What is your pond? I think more details would help. Is it professional, social, educational? Do you want to be in smaller ponds across the board or just in some areas of your life?
Depending on the answers to these questions the advice could be as diverse as: move to a different city, change jobs, or just pick up a new hobby.
What is your pond? I think more details would help.
My most relevant pond now is that I play Magic: the Gathering competitively, with a focus on deckbuilding. The online Magic community has grown a lot since 2001 and I’m not too thrilled at my chances of making a name for myself in it, at least not without doing something dramatically different than I have been. I either need a mentor who’s better than I am (Zvi, of the NY Less Wrong meetup group, turned me down), or I need to start working a lot harder and spending a lot more money on the problem of trying to qualify for the Pro Tour. (Not just on cards, but on travel, too.)
I don’t have a job. When I start looking at job postings, I freak out, and I also have no confidence in my ability to get and keep a job in the current economy. My meatspace social life is kind of crap, too; I live with my parents, who support me, and rarely see anyone else in a social context. Needless to say, being with my parents makes me the small fish, not the big fish. I also used to go to the NY meetup group but it’s such a pain in the neck to take the bus to NYC and I feel inadequate next to these people with well-paying jobs and/or advanced degrees.
I could try to get some respect as a productive member of a raiding guild in some MMO or other; I’d only have to meet a threshold of competence instead of competing against other people, so it would be less stressful. I do have a pretty good healer in SWTOR...
I’ve always been very good at math. In my (small) high school, I was always the best math student; in college, I still felt like I was among the top math students in any given math class I took, although I was only a math minor, not a math major. If I tried to study math in graduate school, I don’t think “lack of talent” would be an obstacle to getting an advanced degree… but how much room is there in the world of mathematics for someone who’s probably closer to the 1 in 1000 level than the 1 in 100,000 level? And it’s not like I like taking classes…
I don’t have a job. … I live with my parents, who support me, and rarely see anyone else in a social context.
I really would focus on these major problems before spending time on running from pond to pond with a measuring tape (or figuring out which raiding guild to join).
When I start looking at job postings, I freak out
That’s a problem you have to fix. Not knowing you I cannot offer any advice on how, but I can predict with high confidence that your success in solving this problem will have a major impact on your life.
I also have no confidence in my ability to get and keep a job in the current economy.
You don’t know until you try. Also, since you have no job at the moment, your downside is zero.
I’d agree with Lumifer and jamesf that it seems like it’d be best to do what you can to overcome the ugh field surrounding getting a job. Anecdotally, from my experience and others, having a job can do wonders for your self-esteem and general outlook on life. And it’s also a reason to get out of the house and meet new people!
On that note, do you have any interest in computer programming? Programming ability seems to be pretty correlated with mathematical ability, at least to the degree that anybody at the 1 in 1000 mathematical ability level should be able to do very well as a programmer, if they enjoy it.
And if you’re interested, but don’t have any experience, there are lots of ways to learn! You can sign up for free Udacity or Coursera courses. There are even multiple developer bootcamps you can sign up for that teach you to code, including one that is in New York, and free until you get a job! (Then they take a 15% cut of your first year’s pay.)
If you want to go the bootcamp route, and you’ve had no experience before, it might be a good idea to do some messing around with a couple free online courses first, 1) to convince yourself that you’ll enjoy it and 2) to show in your application that you are serious, as I think getting into the camps might be competitive. But the fact that these, and especially the don’t-pay-until-you-get-a-job version, exist demonstrates that there is very high demand for strong programming talent, and with your level of mathematical ability, it really seems like you could easily fall into that category, with just a little training and experience.
I’d agree with Lumifer and jamesf that it seems like it’d be best to do what you can to overcome the ugh field surrounding getting a job.
Last time I had a job, I sat in a cubicle surfing the Internet and feeling guilty about not working on the (programming) problem I was supposed to be tackling. It was horrible.
To be fair, this describes a significant fraction of every working programmer’s day. But if the programming problems themselves don’t grip you at all, then maybe it’s truly not for you.
Let’s try this from another angle. Suppose it’s three years in the future, and you’re working a job that you find, if not absolutely thrilling, then at least engaging enough that you’re content to do it every day. What kinds of things are you closest to being able to picture fitting in that blank? (You’re allowed to say professional Magic player, but that should only be one of several options. Also, you of course don’t have to answer—I’m just a random person from the internet, but perhaps this exercise will be helpful?)
The competitive Magic scene may not be your best bet. If it looks like you’re not going to make a name for yourself in it, but that’s what it would take for you enjoy it, you might be much better off playing with local amateurs and trying to focus on that world instead. Also, it’s probably a better way to make friends. I’ve never stood a chance at playing competitive Team Fortress 2, but finding a public server and carrying the team every now and then is still very fun for me; I pretend pros don’t exist and temporarily relish in my superiority over 23 randoms.
I don’t have much concrete advice as far as finding a job goes, since there a lot of relevant details that you haven’t and possibly shouldn’t share, but I’ll at least suggest that doing whatever you can to overcome your ugh field around job searching would be extremely valuable in the long run. If you have a large gap in your resume (which sounds like it might be the case), find something you can do that puts an end to it, and can also plausibly retroactively fill in some of the gap. Freelancing of some sort comes to mind.
If I need an excuse for a resume gap, does “I was taking care of elderly relatives” work? (My last job was in 2006, and that was officially an internship.)
I also advocate volunteering. It’s both a good indicator that you weren’t just sitting in your basement the whole time(even if you actually were), and a good source of references. I think the two hours a week I spent at the food bank while unemployed made a big difference to me getting my current job.
What is your pond? I think more details would help. Is it professional, social, educational? Do you want to be in smaller ponds across the board or just in some areas of your life?
Depending on the answers to these questions the advice could be as diverse as: move to a different city, change jobs, or just pick up a new hobby.
My most relevant pond now is that I play Magic: the Gathering competitively, with a focus on deckbuilding. The online Magic community has grown a lot since 2001 and I’m not too thrilled at my chances of making a name for myself in it, at least not without doing something dramatically different than I have been. I either need a mentor who’s better than I am (Zvi, of the NY Less Wrong meetup group, turned me down), or I need to start working a lot harder and spending a lot more money on the problem of trying to qualify for the Pro Tour. (Not just on cards, but on travel, too.)
I don’t have a job. When I start looking at job postings, I freak out, and I also have no confidence in my ability to get and keep a job in the current economy. My meatspace social life is kind of crap, too; I live with my parents, who support me, and rarely see anyone else in a social context. Needless to say, being with my parents makes me the small fish, not the big fish. I also used to go to the NY meetup group but it’s such a pain in the neck to take the bus to NYC and I feel inadequate next to these people with well-paying jobs and/or advanced degrees.
I could try to get some respect as a productive member of a raiding guild in some MMO or other; I’d only have to meet a threshold of competence instead of competing against other people, so it would be less stressful. I do have a pretty good healer in SWTOR...
I’ve always been very good at math. In my (small) high school, I was always the best math student; in college, I still felt like I was among the top math students in any given math class I took, although I was only a math minor, not a math major. If I tried to study math in graduate school, I don’t think “lack of talent” would be an obstacle to getting an advanced degree… but how much room is there in the world of mathematics for someone who’s probably closer to the 1 in 1000 level than the 1 in 100,000 level? And it’s not like I like taking classes…
I really would focus on these major problems before spending time on running from pond to pond with a measuring tape (or figuring out which raiding guild to join).
That’s a problem you have to fix. Not knowing you I cannot offer any advice on how, but I can predict with high confidence that your success in solving this problem will have a major impact on your life.
You don’t know until you try. Also, since you have no job at the moment, your downside is zero.
I’d agree with Lumifer and jamesf that it seems like it’d be best to do what you can to overcome the ugh field surrounding getting a job. Anecdotally, from my experience and others, having a job can do wonders for your self-esteem and general outlook on life. And it’s also a reason to get out of the house and meet new people!
On that note, do you have any interest in computer programming? Programming ability seems to be pretty correlated with mathematical ability, at least to the degree that anybody at the 1 in 1000 mathematical ability level should be able to do very well as a programmer, if they enjoy it.
And if you’re interested, but don’t have any experience, there are lots of ways to learn! You can sign up for free Udacity or Coursera courses. There are even multiple developer bootcamps you can sign up for that teach you to code, including one that is in New York, and free until you get a job! (Then they take a 15% cut of your first year’s pay.)
If you want to go the bootcamp route, and you’ve had no experience before, it might be a good idea to do some messing around with a couple free online courses first, 1) to convince yourself that you’ll enjoy it and 2) to show in your application that you are serious, as I think getting into the camps might be competitive. But the fact that these, and especially the don’t-pay-until-you-get-a-job version, exist demonstrates that there is very high demand for strong programming talent, and with your level of mathematical ability, it really seems like you could easily fall into that category, with just a little training and experience.
Hope that helps!
Last time I had a job, I sat in a cubicle surfing the Internet and feeling guilty about not working on the (programming) problem I was supposed to be tackling. It was horrible.
To be fair, this describes a significant fraction of every working programmer’s day. But if the programming problems themselves don’t grip you at all, then maybe it’s truly not for you.
Let’s try this from another angle. Suppose it’s three years in the future, and you’re working a job that you find, if not absolutely thrilling, then at least engaging enough that you’re content to do it every day. What kinds of things are you closest to being able to picture fitting in that blank? (You’re allowed to say professional Magic player, but that should only be one of several options. Also, you of course don’t have to answer—I’m just a random person from the internet, but perhaps this exercise will be helpful?)
Honestly, I have no clue. Book editor, maybe?
/me shrugs
I did well in programming courses in college, but, in general, I don’t program for fun; it feels like hard work.
The competitive Magic scene may not be your best bet. If it looks like you’re not going to make a name for yourself in it, but that’s what it would take for you enjoy it, you might be much better off playing with local amateurs and trying to focus on that world instead. Also, it’s probably a better way to make friends. I’ve never stood a chance at playing competitive Team Fortress 2, but finding a public server and carrying the team every now and then is still very fun for me; I pretend pros don’t exist and temporarily relish in my superiority over 23 randoms.
I don’t have much concrete advice as far as finding a job goes, since there a lot of relevant details that you haven’t and possibly shouldn’t share, but I’ll at least suggest that doing whatever you can to overcome your ugh field around job searching would be extremely valuable in the long run. If you have a large gap in your resume (which sounds like it might be the case), find something you can do that puts an end to it, and can also plausibly retroactively fill in some of the gap. Freelancing of some sort comes to mind.
If I need an excuse for a resume gap, does “I was taking care of elderly relatives” work? (My last job was in 2006, and that was officially an internship.)
I also advocate volunteering. It’s both a good indicator that you weren’t just sitting in your basement the whole time(even if you actually were), and a good source of references. I think the two hours a week I spent at the food bank while unemployed made a big difference to me getting my current job.
That would be a good component of an answer to “what have you been doing for the last seven years?”, yes.