new to forum, want some advice

[josephpg]

Hi, im Joseph. Ive been reading the art ices here for maybe a month, and ive stopped as ive mostly ran out of new ones (moved on to ere and other friendly sites).

The reason i got into this all is because my family has gotten into a bad financial situation and scared the hell out of me (bit sheltered) making me question a lot of things in life.

My current situation is living with my family, they pay for everything.

I have 2000 in the bank, im earning about a 1000 a month.

I dont want to count on my family support for much longer, luckily i have a close friend nearby that is willing to take me in for awhile.

I am 20, i have two jobs, and my situation:
bike -transport for everywhere
laptop- bread and butter for research and money
kindle- read books on
phone- family plan
no car, no debt

my plan is if i have to be on my own for some reason, to live on 500 a month and save 50 percent or more of my income while getting paid more over time.

a possible future plan is going to college for 4 years (first two in community college living on my own, second 2 living at college on scholarships) getting a degree in computer science and going into software development, as i already spent 2 years learning programming.

any advice would be helpful

[jpo]

You might consider finding a job where they offer tuition reimbursement if you want to get a degree. Easier to have someone else pay for your school than try to scrape by and pay tuition too.

[Psychstache]

Hi Joseph,

Glad to see you are taking the bull by the horns and getting your life in order, financially.

500 a month for living expenses seems like a very ambitious goal. Depending on where you live, paying for food, rent, cell phone (either getting your own plan or paying your fam your part of the bill) could be quite a stretch.

1000 a month seems low, especially if that is for both jobs combined. Do you have any connections from your years as a programmer that you could use to find more lucrative work? Since you have some experience and exposure, I feel like finding an employer who would pay for (at least in part) a certification program may be a better route than spending 4 years studying. I am not in this industry so I am not an expert.

It's a small gesture, but I would pitch the Kindle on craigslist. You can use and abuse your community library without spending an extra penny (also possibly your college library should you go that route).

Good luck on your journey to FI!
 

[josephpg]

Thank you for the suggestions.

I haven't really looked into getting my tuition payed while i work, ill do that.

I have started to look into certifications, that seems like a promising way to go.

Right now what i really want is a month or two to just focus on improving my programming skills so i can get myself better jobs (and creating a portfolio and taking some coursera classes).

As for the jobs, they are both above minimum wage but under 30 hrs a week, although that will change soon enough, and i plan to continue making contacts through them as they both involve programming.

[josephpg]

Also, in regard to 500 a month for living, ive seen a few deals around for 400 a month with utilities included, and than i would have 100 for food. As for a phone, i would get  a prepaid for buisness and use internet for everything else.

As for how i would do this in practical terms, im not sure yet, and for now im going to be living with others until i hit 3000 in savings at least.

[jpo]

As for the jobs, they are both above minimum wage but under 30 hrs a week, although that will change soon enough, and i plan to continue making contacts through them as they both involve programming.

I learned the most about software development from working on a team with other more experienced developers, reading and understanding the code they wrote; much more than I ever learned in school.