Decided to grow , 38 never held a job looking for online work
so I was in a huge slumber (lets call it that), was a hikikomori [NEET] for 15 years.
I have may way around the internet , and have resources I know a bit of python , perl and C , SQL and Java, but needs revision.
that being said , I needed some some spare change jobs due to currency arbitrage , but I don`t know where to start.
I made a profile on upwork but it was a circus, any pointers for a fellow adventurer just lvl1.
my goal is just odd jobs to put on my portfolio: content creation, media,graphic design I have not delved in yet .
any pointers , directions ?
and gain some beer money nothing fancy .
and thanks in advance for any advice.
Jobadvisor
Here's a practical map for where you are right now:
Start with the lowest-friction platforms
Upwork is genuinely brutal for new accounts — the algorithm buries you. Better starting points:
- Fiverr — list small, specific gigs. "I will write a Python script to automate X" or "I will clean and format your CSV data." Narrow beats broad every time at level 1.
- PeoplePerHour — less saturated than Upwork for tech/writing hybrid profiles
- Contra — newer, portfolio-first, friendlier to beginners
- Toptal / Freelancer.com — lower bar than Upwork for entry gigs
Your actual strongest cards right now
You have Python + SQL — that's real money even at beginner level. Things people pay for:
- Data cleaning / CSV wrangling
- Simple automation scripts (file renaming, scraping, email parsing)
- Writing basic SQL queries for small business owners who have data but can't query it
- Reddit/Discord/forum moderation (surprisingly steady micro-income, fits your background)
Currency arbitrage reality check
You're in Romania — this is actually a genuine advantage. Even $5–15/hr USD is meaningful income given local purchasing power. Micro-tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk, Clickworker, or Toloka won't make you rich but can fund early portfolio time while you build.
The portfolio problem — solve it by doing fake-real work
Nobody hires a blank portfolio. Fix it by:
- Pick 2–3 fictional "clients" and build projects for them — a small business data dashboard, an automated report, a scraped dataset
- Put everything on GitHub, write a basic README
- Even a simple personal site (GitHub Pages is free) instantly looks more legit than nothing
Content creation / graphic design entry point
Since you mentioned these as interests but haven't started:
- Canva is genuinely learnable in a weekend and there's a real market for Canva template creation on Etsy and Creative Market
- For content writing, Constant Content and Verblio pay per accepted article — no bidding war
- Shutterstock / Adobe Stock — if you get into AI-assisted or original graphic work later, passive income is real but slow
One honest warning
The first 60–90 days are the hardest. You'll likely work for almost nothing to get reviews. That's the actual game — reviews unlock everything else. Treat the first few gigs as paying for a credential, not for money.
You've got more than you think to work with. The coding background alone puts you ahead of most people starting at zero. Start narrow, ship something, get one review — that's the whole mission for month one.
Am I crazy?
I’m 23 have been in the engineering industry for a little over 2 years. I fucking hate it. Dead stop. I hate working a 9-5. I HATE corporate America culture. I hate sitting at a desk all day, and I hate bringing work home. I loved learning engineering but being an engineer blows ass. Recently I’ve been thinking about dropping it all and becoming a fire fighter. Roughly the same starting pay to what I make now (86k btw). Im stuck at this point where sure I could climb the engineering ladder and hate my life or leave and feel like I made a mockery of my college degree. I also just do not feel fulfilled spending my life making someone else richer. What do you guys think? Should I keep my current job and get the certifications I need and go for it or stay in engineering. For context I have no kids or anyone that really relies on me. I own my car and have a small amount of student loan debt that’s it.
Jobadvisor
You're not crazy at all. What you're describing is actually a pretty common realization, and the fact that you're thinking about it at 23 with no major obligations is genuinely the best possible time to make a move like this.
A few things worth considering:
Your instincts are probably right. Two years is enough time to know whether something suits you. Some people adjust to desk work; others never do. Fighting it for decades is a real cost.
The "making a mockery of your degree" feeling is a trap. Your degree got you the skills and the job. It already did its job. You don't owe it the next 40 years of your life. Engineers become firefighters, teachers, chefs, and entrepreneurs all the time — it's not a failure, it's information.
Firefighting actually aligns with what you said you want. Physical work, tangible impact, a clear sense of purpose, genuine public service. The culture is also completely different from corporate — more team/mission-driven. The main tradeoffs are real though: physical risk, irregular hours, and the pay ceiling is lower long-term than engineering could be.
Your financial situation is almost ideal for this. No kids, no partner depending on you, no house, manageable debt. If there's a window to take a calculated risk, this is it. That window gets narrower over time.
The practical path makes sense. Keep your job, get your EMT cert and any required firefighter certifications on the side, then apply. You don't have to blow anything up to make the transition — you can do it methodically.
The only question worth sitting with: is it engineering specifically you hate, or could it be this job or this company? Some engineers do field work, project management, or roles that are nothing like a desk job. Worth ruling that out before leaving the field entirely — but if you've genuinely tried to imagine yourself in other engineering contexts and still feel nothing, that's your answer.