[mattbee]

Hey anon, I feel for you, and most of the answers here are giving you a 12-month plan when you need a 1-month plan.

If you know Linux well enough to configure Wordpress, how about tech support for a hosting company? Try making some short email approaches to old-school hosting companies (I used to run one). They might be flexible enough to take a chance depending on how confident your approach is.

They have lots of customers bashing away at Linux, making mistakes, often without the patience to see their own problems through. Their business problem is that these customers need hand-holding but only pay a fixed, monthly fee. (the hope is eventually they stop asking and keep paying for years).

The combination you can offer those companies could be basic Linux knowledge (no need for advanced cloud stuff) and whatever flexibility you can offer them - especially if they're not in your time zone.

The larger ones might be a tall order, all listing locations by default (Gandi, Leaseweb, GoDaddy, Hetzner etc.), but maybe someone here will have an inside track.

I agree with other posters - never mention difficult circumstances in a job application, particularly a cold application. Just talk about how keen you are to solve their difficult customers' problems, how well you work in a team, and keep the initial approach brief.

Good luck! And please update us if you can.

[whoknew1122]

This is the advice I received when I first got into tech. Look for managed hosting services that run off Linux. WordPress, Minecraft, or just about anything that people sell as a managed service that runs off Linux. Another place to look into is web registrars.

Once you get that first job, just soak up as much as you can. And keep studying on your offtime. Learning AWS is very valuable.

[brandall10]

To add to your last comment, there are relatively cheap courses to help get AWS certifications on places like Udemy.

[wyclif]

The best gambit is to get an entry-level job that will pay for your AWS certificates while you work. Always, always, take advantage of free training when it's offered.

[brandall10]

We’re talking like $20. Considering the situation the OP is currently in, I’d consider that money well spent to aid in getting that first job and assisting in leapfrogging to the much better one soon after.

[wyclif]

OK, sure. Granted, it's not expensive. But at least if a company is willing to support you in getting the AWS certificates, it means they're willing to help you grow as a developer.

[brandall10]

I get your point in a general sense, but if I were in the OPs shoes I would certainly not wait for or expect something like that. He's in crisis mode. He's looking for any job that will allow him to remain at home with his family. He will have to hustle to get that first job which likely won't have any interest in supporting growth like that. That's why I said "leapfrog to the next better job".

Back in the day instruction/certification for things like this would run in the thousands/be in person would be a non-starter in a situation like this. We're in a different world now where instruction like this has an infinitesimally small cost compared to the value it can bring.

The question is whether or not doing this now is the best use of his time, and I would argue yes, absolutely, the earlier the better. Just the education alone is powerful, but having an actual AWS Certified Developer cert will open doors.

[colllectorof]

Somewhat off-topic, but important.

Note how this path wouldn't be possible if all these hosting companies went out of business thanks to competition from big cloud providers. Then think about what this means for the future we (in IT) create for ourselves and for newly minted IT professionals.

I commonly see people on HN deny that there are any major shifts in overall system complexity happening right now. "Everything always seems complex if it wasn't created when you started in IT". Ok. If the complexity of newer tech stacks is an illusion, why don't you hire the OP to manage your containerized micro-services via Kubernetes? He's starting his career in IT right now, so he should have no preconceptions you allude to.