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Instead, youth is valued. 

Jo, have you taken a close and exacting look at what (say) developers have to know today in order to compete? It's an absolute blizzard of stuff, no matter what niche or specialty.

Example: I used to develop on Windows and Linux in C++, Delphi, VB, C. I recently took a look at the Android SDK.  I honestly didn't have any clue where to begin.

I've paid attention to a lot of small business informational articles, etc. One recurrent theme of hiring practices is to hire for enthusiasm, not necessarily raw ability, nor even experience.  You just run out of that (enthusiasm) as the years drag on.

I'm not saying that I agree with the Kleenex theory of discarding humans when their short term usefulness has expired.

What I am saying is that there's a reason for everything under the sun and sometimes unfair practices happen to align with the reality of the situation. 

Everyone 45+ in this field seems to expect - rather stupidly, in my opinion - that they should somehow be able to get approximately the same kind of job that they held, say, 10-15-20 years ago. That type of job just doesn't exist any more.

It hasn't been offshored, either. It is part of a tech ecosystem that's changed radically.

In today's environment, a systems company like Microsoft is now embracing Linux and open source libraries and tools as necessary, resulting in needing to learn 2x-5x the quantity of stuff in order to land a journeyman job.

I must be the smartest person on earth.

I tell people (other Paypal users, including freelancers who collect payment with Paypal) how I keep my risk down with Paypal.

They have no idea, they never thought about it, it's totally novel to them.

To me it's so obvious that it's just what you do. Paypal unreliable? Don't fucking connect it to an account with thousands of dollars in it, Sherlock!

You know one of the prerequisites for a smart paypal configuration is to actually *have* an account with thousands of dollars in it. Not $50.

You know status: 40% of the population cannot come up with $500 on demand. Or something like that.

That's smart, Gorn.  I don't have my bank account connected to Paypal either. I always thought that was too risky.  My bank is now offering an alternative called Zelle.  I haven't used it yet, but it looks like an alternative to Paypal.

I use Paypal now for getting payment for things I sell on ebay.

If they didn't have the card then I'm assuming they didn't have the number either. So I'm not sure how they could benefit from it even if you activated the account. Unless that was step one and the next step was to somehow steal your card / number?

What are we missing here? Without the card info, they don't have anything except they have a live card with their email address. Could they then "move" and finally request a replacement card for the one they "lost" in the move?

I can't figure this out either, unless they had the number in advance or planned to steal the card out of my mailbox.  I hate the fact that my mailbox is on the street and not on my house.  Anyone could ride by and take things out of it.

Typical 20 something.  Youth is completely wasted on the young.

I agree most with the comments like this one:

With all respect, you have been in this job a few months, you are in your early twenties, and talking about "glass ceiling" attributed to your minority status, comments about "playing the game",etc..I think you need to give any job more time and not be feeling like a victim, it is not positive or worthwhile for you. You are in the very tolerant and diverse SF area, and if you really don't think that your talents will be recognized then I guess you need to move on, but make sure it is the job environment and not your attitude. Many talented folks would love to have your opportunities and income in their early 20s.

This is also succinct and accurate.

Many (but not all) software dev jobs can feel like working on an assembly line. Daily standup meetings, never ending product cycles (sprints), and very tight deadlines. Make sure you know what you are getting into. You have to *really* love coding and/or the product to not get burned out. And then there's the age discrimination that other posters have mentioned. After 35, it's tough field to stay employed in.

Personally, I'd focus on things you like about your current situation and try to make it work for you. Honestly, it sounds like a sweet gig . Finding perfect fulfillment from a 9-5 Mega corp job (in any field or sector) is probably pretty rare these days. Focusing on hobbies and interests outside of work may be a good avenue. Perhaps some open source or personal coding projects?

My original opinion:

Anyone who says that they "really want to be a software engineer" and who also says that they "need" to go to a boot camp/coding camp... Especially if the person states "want to be passionate about coding" as part of their reasoning.

Is entirely self deluded, kidding themselves, and totally full of shit.

Why:  The one measure of being motivated enough to be a software engineer is whether you are capable of learning on your own and there are a multitude of ways today in which you can learn on your own and judge your own abilities - without spending a penny.

Guys like this who ask these questions like they're piercing the veil and asking about  a mystery only to be revealed once they shell out for a coding school - essentially haven't done due diligence on their own interest and ability level.

If this guy has never started a hobby project on his own, then he is clueless and he should stay put.

I must be the smartest person on earth.

I tell people (other Paypal users, including freelancers who collect payment with Paypal) how I keep my risk down with Paypal.

They have no idea, they never thought about it, it's totally novel to them.

To me it's so obvious that it's just what you do. Paypal unreliable? Don't fucking connect it to an account with thousands of dollars in it, Sherlock!