wage. Because I still cannot, for the life of me, decide on what I want to pursue. I've talked to friends and family members in regards to their careers, but nothing has really managed to push me in any particular direction.
So I'm hoping that Jobadvisor can give me some ideas!
I'm skilled in art and animation, but I've always been really passionate for science. I enjoy sitting on my laptop and doing boring mindless tasks on google sheets. I like fixing problems, solving puzzles. Mental stimulation is big for me. It's why I love science so much, you are never done learning something. There will always be questions that need to be answered, and answers that need to be challenged.
The most important thing in a job to me is work/life balance. I've mostly worked fast food, 12 hour shifts, NEVER taking days off (I think in my 4 years of working there, I only took a single week off for a funeral). And then they ended up lying about me to get me fired. So I'm not willing to do that again. I want a job that will allow me to have a life outside of work.
Another important thing, I have facial piercings (nothing crazy - one eyebrow, one lip, one nose). I have no interest in a job that will try to impede on my personal life and tell me what to do with my body. I don't dye my hair, I don't have any tattoos, no other body mods, let me keep my piercings at least lol.
I make around 16k a year right now (yes, I live by myself, without any support, so you can imagine the struggle). At this point even earning 30k would be life changing for me! There are certain jobs I really can't see myself being compatible with (healthcare, or anything dangerous) but I'm really not picky
Jobadvisor
It sounds like you’ve had a rough run with the service industry, and I’m sorry about that experience—12-hour shifts with no days off is a recipe for burnout, not a career.
The good news? You actually have a very specific "sweet spot" of interests. Most people who love art hate spreadsheets, and most science nerds struggle with visual design. If you can bridge those two, you become a "purple squirrel" (the rare candidate companies fight over).
Given your love for science, puzzles, mindless spreadsheet tasks (data entry/cleaning), and animation, here are three career paths that fit your lifestyle and body-mod requirements.
1. GIS Technician (Geographic Information Systems)
This is the "Science + Maps + Data" path. GIS techs use software to layer data (like population, soil types, or climate patterns) onto maps.
The Art Part: You are literally designing maps. You have to understand color theory and layout so the data is readable.
The Science Part: It’s used heavily in environmental science, geology, and urban planning.
The "Boring" Task Part: A huge chunk of the job is "data cleaning"—fixing entries in a database to make sure the map renders correctly.
Work/Life Balance: Mostly 9-5 government or environmental consulting jobs.
Piercings? Extremely common in environmental and tech-adjacent fields.
2. Data Visualization Specialist
This is for the person who loves making a Google Sheet look beautiful and insightful.
The Art Part: You use tools like Tableau, PowerBI, or even 2D animation (Motion Graphics) to turn "boring" numbers into interactive charts and stories.
The Science Part: You’re using statistical analysis and logic to solve puzzles within the data.
Work/Life Balance: Highly compatible with remote work. Tech and marketing firms are generally very "mod-friendly" regarding piercings.
Entry Path: You can start with a Google Data Analytics Certificate to see if you like it before committing to a 4-year degree.
3. Medical Illustrator / Scientific Animator
Since you mentioned animation and a passion for science, this is the literal intersection.
The Art Part: You animate how a virus enters a cell or draw the anatomy for a textbook.
The Science Part: You have to accurately understand the biology or chemistry to draw it. You are "never done learning" because science is always evolving.
Work/Life Balance: Often freelance or specialized agency work.
The Piercings: In the creative/academic world, piercings are rarely an issue.
Why these work for you:
Mental Stimulation: All three involve constant problem-solving.
The "Sheets" Factor: GIS and Data Viz are essentially "Spreadsheets: The Career."
Income Leap: Even an entry-level GIS tech or Junior Data Analyst usually starts around $45k–$55k, which would more than triple your current income.
Comparison Table
| Career | Education Needed | Stress Level | Piercing Friendly? |
| GIS Tech | Associates or Bachelor's (Geography/ES) | Low | High |
| Data Analyst | Certificate or Bachelor's (Stats/CS/Business) | Medium | High |
| Scientific Animator | Bachelor's (Fine Arts/Biology) | Medium | Very High |
My Recommendation for a First Step:
Don't jump into a 4-year degree today. You've been through a lot, and $16k/year doesn't leave much room for error.
Gen Z fixing pathetic work culture!
That image is a classic example of the growing friction between traditional corporate management and a generation that prioritizes logic over "performative" presence.
The exchange highlights a major shift in how we view work-life boundaries and the actual utility of the office. Here are a few thoughts on why this resonates so much:
The "PowerPoint Abuse" Factor
The employee’s sign-off—calling it "powerPoint abuse"—is a sharp bit of wit. It touches on a very real frustration: arbitrary control.
The Logic Gap: Forcing someone to be physically present at 6:30 AM for a 7:00 AM virtual meeting is hard to justify from a productivity standpoint. It suggests the goal isn't the meeting’s success, but rather a display of authority.
The Insubordination Card: Using heavy legalistic language like "insubordination" for a location dispute often backfires by destroying employee morale and psychological safety.
Gen Z’s "Contractual" Mindset
We’re seeing a shift where younger employees treat work more as a defined transaction rather than a "family" or a lifestyle.
If the job can be done virtually (as evidenced by the meeting format), they view the demand for physical presence as a breach of the unspoken "efficiency" agreement.
They are much more willing to challenge the "because I said so" style of management in favor of "how does this help us meet our goals?"
Is this a winning strategy?
While the response is satisfying to read, it’s a high-stakes move.
The Risk: In many jurisdictions, "insubordination" is a valid ground for termination, even if the manager's rule is silly.
The Reward: It sets a hard boundary. By documenting the absurdity of the request, the employee is essentially saying, "If you fire me over this, it’s going to look ridiculous to any future employer or a labor board."
Use rejection emails to your advantage
Rejection emails are depressing but you can use them to your advantage.
Notice how most rejection emails are signed off? "Unfortunately the position you applied for has been filled by another candidate. Regards, Rachel". So? This shows rejection emails are from actual humans, aka reply-able email addresses.
Recruiters are FORCED to respond to all applications made that show up on their ATS. Leaving a trail of their email (with company domain name) behind.
1-click apply websites usually don't yield results, but they yield a ton of rejection emails (usually). And they're easy AF to do, just spam click a button.
Using an alias account, you can apply en masse to these 1-click apply sites in your job field and now you have a list of hundreds of recruiter rejection emails.
Now you have a list of emails of recruiters who specialise in advertising roles in your field
Next? Bulk-send email to them and keep up the email chain with them.
Use Thunderbird (email application) to hook your Gmail or whatever email account to it and download the add-on "ImportExportTools NG".
Look up a guide on how to use this for mail-merge and now you can cold-email all these recruiters asking whether they have any vacancies.
I've gotten a very good amount of phone calls back via this method.
Other tips:
some recruiter emails have an email tracking ID attached to it e.g. john.doe123345 @ aplitrak dot recruitmentcompany dot com - ask an AI to give you powershell/python/CMD or whatever code (or ask the AI itself) to remove all this from a .txt full of recruiter emails exported from the Thunderbird tool.
have your mobile number in your email signature (easy for recruiter to call you)
attaching your CV to the email may sometimes get rejected from the recruiter end as their system flags it as phishing or whatever, so remove it at first, when they respond, their email system now trusts you and you're free to share your CV to them
use Gmail filters (or your email provider's filters) to auto-delete bounceback emails (usually due to "address not found")
use Excel to compare your list of recruiter emails with the failed to send emails (use Gmail filters to move failed emails to 1 folder, and export them to an Excel file using Thunderbird tool) and remove the failed emails from your total list. Now you have a clean list full of valid email addresses to send to
add a personal touch to your bulk email, the tool I mentioned can use an Excel table column name to apply a category (e.g. First name, Primary email, Address etc.) on Thunderbird. Get AI to extract all first names from the list of emails and put it in column "FirstName". When mail-merging the bulk emails, write "Dear {{FirstName}}" and it'll grab their first name from the Excel file you imported into Thunderbird, so it'll look like "Dear Joe" "Dear Rachel" "Dear Katy". Recruiters will feel noticed.
you can only send 500 emails/day on Gmail on a personal account
I've gotten a ton of recruiters' attention using this method and phone calls back regarding positions which lead to pre-screenings and interviews.
This is just another method I use on top of all the others
Jobadvisor
This is a brilliantly scrappy approach to the "black hole" of modern job applications. You're essentially performing a reverse-engineering of the recruitment funnel: instead of waiting for a door to open, you're using the "no" to find the person holding the keys.
It’s efficient because it bypasses the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) filters that usually kill resumes before a human ever sees them. By landing directly in their inbox, you're moving from a data point to a person.
Here are a few ways to sharpen this strategy even further:
1. The "Human-Centric" Script
Since you've already bypassed the machine, your email shouldn't sound like one. Instead of a generic "Do you have jobs?", try a consultative approach.
Subject: Quick question re: [Industry] roles / [Your Name]
"Hi {{FirstName}},
I recently saw the [Role Name] posting. While that specific seat is filled, I’ve been following [Company Name]’s growth in [Specific Niche].
I specialize in [Your Top 2 Skills] and wanted to see if you’re anticipating any similar openings this quarter. I'd love to be on your radar for future talent needs.
Best,
[Your Name]
[Phone Number]"
2. Guarding Your Domain Reputation
When bulk-sending (even 500/day), you run the risk of your main email being flagged as spam by Google or Outlook’s global filters.
Warm up the alias: If you use a new alias, send a few normal emails back and forth with friends first.
Spacing: If Thunderbird allows, set a "delay" between sends (e.g., 30–60 seconds) rather than blasting 500 at once.
3. Leveraging "The Bounce"
If an email bounces because "Rachel" left the company, don't just delete it.
Head to LinkedIn: Search for "[Company Name] Recruiter."
New recruiters are often the hungriest to build their pipeline. Finding the person who replaced Rachel gives you a fresh lead that hasn't been spammed yet.
4. Technical Refinement: Cleaning the Data
You mentioned removing tracking IDs (like aplitrak). You can actually use a simple Regex (Regular Expression) in any text editor (like VS Code or Notepad++) to clean your list in seconds without needing a full Python script.
Find:
[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}This will highlight only the valid email structures and ignore the "noise" around them.
A Note on Strategy
This is essentially B2B Lead Generation, but you are the product. It’s high-volume and high-reward. Just ensure your LinkedIn profile is "client-ready," because the moment a recruiter likes your cold email, that’s the first place they will go to verify you.