Older and bit WISER elder. THE RULES OF LIFE, imho.
your mileage will varyy a LOT. fiction, of course. LOL

1.) DREAM BIG. don't limit yourself. if i had your skillsets
i would pitch mish shedlock directly. no endorsement,
no conflicts of interest. do the top 20 financial blogs.

2.) mish shedlock? who is this guy. career changer and former cobol programmer who got KICKED INTO THE REAL WORLD.
Welcome 'brave and sad new world.' this is a literary
allusion. LOL

3.) philosophy. does sad come first or the brave?
rhetorical question, my dear Mr. Ut. Opian (LOL)
first. "self taught my CS skills are not as solid"
COMPLETE RUBBISH. THE BEST are self-taught and self-teachers.
I, myself did barcamp.org and i prefer to teach the teachers FOR FREE. Because I get back ten times the investment.

Oh, by the way, when I am CEO, I always have a small
interview trick i play on the applicants, like you.
I LOVE MY FAMILY AND my 'future children.'
SO MY MOTIVATION is extremely high.
some companies will try to negotiate you down. AKA
kicking you while you are down. Others and most will
change the 'social contract' or even the job description.
THAT MEANS even if you have the job or future job, these
companies are TRASH.

LOok only for the gold. Where the CEO says, I understand.
been there myself. WHATEVER happens, whether you get a job
here or not, we continue the GREAT JOURNEY that is your
life. repeat WE. we even recommend you to our competitors.

5,) don't be AFRAID of taking food stamps. for even those
with a college degree... welcome to the USA.

6.)thank you for your open source.

7.)the standard in wall street, nyc, ny, USA is
250 dials. that is COLD CALLS. Sure, linkkd in and
networking works. Rule NUMBER 20. Always call on
weekends, 6am, etc. The secretary screens the calls when
she comes in a 8:30am. THE REAL WORKERS will pick up the
phone.

22.) obviously moving is difficult. been there done that.
there are many CAREER actors. GENIUSES, they NEVER got there
first break until moving to the large city, LA.

23.)plenty of folks are sleeping in their cars /trailers
in new york or the big city, which will really suck when
it snows.

how amusing. mostly big city, engineering, cellphone and
software but I STILL WANNA make big money and move to the
SMALL FARM COUNTRY WHERE YOU ARE.

ps. now go back and sell a small RIDICULOUS small amount
contract to your former employer. IF YOUR CODE IS A BAD
as you think it is. (FOR IT IS NOT) then there is a great
demand for your patching the codebase.

get together with unemployed lawyers and write numerous
weasel words into the contract. My favorite is
time dependent upon prior commitments to non-profits
EXPLAIN non-profits are not competitors) and your top
priority is the contract.

When the time comes at Saturday night when their
website and e-commerce engine crashes, YOU ARE CALLED.
Make sure that you are working on that non-profit work,
UNTIL THE COMPANY JUST HAPPENS TO DECIDE THAT additional
lucrative contracts are issued.

THEY WILL NOT CALL YOU UNTIL THE LAST RESORT.
Isn't that the case, fellow CEOs?

i cite as case history the cobol programmer MISH SHEDLOCK.
no endorsement and I am not selling you gold (literally).

CAREER: difficult code >> good job lasts only 6 years >>
this is COBOL >> capitalism boom/bust cycle >> layoffs
so only the best survive >> MANUFACTURING GOESE TO CHINA
>> bank IBM (you know the names) crash because the OLD
LEGACY CODE finally MEMORY LEAKS over ten years

>> PANIC and sudden need for FORMER EMPLOYEES.

freelance is great, but only in order to gather
INTELLIGENCE. Remeber, you will competing with the
so called OBAMACARE website, where the Javascript comments
are in Gujurat.

get together with your community college teachers, who are
from INDIA and ask them to translate the comment sections
in Gujurat, which is a POVERTY section of India.

LOL. you think your skillsets are low, wait till you get
to the world. Please BUY my second hand Yugo car (the
one that tends to go on fire.)

LOL