Waste Tire Grant Application. Waste Tire Market Development: Fill & Download for Free

There is lots of buisness opportunities in myanmar.. for locals as well as foreigners take a lookMyanmar being an emerging market where there has been economic isolation and under-investment for the last 50 years presents many opportunities in infrastructure related industries such as:1. TelecomMobile tower constructionNetwork planning and engineeringSubsea cable engineering, laying and installationOptical Fiber engineering, laying and installation to residential, commercial and industrial zonesInternet Service ProvidersPublic Wi-Fi rollout over large area e.g. airport, hotel, convention center, downtown, subway, etc2. Power GenerationConstruction of medium to large-scale hydro and gas-fired power plants in Public-Private-PartnershipsInvestments into the transmission system (e.g. high-voltage transmission lines between the North of Myanmar and Yangon)Realization of small-scale hydro-power projects e.g. to supply a village tractEstablishment of solar energy farms and wind power farmsProvision of efficient and practical solar-power kits to communities currently off-grid as well as of solar-power based solutions (e.g. solar-powered pumps, solar lighting)Upgrading of the current power infrastructure in urban centers and industrial zones3. Building & ConstructionUrban planning, building and managementSEZ planning, building and managementBuilding of transportation system such as airports, sea ports, rails, roads and bridgesEstablishment and retrofitting of industrial parks and supportive infrastructureBuilding of logistics infrastructureBuilding of affordable housing in Yangon, Mandalay and second-tier cities in all states and regions.Restoration of colonial heritage buildings in Downtown Yangon.4. Urban Solutions:Investments into systems for the improvement of public transport in urban agglomerationsEstablishment of parks, facilities for recreation and entertainmentProvision of private healthcare facilitiesEstablishment of private education institutions (e.g. private universities, business schools, certified vocational training)Smart traffic management and road safety solutionsUrban waste managementWater treatment facilities5. Hotel, TourismInvesting in tourist class hotelInvesting in tourism related transport service such as tour buses, limousine, etcInvesting in tourism related novelty programs such as hot air balloons, river cruises, amphibious vessels, etcDeveloping eco-tourism (e.g. development of eco-tourism oriented hotels and lodges along with respective activities such as trekking routes or tours)Building cultural and community-based tourism (e.g. development of shops for the sale of locally produced cultural artifacts)6. Manufacturing – Myanmar manufactured products have been granted preferential tariff under the GSP scheme for import into the United States, European Union, Canada, Japan, Korea and Australia respectively.labour-intensive industries in second-tier cities (e.g. Pathein, Bago, Hpa An) in areas such as production of garments and shoes or assembling of toys and stationary articlesagro-processing industries at the locations of agricultural produce in rural areas (see section on agriculture)Production of building materials strongly demanded by the national construction industry (e.g. cement, bricks, steel, glass, paints, doors, windows etc.)gemstone processing industries (e.g. jade, sapphires, rubies) to establish value-adding production such as design, cutting and polishing inside Myanmar. The sanction preventing the import of jade and precious stones into the United States has been removed on 7th Oct 2016 by President Obama.capital-intensive industries (e.g. automotive, land machinery) particularly at locations with good access to international and national markets (e.g. SEZs)wood-processing industry particularly based on hardwood and bamboo (e.g. furniture production)paper and cardboard industryhigh-tech industries (e.g. in Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw, Bago and Mandalay) based on local, regional and global demand and the opportunities through the proximity of international airportschemical industries (e.g. pharmaceutical and plastic articles) based on local and regional demandindustrial services, e.g. waste water management, recycling, training7. Agricultural & Farming IndustryDistribution of low-cost irrigation systems to rural communities (e.g. solar-powered, with instruction)Leasing of agricultural tools and machineryDistribution of high-quality seeds for higher yieldsEstablishment of the production of fertilizers, crop protection chemicals etc.Contract farming (i.e. direct sourcing from rural communities (based on partnership agreements)Introducing value-added production / processing based on local agricultural produce (e.g. production of Mango Puree, Dry Fruits, Potato Chips, etc from local produce).Establish packaging / canning industry for agricultural produceEstablishment of research and training institutions or demonstration farms on integrated agriculture, crop sequencing, fertilizer use, organic agriculture and agriculture-related business skill developmentConstruction of warehouses and cold storagesMicrofinance, micro-insurance and trade finance services for farmers8. Aquaculture and FisheriesCapture and aquaculture of different types of fishCapture and aquaculture of shrimp and prawnFish food productionFish and seafood processing facilitiesCooling, canning and packaging facilitiesEstablishment of education and research institutions to broaden knowledge as well as the base of human resources available to the fisheries sector9. Mining – Myanmar is rich in the following minerals: Alum, Amber, Antimony, Barite, Bauxite, Beryl, Bismuth, Cadmium, Chromite, Columbite, Copper, Corundum, Gemstones, Gold, Graphite, Gypsum, Iridium, Iron ores, Manganese, Mica, Molybdenum, Natural gas, Nickel, Ochre Oil, Oil, shale, Phosphates, Silver, Soda, Steatite, Sulphates, Sulphides, Sulphur, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Cinnebar, Coal, Cobalt, Jadeite, Kaolin, Lead, Platinum, salt, Saltpetre, ZincExploration and feasibility studies for projects in mining as well as oil and gasMedium to Large-scale operation of mines and wellsOffshore and onshore opportunities for the exploration and extraction of oil and gasEstablishment of petroleum-based industrial, processing and supportive facilities (e.g. refineries, fertilizers, LPG, LNG)Value-added production based on natural resourcesSupporting industries, such as machinery, maintenance, consulting servicesEstablishment of education and research institutions to broaden knowledge as well as the base of human resources available to this sector10. Forestry-based Industry – Myanmar is rich in the following tree species: Teak, Pyinkado, Padauk, Pine and others. However there is a ban on the export of raw timber that was imposed on 1st April 2014 i.e. Myanmar only allow export of processed timber and not raw timber log.Establishment of wood-processing industry (e.g. furniture production)Expansion of bamboo forests and bamboo-based production (i.e. handicrafts)Rubber-based industries (e.g. tire production in Mon and Karen State)Teak and hardwood plantationsSandalwood-processing industriesCommunity-based forestry11. Services – due to a massive brain drain Myanmar is short in all kinds of skills, technical and managerial people in all industries.Building consultancy – earthquake proof structure, mechanical and electrical engineering, civil and structural engineering, building information modelling, etc.Design consultancy – urban design and master planning consultancy, architectural design, building interior design, retail design, etc.Environmental and social impact consultancy in the area of Oil & Gas, Mining, large scale development projects such as SEZs, airports, seaports, etc.Seismic data acquisition consultancy for the Oil & Gas and Mining industries.Educational and training consultancy for key industries such as Oil & Gas, Mining, Power Generation, Construction, Banking, Hotel & Retail, etc.Agricultural and livestock management and production consultancy and training.Hospital and healthcare planning and management consultancy and training.Banking software applications for Retail, Private, Universal, Wholesale & Lending business functionsE-Government software applications that automate managing of appointment, application for permit or licence, queuing system for government department that interact with citizens, procurement system, etc.Information system required to manage airport operations, port operations and custom/immigration entry and exit pointsReal estate marketing consultancy for high end property.Retail brand franchise opportunity e.g. fast food and restaurant concepts12. Foreigners traditionally cannot be involved in trading i.e. you will not be able to apply for an import or export licence. However recently the Myanmar government pass a notification allowing foreigners to operate trading business in a JV with a Myanmar citizen in the following areas:Construction materials – permitted since 7 July 2016Fertilizers – permitted since 11 Nov 2015Pesticides – permitted since 11 Nov 2015Seeds – permitted since 11 Nov 2015Hospital equipment – permitted since 11 Nov 201513. Foreigners can now invest legally in the following business activities without the need to have a Myanmar citizen as a JV partner i.e. a foreigner can own 100% pf the following economic activitiesProduction and distribution of hybrid seedsProduction and propagation of high yield seeds and local seedsManufacturing of rubber and rubber productsEcotourism14. What can foreigners legally do now in Myanmar without having to look for a Myanmar citizen as JV partners i.e. where you can own the business 100% as a foreigner.Engineering consultancy servicesDesign consultancy servicesConsultancy services in agriculture, fisheries and live stocksBusiness advisory, marketing research and advertising servicesSoftware development servicesOperating a restaurant or cafeOperating a hotel that is ≥ 3 starsOperating a wellness spa

For me, quitting medical school for software engineering has been like having a second shot at life to go do something else and live the way I wanted to live (going to medical school wasn't my true passion or calling in life). In medicine I was unhappy, stressed, full of nightmares, and constantly sleep-deprived. I am happy most days now, and I enjoy my career. I get to have my weekends and evenings to do whatever I want to do, and I get to spend my time the way I want to without guilt. I picked up new hobbies and things I wanted to do/learn for fun, and no longer does every hobby/activity have to be useful like when I was in medicine. I don't feel bad about going into medical school, and I don't feel bad about leaving.I walked out of medical school in my 3rd year, so in a lot of debt but not a crushingly impossible amount of debt. It is very scary to realize you want to actually, actually quit. Kinda the sick in the stomach unknown of a roller-coaster that falls into darkness and you don't know what is on the other side. I was in ~$75,000 USD of debt. It took 2.5 years from the date I left med school to pay it all off. I spent a lot of time doing side gigs like Google Ad ratings and minimizing money spent day to day (for side gig ideas, I wrote a blog on this, go here: Side Gigs while Transitioning Careers (or in general)), but a lot less than I sacrificed every day in med school and it has been absolutely worth it.. and by sacrifice I mean that after a year of scrimping on money, I could eat out, enjoy my own nice apartment in a good area, and by myself the video games I really wanted to get while paying it off.I was worried about "throwing away a good career", "not succeeding", "taking a huge risk", "throwing away years of work".. and so on. Then, I kept thinking more logically than emotionally about what I wanted out of life and how to get there. Then.. I didn't worry or care about "how much work I put into it" or "how much I invested" because that is the type of thinking that would have caused me regret. I do things and work hard at everything because I want to..so that investment is in myself and my skills, not necessarily in a certain path. I can have confidence in myself to change everything and be able to pick up again and work hard and do well as long as I choose to enjoy it.Another point— say you feel as if you “wasted” 6–10 years and can’t get that out of your head. If you feel they are wasted. Now imagine wasting a lifetime. Now, you tell me which one is a smaller portion of your life and insignificant when compared to many, many years of happiness (psst 6–10 years is much, much smaller than your entire life if you are unhappy!). I honestly have zero guilt about leaving.There is a huge adjustment period after you leave. It will suck, horribly for a little while. And you will have to work, extremely, extremely hard to get yourself into your new career of choice.1. A lot of debt.2. No relevant experience in new job. Getting and keeping a new job.3. Moving / not knowing people to where you move.4. Career environment shock. Corporate / business / anything else is VERY different from the medical community.I chose to leave medical school to be a software engineer, with no education or background in the field. I have a degree in Chemistry (not related). I chose software because I am a very strong logical/math/problem solver an a poor memorizer. I was very unhappy with the environment of medicine and the day to day life (it was very exciting for some but wasn't the right path for me and it was hard to look forward to much for me). I had a lot of friends for and against me leaving for their own reasons.I have the most amazing older brother who is in the field. He showed me a lot of things to introduce coding to me and so I could see if I enjoyed it. They seemed like puzzles and a weird language at first. The high level concepts of it made sense, but actually DOING something seemed very difficult. I didn't know what C# or a database was before starting. I did however know some front end web design. I did have an also amazing supportive family who helped me with living and with coping. They didn't press me one way or the other and let me make my own decisions.Challenge 1: Deciding to leave -- It took me a good number of weeks to decide if I was actually going to leave. I had toyed with the idea for years. I had almost swapped out of premed more times than I could count. It came to the point of where I would be in a detrimental amount of crushing debt if I didn't choose, and I was getting more and more unhappy every day. It didn't feel like that was the way to live. I figured if I was smart enough and worked hard enough I could get out with some bumps along the way and it wouldn't be an easy thing. I had to build a lot of self confidence, I had to work through a lot of failures, and I always looked forward and keep trying until something worked.Challenge 2: Getting a job-- Trying to convince someone that you have no experience but you are able to do a job is very difficult. For software I put up a personal blog with software tips, a GitHub account, LinkedIn, and I made a StackOverflow account. I uploaded code to the GitHub and posted to the blog religiously. I still try to, when I can. No matter how simple, it means you care about learning and want to do this and will work hard. I was enthusiastic and motivated. I did have a strong background of high grades in a difficult degree and I have stuck with previous (but, unrelated) jobs for a long time.Challenge 3: Surviving the first two weeks-- Being dropped in the middle of software, er wow. I got hit with jQuery, AJAX, MongoDB, SQL, SSAS, LINQ, C#, MVC.. all at once. Those are big topics each. They can take years and years to master one of them.. getting proficient at all of them without a background was rough. I was mixing topics left and right, new terms were confusing, and getting thinks working was a challenge. I had a very very caring mentoring boss who was patient with me and worked with me until I understood.Interesting environmental factors: In medicine.. you tend to do things traditionally and the long way sometimes because of process. In software you cut and paste and don't reinvent the wheel needlessly and that's encouraged. Weirdly, that was a rough one. You memorize everything in medicine. You can Google whatever you want, something simple you use all the time but forget and no shame. Also at home, I got used to working non-stop around the clock. I actually get antsy not working all the time or started to feel bad when I had time off to enjoy (thus not enjoying said free time). Being able to enjoy time has been an adjustment without feeling bad about not doing something productive every second. As far as the debt, I started to feel bad for not working every possible second and adjusting from having a couple side jobs to just one main job was also unsettling. Corporate/business world also is different from medicine. In medicine, regardless of rules and laws and policies you do the best for someone because you care about their mental and physical well being. In corporate/business it's not acceptable to act the same way and that has been difficult for me because in my foundation the person always feels like it should come first but business is different.Medical school schedule:6AM: wake up, review for test/exam or go to morning rounds8AM-6PM: lectures/clinicals (assuming no one asks you to stay after, which does happen a lot) where you have to be at 110% attention at all times, participate, and appear very very interested in every word said from everyone. Get criticized on paper later on for looking too sleepy or not very very interested or forgetting something off page 4564 figure 51-8.6-7PM: Take flashcards to grocery store to get food. Feel horrible about losing the hour to have to get food.7-7:30PM: Take flashcards to gym. Feel horrible about losing the half hour to have to stay in shape.7-30-12:30AM: Study A LOT. Powerpoints, books, you name it.12:30AM-1:30AM: Study Anki flashcards on phone app until phone drops on face.Current life schedule:830AM: Wake up, make breakfast, have coffee9AM-12PM: Go to work. Check list written from yesterday on what to do. Work on TFS bugs, add things to website. Listen to music at work and have snacks littered on desk.12-1PM: Go have lunch with friends, or eat at desk, or go for a walk, or go to the gym, or go to the mall..1PM-6PM: Continue morning work. Write self a list at end of day so self doesn't forget what self was working on the previous day..6PM-7PM: Lounge around, cook, surf internet..7PM-1:30PM: See friends, go to gym, work on project, learn a language, go learn something else for fun, do side work for $, code something, play games and lots of them..Challenge 4: Keeping the job-- I studied every single night and weekend for months actually, to not get fired. I didn't know much and it was a lot of new things. I also was very tired because I was working 1-2 side remote jobs on the side to pay off student loans. I am proud to say, I paid off over 60% of those loans within 1 year of leaving medical school by working hard with those side jobs. It took me about 2 months before there was a "click".. and things started falling together all of a sudden. It felt so amazing. It probably feels like flying would. The other slightly difficult thing: it takes 3-6ish months to feel more at home in a city or job..it does take some time to meet and interact with people. It took me 7 months, when I moved jobs, until I met good people and I found friends close to my age where I could play games / tennis / go to events with them. I honestly was so busy before trying to keep my life together, that though I noticed I was lonely, the bigger goal was to pay off debt and get my career together.Challenge 5: Moving up-- I studied very hard to gain new information to move up and to be able to interview and land a job at other companies. I would study a month ahead to learn as much as I could and I would make little side coding projects to get better. I felt so so terrible when I gave my notice to move to a larger financial company. It was very hard to move on and I learned so much from my first job. Unfortunately, a lot of debt acquires a lot of interest so it wasn't really a choice. If I had less debt I would have liked to stay longer but I was somewhat financially forced to pay off loans quickly to avoid keeping them for the next 20 years.My job history / current job: I started at a very small company with about 20 people (and 4 devs) working on employee benefits as my entry level job. I didn’t know anyone there, I didn’t get a recommendation, I found the job on Monster or some other job posting site. It was fun, lots of new technologies and agile little environment. After 8 months..I went to a financial firm (Raymond James, not the Stadium for you football fans) that does stock trading and whatnot, learned all about finance. It was a small internal department in a big company, I met great friends and learned more. But the technology was a little older (Web Forms) and I wanted to keep up newer tech.. so, another 7 or so months later I moved. I found the job posting just knowing the company was in the area.. and I just kinda threw an application in randomly one night and crazy enough they called me.I went to Bloomin’ Brands (best known for owning Outback, Carrabba’s, and Bonefish Grill). I worked on the main websites.. so Outback Steakhouse etc and some internal sites too. I found a job posting for this one on Glassdoor, then I went to their main site, and then just applied online cold call style again.Another year later, I worked as a Consultant a company doing a project for Deloitte (Big 4 auditing firm). I had a referral to this company.Microsoft as a Premier Consultant with a traveling job to help out clients with Microsoft products. Since my job is mainly travel, I am remote and can live anywhere in the US. I also had a referral here.Microsoft as a FastTrack engineer - remote non-travel job to assist customers moving solutions to Azure and work on C# development projects.To sum up.. my first 3 jobs I just said what the hey.. threw in a very well written cover letter and dropped an application onto the site and hoped for the best. The final two I had been in the field and had some recommendations from very kind people who have been a friend and a mentor, and I appreciate it so much. Referrals will significantly help you get an interview and a positive first impression, they don’t really help with you landing the job because the tech screens are usually intensive. I took between a 20–35% salary raise each time I moved jobs. I always ask for about 10–15k more than I actually want— so when they think they’re ‘letting me down’.. I am actually getting what I wanted out of it.After you pass all those challenges.. it is the normal life. You get a nice place, you get some things you like (the fact that I can buy myself Chipotle for lunch and go to a broadway show and get myself a Nintendo game makes me really, really happy.. I don't need a lot!), you make friends, and you make yourself new goals and challenges. I am much more grateful for it now than if I had always had this.What has helped me in my background from medicine: I can interview very well. I learned a lot about presentation and how other people perceive you. I can get along with ANYONE (boy have I met every personality). As someone in the medical field, I was able to relate and gain the trust of almost anyone from any culture/age/background and this is a very useful survival skill. Nothing scares me. Extremely strong communication skills. Criticism is taken well and I adapt to new situations. Nothing is ever too much work, it's certainly less than I had to do in medicine. Having a weird background like that makes you very memorable in a pile of resumes. Not to mention the life experiences and people you meet can teach you so much and there is a world of knowledge in those experiences.I chose to take the good out of that time and the skills I learned in medicine and put it to use in my current life. I chose to use my bad memory to forget all the bad stuff and put it behind me.. it's like some distant dream I had about someone else day to day.. if I even think about it at all. YOU get to choose all of these things :). I don't have any regrets or feel bad about going. Doing so wouldn't help me any, so no reason to waste bad energy on it.. always try and re-route feelings of anger/sadness into productive things that are good for you (like going to the gym, learning something new, meeting someone new, building a skill).. it is hard to feel badly when you just did something good for yourself or someone else! The little things count that you do and think during the day. The minutes make your hours, the hours the days, the days the years... and so on, so really all the seconds are your life and you spend them learning, growing, failing, recovering from failure, becoming stronger, and so on..Plus side, for me I was so unhappy in medicine that the worst day at my job is a LOT better than the average day in something I didn't like. Sure, the debt sucked a bit but hey-- let me pose this question to you: If you could trade 3 years of your life and a little under 100k.. to be happy the rest of your life and well equipped with life skills (working with people, strong detail orientation, passion to do well, hard work, crazy good time management skills and organization).. would you make that trade? I did, unintentionally. Before medicine.. I was horrible at interviewing, working with lots of people productively, breaking down ideas effectively, and taking criticism. Now those are all skills I have learned. The trade-- it was a good deal. I figure these are skills I would have spent a lifetime to seek and could not buy with money if I tried.Ask yourself some theoretical questions to see if you really want to stay or leave:Consider the scenario of leaving med school and what it would be like for you "7 days", "7 weeks", "7 months", "7 years", after making a decision. Now consider if you stay in med school those same scenarios. Compare them. Think about it really hard, and picture yourself at each of those points and how that decision affected all aspects of your potential life. I believe looking at this decision in this way was helpful to me. Honestly, a week after leaving I felt pretty rough and panicked and like I didn't know a thing about programming, almost like sitting on the bottom and looking at a tall mountain. 7 weeks later I was about 3 weeks into my first job, staying busy learning. 7 months later I was in my second job, with some panic at having left what had become a somewhat comfortable environment (at least I was used to my first job), but feeling good I could get another better job. I assume in 7 years I'll be making more per hour than I would have as a doctor, my personal life and day to day enjoyment will be great, and that I will look back and be glad I took a risk and did my best both in medicine, and to get out, and to become someone new in a different career.. but I will let you know then ;)Let's say you were doing well, got 100% on everything in med school ever. Would you still want to leave at all?If yes --> Ok, you should probably get the hell out of med school.If no --> Are you only happy because you like to succeed at things (like any other normal person!)? If you are only happy because you want to succeed and not for medicine.. you should again probably get the hell out and go succeed somewhere you really want to be.Your success in something you want to do will always be more than the success of being called a doctor or other pride that other people attribute to the field. Family will be sad, mine were but they loved me and told me to do with my life what I thought would make me happy.My previous years don't particularly bother me and I don't think about it unless I am reminded of it, though when I do it can be stressful just because of all the change that has happened in a short period of time. The bad thing is that during in my time in medicine, I lost all of my hobbies and the enjoyment of a lot of things that used to be fun.. but I am slowly regaining new ones. It takes time. I feel as if I have melded into a completely new life successfully. I have enough to do what I want to. I have enough ahead I want to work hard. I am always motivated to learn new things or do things I enjoy. I have enough challenge I will never get bored. The tech world has new things to learn everyday, and all of it is so incredibly cool to me.I love my current life, the good and the stress. It's not a fairy tale, but it's pretty darn good honestly and I am always making strides to work towards being happier everyday. I have been very lucky to be able to go into a brand new field successfully and am thankful for everyday.So.. think about what you want for yourself when you are 10-20 years older. Which decision will make you happier?Another thought— Don’t make excuses for yourself if you really want to do something. You can tell yourself all day long that my case worked out because I am younger than you, because I had a brother in the field, or had less debt that you. Guess what. There are oodles of people younger than me, with lots of connections, lots of money, and no debt.. and some are ahead of me and some are behind. It doesn’t matter where they are. I don’t care. I care about myself, where I am now, and where I want to be later. And, so I got myself there regardless of what age or amount of debt.. and I would have no matter what it was or what it took. That is all you should concern yourself with: where you want to be.. and go get there. The reason I post this is to help give you another perspective, a positive story, someone to talk to, and hopefully a guide through a tough time.For very specific steps about how I landed jobs, see here (I tried to detail out as many resources as possible from how to setup a GitHub / Blog and seek out job positions and how to actually study):Crystal Tenn's answer to How do self-taught developers get jobs? I'm 17 & I've been coding since I was 14. I feel like I lack a lot of the skills I need to market myself. I will go to college, but it's frustrating to feel like I’m unemployable if I don’t.Even more specific, I get asked a lot about step by step how to go into software. This is a VERY exact step by step guide to be a C# web developer with a lot of free resources: What do I do, how do I start? Guide to being a C# web developer.—5 years later update (3/2020) and FAQs I’ve been asked:Do you have any regret now that it is years later?No, I still am glad I left medicine and only wish I had left sooner. As far as software goes, still so, so happy I am here. I make a great salary, have work life balance, picked up hobbies in rock climbing and singing, I eat good food, sleep enough every night, take care of myself, and really can’t complain. When I am coding, I am happy and I get to solve puzzles and it doesn’t get old and the people in software are real genuine :)On regret about staying in medicine too long? I do not take for granted my time there and still feel I learned a lot about myself and people and value those experiences. Life is a journey of trials and errors, and it’s best to embrace doing your best with what you know and trying out things that could be wrong, so that you know for sure they are wrong, then adjusting once you have learned more.How do you handle your medical school time on a resume/cover letter?I always did a cover letter for my initial jobs and I always said up front that I was in medical school, why I went in, why I left, and why I wanted to be a dev. From the perspective of an interviewer, they will want to know this and they don’t have time to go asking you about it if it isn’t provided upfront. Be proud you went to med school and that you got in, and use leaving med school as a strength that you made a strong decision to choose another field and proof that you really want a different life.I am not hearing back from jobs.#1 WRITE A COVER LETTER explaining who you are, why you’re interested in that company, why you went to med school, why you left, what you did to be a good candidate for this job.#2 Your resume might not be well made / very good.. pay for someone to take a professional look at it and help you or get someone who is very experienced in that field to look at it if possible.If your resume and cover letter are solid + you took time to make a portfolio and learn relevant experience, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get a phone interview at least.. so look hard into those two pieces of paper and make sure they are done well.Do you know anyone else who has done the same as you and succeeded?Yes! I know lots of people now that it has been many years later. I have either personally talked to or helped out many of them and definitely think its doable and you can do it too if you commit and really want to do this. Just promise yourself to never look back or have regrets if you take this path.Have you heard of / did you see a lot of bullying, harassment, and elitism in medicine?Yes, sadly I have both personally seen a lot of this, experienced it, and talked to a lot of people who have. You aren’t alone if you have experienced this as well. But, on the good side, outside of medicine.. most people are very genuine and what you see is what you get and people like to help each other and miss each other, and are much less competitive/elitist.Do you miss not having a career that helps people?Not really, for me personally, answers will vary by person though. Some folk feel the need to help others on a daily basis, and that was never me. I would certainly love to help people as they come along, and it’s always a good things, but I don’t feel the need to do this with my job and I don’t mind that my job is based around ‘building cool apps, solving puzzles, and making money’. If you feel you need to be helping people, the world, etc. every day with your job, perhaps software is not for you unless you can make that work and find a very good non-profit company.Why didn’t you do software related to medicine? Would you now?I didn’t like medicine and was a tad bitter about it upon leaving, so I intentionally looked for jobs that were unrelated to medicine. I wanted a new second life doing something else that wouldn’t remind me of medicine. Now that it has been years later, I wouldn’t mind, and I do love the good that medicine can do and no longer feel bitter.What are side gigs you can recommend for money while I transition careersI wrote an article on that here: Side Gigs while Transitioning Careers (or in general)What if I am interested in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or Game dev instead?These are harder areas to land a job in and you can do research and try to find mentorships from folk who work in these areas. I might recommend you go for a more marketable job that is ‘less fun’ like web/mobile dev in order to get into programming, then you can transition into those areas.What is the best way to find a mentor? I don’t know anyone in software.Go to “meetup.com” and look for any coding, programming, Java, C#, .NET, Python, Azure, AWS, any Meetups with keywords like that. Go learn from presentations, hangout with the people there, tell them your story, and hopefully you will find a friend who can guide you who is local. Locals will know the most about companies that take on junior devs and how to learn and they may be willing to mentor you.Am I too old to go into software?You are never too old to go into software. There may be some bias in Silicon Valley type places for age, but minus that, for the other thousands of cities, you should be just fine getting a well paying comfortable job.I feel too old to switch/like I wasted my life.You need to try not to compare yourself to others and build up your sense of self-worth and self-esteem. Medicine tears a lot of people down and pits them against each other, but what matters is that you find happiness and purpose in your life at some point.. it doesn’t matter when you find it, but that you find it. You will come out so far ahead no matter what as long as you find happiness in your life, regardless of salary/status/success. You will go so much further in a race and be happier running for yourself and not turning your head to see how everyone else is doing, that’s life, live it for you.My parents don’t support my decision.I am sorry to hear that, but when it comes down to it, you can’t live your life for what your parents want you to do.. It’s sad if they don’t agree, disown you, or aren’t proud of you.. but ultimately it is sadder if you live an entire life for them and never yourself. You have to make your own decisions and do what makes you happiest. Most parents do want their children to be happy and over time may come around. Some still won’t but that is on their side to choose not to support you, and you did the right thing for your life still. If you can’t get past how you feel about your parents, it might not be bad to find self-help books in this area or consider therapy for learning how to stop feeling controlled by what they want.Do I need a degree for a dev job?Nope, very few companies select for a degree. A degree can help you, like any other line on your resume, but there are a lot of really great developers with no degree. I cannot tell the difference of a developer with and without a degree working with them, they are equally good and most (not all), but most companies recognize this. Some companies do care, just avoid them, they are in the minority. Ignore what is required on the job posting, just see if they will interview you.I’m applying to LinkedIn, Microsoft, Apple and Google and not hearing back, why?Don’t go applying for large companies for your first dev job with zero experience, most likely it’s not happening. Go apply to very small local places no one has heard of. These junior jobs are for college grads, not for folk from another field with no experience. You can go to those companies later as a senior, and not likely as a new person unless you’ve got one heck of a networking connection… and that might not even help.I am applying to small companies and not hearing back, why?Did you make a very well written cover letter with why you like the company, who you are, why you matter to them, and what you have done to be a good dev? If no, go do that. Take a real hard look at your resume, pay someone to review if needed. Most people who think they have a great resume, don’t. Most people who tell me they can’t land a job, I look at their resume, and it all becomes clear real quickly. Did you make a GitHub? Do you have legit coding projects you did with documentation (on the README.md) and unit tests? If not, do it. Do you have a website with coding and tech blog articles? Go do that too. How will you prove you are a good developer with code and cover letters and a website and no experience?All the jobs say I need a comp sci degree and 2 years of experience for a junior. I can’t find anything to apply to.Job requirements are a list of things a company wants in an “ideal candidate”, not what they actually plan to get. It’s a wishlist. Just apply to it, try to get an interview. My first 3 jobs I didn’t meet the requirements, at all, not even close, and I still got the job. Don’t take the requirements so seriously and let that stop you from trying.I am interested in another field unrelated to IT, what do I do?Do a lot of research into that area, volunteer/intern at local places and join local meetups or events and meet folks in that area. See if they can help you get started with work or finding what job you want to do in your area of interest. Try your best to find a mentor in that field whether its a local one or online. Reach out to people and ask for help and don’t be afraid to do that, the worst someone can do is say no or not reply.. the best is they could help you.I have no idea what field I am interested in or what else I could go into.Think about what you were passionate about as a young kid, what you’re good at, what meets your lifestyle/salary needs, and do a lot of online research to find potential careers that fit all of those categories. Then find people in the field who are willing to talk to you about it and maybe help you get started in those fields.If you could give one piece of advice to me and people like me who left medicine, what would it be?Work on your self-esteem, be confident, be proud of who you are and that you left and the choices you make and others will see that too and want to hire you + believe in you and see you succeed. Work on your mental health if you have depression or feel burned out. You will hold yourself back so much with no self-confidence, take time for yourself to build it back up. Journal, watch youTube videos about self-esteem/self-help, find books, anything you can do to get your mental health in the best possible state so you can make logical reasonable choices. Never make decisions out of fear or emotions or you may end up in another decision you are unhappy with, try to make decisions that are logical and will set you up for a better future. Also don’t overthink decisions either.. try to make your best prediction, go for it, and make changes to your path as needed along the way. It is okay to leap into another field, learn more about yourself, and change again as you learn. Sometimes you need to take action and make change in order to learn more about who you are or develop who you are as a person. Life is a journey =) Best of luck to you in it and hope my advice can help you!

Despite the boom in the US economy and financial assets over the past 50 years, (which boosted the wealth and incomes of the wealthiest Americans like never before) average Americans are actually worse off than they were decades ago. That's not Capitalism... that's Corporatism.Even though there has been an enormous amount of wealth created by our economy, life for the average American has not improved one bit. The average worker has gotten poorer. They've been going to work, year after year, but instead of earning more over time, they've actually been earning less, in terms of what their wages can buy.That's not because of a bad economy. Our economy has boomed through enormous increases of productivity... technologies like personal computers, cell phones, the internet, RFID tags (for inventory control), gene sequencing, GPS, and fantastic increases to fuel efficiency. You can see these gains in your everyday life.However, everything you need to live and prosper (from food to housing, healthcare to cars and education) have gotten far, far more expensive. That is the exact opposite of what should be happening in a Capitalist system.When money is sound and reliable, it does not lose its value over time. In fact, quite the opposite... it buys more and more, because of increases in productivity and efficiency. When "money" can simply be printed out of thin air, it doesn't transmit gains in productivity as real, sound money should.*********************************************The pure paper era did not begin until 1971, the US abandoned the gold standard completely and turned wholly to a fractional reserve system. From that point on, we can easily see the debt created under a fiat currency... injecting more and more and more in a futile effort to perpetuate itself.The debt shall never decrease. The debt is unsustainable. It was never otherwise! Under a private central bank issuing all currency as loans at immediate interest, the debt is always going to exceed the available currency supply. The debt can never be paid off, and every action that the central bank does to increase the currency supply increases debt at a faster pace. The final collapse and crash is inevitable and is inherent in the very nature of private central banking. It is impossible to design a banking system that enriches the central banks that does not have a collapse as the resulting inevitable outcome.But the central banks pretend that the system is sustainable to swindle the gullible and unwitting public into using that system designed to shift the real wealth into the hands of the private central banks for only the cost of the ink and paper in the notes.When money is loaned into existence, debt shall always be greater than the currency supply. The only way to pay that debt is to create more currency, which only creates more debt. That's why it fluctuates and crashing is inevitable.Since 1973, net productivity rose 74%, while the hourly wages stagnated, increasing only 12% in 45 years. We have seen a glut of productivity and technological advancements which should translate to prosperity. Instead, we see more and more debt and poverty. Even though Americans are working more productively than ever, they are living from paycheck to paycheck with no savings.Growth without prosperity is not progress. Families must have two or more incomes to simply be solvent. The problem is not an insufficient supply of money. We have plenty of money, but it's all made worthless by the very people who create it. Today, there is more debt, more homelessness, more poverty with a whole ton of money coming out their ears. Thats not progress. That's not Capitalism.*********************************************There are more US Dollars in circulation worldwide than any other currency.... more than all other currencies combined. Two-thirds of the rest of the world's foreign reserves are denominated in US Dollars.Furthermore, two-thirds of all US Dollars circulate outside of the US. They have long been the choice of exchange on the world's black markets. The reason is because they are so recognizable and accepted everywhere else. That's why many nations peg their currency to the US Dollar. It is still the world reserve currency.The unredeemable US Dollar remains the popular world reserve currency purely as a matter of convenience but nothing requires or guarantees that it shall remain that way. The world is becoming so saturated with US Dollars that it holds less and less value and therefore less demand for it... and there are major countries now looking for alternatives. As such, it is only a matter of time before the US Dollar fails completely.Countries have not sought a standard-based system simply because the US Dollar is not on a standard... except Libya. It was no secret that Libya was talking about using the gold dinar, proposed in 2009, to replace American dollars for use in oil transactions. A surprise, murderous invasion quickly followed.Governments are eager to destroy standard-backed currencies because they are committed to the fallacies that credit expansion is a means of lowering the rate of interest and of "improving" the balance of trade. Fear of a standard-base is created by the superstition that omnipotent Governments can create wealth out of mere paper and ink.Intrusive Governments consider a standard-based system to be the most serious obstacle to their endeavors to manipulate prices and wage rates. But the most fanatical attacks against a standard-base are made by those intent upon credit expansion. To them, credit expansion is the cure-all for all economic woes.The banks and Government benefit the most by having the ability to create currency and control interest rates. With first access to new currency.... those nearest to the source of creation are affected the least by inflation, while those on the other end lose the most purchasing power because by the time they get it, market prices have already been adjusted to account for the new currency in circulation. Wages are always the last thing to be adjusted. The only reason people need gobs and gobs and gobs of money is because today's fiat currencies hold no store of value and is constantly losing its purchasing power. That's not Capitalism.Capitalism does not create money out of thin air, which diminishes the value of it: but rather Capitalism increases the value of money through greater and more efficient production. Under Capitalism, money is not wealth... production is wealth and it benefits everyone.*********************************************Society does not borrow from the Federal Reserve... Government does. Government borrows without the citizens' consent, then makes the citizens pay for it. Citizens have scant say in the matter. It allows Governments to do whatever they want without going through citizens willingness to pay for it.100% of all personal income taxes extorted by the IRS goes to the Federal Reserve Banking System and does not fund a single function of Government. The Government does collect other revenues such as corporate taxes, social security taxes, constitutional revenues such as excise taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, tires, etc., tariffs on trade, military hardware sales, and some minor categories to pay for its functions.Suppose that those revenues will total $900 billion dollars. The politicians want $1.7 trillion to spend on their favorite welfare programs, wars and foreign welfare, but have a short fall of $800 billion dollars. They simply call up the Feds and borrow your children's and grandchildren's futures, even the not-yet-born (Talk about taxation without representation!!).The Federal Reserve doesn't loan anything of value to Congress. When that $800 billion dollars worth of ink is transferred to the Treasury, it gets piled on top of the existing "national debt." Congress overspends, then borrows from the Fed, and then turns around and tells you to pay for all these overdrafts of fiat credit.Fiat "money" is not based on any store of actual value, it is based on the mere promise of future human labor. Politicians have no qualms of borrowing "money" with the promise to repay it with YOUR human labor. Yes, in these united States under a fiat system, you ARE a slave. To a politician, your time and labor is public property for their use. That is not Capitalism.*********************************************Corporatism is the machine; Consumerism is the fuel.The Story of StuffIt's not just a matter of a small number of people who have done well; it's a matter of HOW they have done it.Corporations deliberately design products to have shorter lifespans, which forces you to buy anew more often. Our education system no longer teaches basic life skills of repair and maintenance. The result? We simply throw things away and become dependent upon corporations. That's not Capitalism... that's Consumerism.Consumerism is based on spending velocity. It pushes the consumer to buy things they don't need because the fiat currency loses its value if not spent fast enough or broad enough, causing theft of such value through inflation. It focuses on endless artificial consumption resulting in debt-slavery. When the spending value of currency changes on a monthly basis, it serves no benefit to save. Its spending value shall be worth less than when you first put it away for savings, so it behooves you to spend it right now. Fiat money should have an expiration date printed on it... "Best spent before Tuesday".Consumerism creates poverty forcing debt-slaves to live from paycheck to paycheck with no assets, savings or property. Production is reserved for corporations through Government regulations. Under such regulations (taxes, permits, tariffs, etc.), the debt-slave is not allowed to produce for themselves, but only to consume. Stewardship and thrift are not virtues in a Consumerist system; in fact, they are severe impediments to it.Under Consumerism, you are just a slave and the Corporations/Governments run the show. Corporations are a product of the State. They are created by the Government and given privileges that individuals do not have. A Corporation is a legal privilege granted by the State to limit liabilities of the individuals owning/managing/working for the company... basically a group or organization that accepts blame and responsibility for the actions of individual people.When people do something on behalf of the Government or a Corporation, they are almost never held accountable for their actions. This is one of the primary purposes of Governments and Corporations to begin with. These proxies pretend to legitimize the unethical actions of individual people and protect them from any legal consequences.Without State involvement, corporations as we know them now would be very difficult for anyone to form. Without Government collusion, Corporations would no longer exist to limit the legal liability of those participating. Sure, companies and firms would exist to provide goods and services, but the individuals behind those companies would be open to every liability that you would face as an individual. They would have no special legal protection as they do under the Corporatist system that exists today.*********************************************Capitalism focuses on capital, investment, creation, innovation, and making people (all people) wealthy and satisfying their needs. A Capitalist is all for alternative energy. After all, innovation is a key point in this. If fossil fuels create pollution, cause health problems, then it's definitely cheaper for society to find better methods for energy and society is more than willing to provide alternative methods. Corporations seduce Governments with perks and donations to punish, tax, and regulate any competition out of the picture.Oil Change International estimates that the US spends $37.5 billion on subsidies for fossil fuels every year. Through direct subsidies, tax breaks, and other incentives and loopholes, US taxpayers help fund the industry’s research and development, mining, drilling, and electricity generation.While subsidies may have increased domestic production, they have also diverted capital from more productive activities (such as energy efficiency) and artificially constrained the growth of renewable energy (solar and wind enjoy fewer subsidies and, generally, receive much less preferential political treatment). Competing alternatives are automatically handicapped by a Corporatist system which manipulates and sways the very entities that create "money".Every time Capitalism starts to rise, there's always an envious Government around to hijack and destroy it, because they know that Capitalism creates wealth; and if people become wealthy, they don't need Government anymore, making politicians all too happy to oblige Corporate interests.Quote:"Alan Greenspan""The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves." - Gold and Economic FreedomCharitable groups are shut down when attempting to care for the homeless. Government's reasoning? Because home cooked meals may not always be healthy or nutritious. Government's solution? Let them eat from dumpsters.California City Demands Church to Stop Feeding HomelessCorporate WasteFort Lauderdale Homeless Feeding Ban ProposedA child's simple lemonade stand is deemed illegal,5 Year Old Girl Fined $200 for Selling LemonadeThe Inexplicable War on Lemonade StandsHealth care used to be a vocation... a life's calling. Now, thanks to President Nixon (the same guy who traded our Capitalist system for Corporatism/Consumerism), health care is now a business like any other. Plumber, auto mechanic, doctor, cable guy... it's all the same.Skyrocketing Health CareBefore 1973, It Was Illegal In The US To Profit Off of Health CareThe Birth of The HMOThe field of medicine and pharmaceuticals seem only interested in the ongoing treatment of mere symptoms rather than actual cures and remedies. Why cure an illness when you can drag it out for more profit?Capitalism has nothing to do with this. Capitalism builds for a stronger, more prosperous, more efficient society. A sick society is not any of these. Purposely keeping people in illness for profiting is not Capitalism.The only way Capitalism can exist is when Government keeps their hands off of it. The two cannot coexist together. A free market can provide everything that a Government can with higher quality and more cost efficiency. Capitalism creates new things and explores the limits of human innovation. Under Capitalism, anyone can engage, produce and contribute to society.Consumerism/Corporatism is the Colonialism of the human life and endeavor... the few simply exploiting human resources for self-gain at the expense of societal strength and health.****************************************************************************************************************************Addendum:In the few comments that might appear "incensed" by my post, they all seem to confuse growth with prosperity. They seem to think that since a majority of Americans are driving around in better cars and living in more efficient homes, it must stand to reason that we are all more prosperous. This very thing was specifically addressed in the very first section of my essay.**************************************************************Growth is a consequence of surplus. Our bodies only grow if it has a surplus of food. With an exact match between calories consumed and calories burned, a body neither gains nor loses weight. A pond will only grow deeper if more water is flowing in than flowing out.Prosperity is also dependent on surplus but operates in a different manner.Let's say that you have a family of four and your yearly income is $40,000, and at the end of the year there is no money left... at the end of the year, you have zero extra dollars. No surplus, no growth, no prosperity.The next year, you get a 10% raise at your job which equals $4000, so now your family can ~EITHER~ afford to have one more child (growth), thus reducing your year-end surplus back to zero extra dollars ~OR~ you can enjoy the surplus by spending a little bit more on each person (prosperity) but you cannot do both. There's only enough surplus money to do one thing or the other... so you have to choose: will it be growth or will it be prosperity? And what is true for a family of four is equally true for a town, a state, a country, and... thats right, even the entire world.Debt is not surplus. If your income ends up with $4000 being owed at the end of the year, then that is neither growth nor prosperity. Even if you have another child, your family may grow, but your family economy does not. Even if you buy a yacht, your luxury may grow, but your family economy does not. If you borrow money, that's not prosperity because it's not yours... it's owed back to the lender, plus interest if applicable.To stay in the game of economics, production is a must. If you don't know the purchasing power of currency in the future with a fiat currency which can fluctuate from year to year, month to month, even day to day all built upon a mere idea of “confidence”, then it's nothing more than pretending. "Money" becomes disconnected from production (and therefore, wealth).Money is simply a medium of exchange. Creating money does not create wealth. Shuffling debt around does not create wealth. Purchasing power is wealth. If money is no longer connected to productivity, then its spending value does not increase, and printing all the money in the world won't mean squat. It's purchasing power shall eventually run out... then what? Print yet more of it, thus diminishing its purchasing power even more? If value becomes irrelevant to the currency, then what's the point of even having it?The US Government has already caused a bubble in the dollar markets. The bailout schemes of recent years created trillions of new dollars and they continue to create more. This is the path we have been on for a while and it may act as an immediate band-aid, but this "solution" can by no means be a cure.The US has already defaulted on its internal obligations in 1933 and to its external in 1971. The US continues in default every day by issuing more dollars than can ever be paid back.There was a time when a person could live their entire lives without setting foot into a bank. All undertakings in the field of industry are now dependent upon the consent of the banker. All undertakings in the field of politics are dependent upon the mechanisms of industry. It doesn't matter who is in office. They are all bought by the same people. The world is still under a feudal system, nothing has changed.***************************************************************Americans are now working for someone else beyond their immediate household. A large chunk of their money is now going to the banking sector. This can be in absurd payments to credit card companies, loss of purchasing power because of the Fed, or other hidden methods of taxing the public. If we dissect the data further, we realize that even though things cost more, much of it has been financed through debt:Ironically the family in the early 1970s had more discretionary income than the family in the early 2000s even with a dual income. Yet, if you look around, it's not immediately apparent because of the massive debt bubble financed by the banking sector. Sure, people bought bigger homes and newer cars, but all this was under a phony veneer of success and was financed with debt. All of it was built around a mountain of debt.Growth does not equal prosperity.Household debt ran $13.15 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2017.Just because they're driving in a better car than ten years ago doesn't mean they own it. Just because they're living in a more energy efficient house doesn't mean they own it (mortgage debt $8.88 trillion at the end of 2017). Just because they're going to college doesn't mean that it's paid for. Credit card debt $834 billion at the end of 2017.[HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND CREDIT - May 2017][Mortgage Debt Increases Substantially]Debt is not prosperity; it is the exact opposite.***************************************************************[Planned Obsolescence]In the US, there are no current laws against planned obsolescence. There have been lawsuits of safety issues which have merely alluded to planned obsolescence, but nothing universally or specifically barring it.In Europe, the European Economic and Social Committee wants manufacturers to offer replacement parts for products (which still guarantees dependency) and to offer more information about a product’s estimated lifetime so that consumers can make more informed decisions. The committee also wants products to be guaranteed to last a certain minimum amount of time, which is currently not a legal requirement. These remedies leave many loopholes.