Ask HN: How to go from zero to livable wage
I graduated from a state university in May of 2010, with a B.S. that isn't super great but it's not Liberal Arts either (Geography). I didn't take college very serious, so it took me five years to graduate, and I only graduated with a 2.1, meaning I leave my GPA off of my resume.
I only held one part-time job while I was in college, and it wasn't in my degree field, just a regular, minimum-wage job college students get for a little extra money.
When I graduated from college, I tried a series of alternative solutions to getting a job. A few weeks after graduating, I went on a two-month road trip of the entire contiguous US (during which I also spent my entire personal savings), hoping to advance a book deal when I got through. After I finished the road trip, I queried literary agents for a few months, I decided that it was more of a long-term project, and focused on other things. I applied to YC for W'11, and didn't get in. When January hit, I decided to quit trying to find job alternatives and start looking for a real job. I applied to all the entry-level positions I could find in my degree field, and to various tech (video game) companies for a community manager/social media strategist role, as I was pretty heavily involved in the video game blogging scene in college, and haven't gotten replies in any direction.
There aren't a ton of entry-level positions in my degree field, on the field's biggest job board there are probably only 3-4 entry-level positions posted a week.
When I applied for YC, I started to learn the basics of HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and Javascript, got interested in it, and I'd like to learn to be a front-end web dev, but I figure the amount of time it would take me to learn enough to be hirable would be at least 6 months, and I really need something more immediate. In hindsight, I really wished I had become interested in programming in college.
I'm not homeless or starving, I live with my family, which I'm thankful to have, but student loan payments started last month, and while I can pay them (it's not that much per month), that's absolutely all I can afford. My youngest brother is going to college in August, which means in August my family is up and moving somewhere else (they don't know where yet), and I'd rather be moved out by then.
Basically, I really don't know what to do at this point. I'm not lazy, I'm relatively smart, and I have plenty of motivation, I think just didn't take "the real world" seriously enough.
To clarify, I am not asking for handouts or sympathy. I know that I am 100% responsible for my low GPA, my decision to not look for a job until recently, and everything else in my life. I just thought that a query of the HN community could yield some ideas that I hadn't thought of. Thanks.