[ltbarcly3]

Writing software you can get a job straight out of college making 2x more than the median family income of the US. Within 5 years it is common to make 4-5x the median income. The same pattern emerges for system administrators and SRE's, but quite as steep of an income growth curve. The requirements for working in IT help desks is basically 'basic ability to install software and click the button to image hd's, and shows up to work'.

Companies are outright desperate for even entry level skills. If you can't even find work in this field, that is very atypical, and I think it is reasonable to assume that something is going on there. Maybe it's substance abuse, maybe it's a complete lack of skills, but it's something, because there are far more jobs than people to fill them.