[CS-FSLUG] Heading towards a brick wall.

[Nathan T.]

Hi list people

I've brought this up before and I'm at it again...

I frequently get this sense of panic over what I'm going to do when I
graduate from high school, everyone says take it one day at a time but
I don't know what I'm going to do and it feels very much like driving
straight into a brick wall at 200km/h with no brakes. I feel trapped
up here in Yellowknife, the closest post secondary institution is
Aurora college and based on my research their courses are so basic
that even I wouldn't hire anyone graduating from there. I don't know
what kind of job to aim for, I don't know where I'm going to get a
post secondary education or how I'll be able to afford it, I don't
even know that I'll be able to get a job here because were in the old
part of town which really looks to me like it's actually 30 minutes
walking distance out from anywhere work is to be found.

I'm sure some of you have been here before: no savings, no plans, no
car (so you either walk or depend on the bus to get around), no job,
living outside of the main town. This really seems very hopeless to me
to be somewhere so unfamiliar and feeling so helpless. I don't even
know what line of work to get into, it seems to me that everything
either requires years more education before I an get a job, or it
doesn't pay enough to be out of debt by 75.

All I need right now to feel a little better is some idea of what I
can do after school, I don't think I can stay with my parents for much
longer, I'd rather not and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to anyway. Is
there any chance I can get some ideas of what to do after high school,
maybe some of you want to share your stories of what you did starting
from the point you graduated to when you felt financially independent
and secure enough? Maybe some of you might have suggestions of what I
could do, if I go into post secondary what kind of school, courses and
jobs should I be looking at? By now most of you should know what I
like doing (programming), but I'll definitely need to plan on having
more skills than that.