Seems a number of these questions pop up every few weeks, so maybe I can get some perspective.

I’m 37 and live in Europe. I fell out of society in my teens due to abuse and never managed to get a grip on the working world. After sporadic manual jobs in my late teens I had a breakdown, and I haven’t worked since.

I’ve taken courses over the years on various subjects, and even got part way through a degree from the OPen University. I read for hours a day, and have taught myself basic coding.

I’m thinking that finding work as a developer or any type of IT role after 17 years of not working will be....tough. I do have some hope remaining, or I wouldn’t be making this post.

In my situation what would you do? I have a small amount of money to live on each month, but it only covers the basics. I’ve had to summon the courage to post this, so please have some empathy when replying.