Struggling and backed into a corner, I don’t know what to do

Hey all,

I just wanted to paste this here, I just need prayers.

I graduated last year with a master’s in cybersecurity and a bachelor’s in software engineering the year before that. Honestly, I thought I’d finally be able to help my family out financially, we’ve struggled a lot over the years, and I just wanted to be the one to make a difference.

But here I am, a year later, and nothing has gone the way I thought it would. I’ve applied to so many entry-level cybersecurity jobs (security analyst, GRC, etc.), and not once have I even gotten an interview. My CV is solid according to reviewers being friends and lecturers, and I know I’m qualified, but it feels like the field just gatekeeps anyone new. No one wants to train up someone who’s just starting out.

I tried networking on LinkedIn, reaching out to people in the field, but every time I brought up referrals, I’d either get ignored, blocked, or told to “get more experience.” How am I supposed to get experience if no one will give me a shot?

I even branched out to IT roles and added everything I could think of to my CV, including my volunteer experience as a media head at church, but the rejections just keep coming. One guy even kept coming up with excuses on why i was being rejected on interrview, when I in fact stated to him and showed my CV to him that I was qualified, and after seeing this, said “well still never, you need a million lines of code on github” and the job was paying 24k/yearly.

On top of that, the two part-time jobs I had completely fell apart. One, at a theater, just stopped giving me shifts. The other had this new receptionist who basically let her friends cut the line for shifts. I’d show up super early like they told me, and I’d just sit there watching everyone else get work while I got sent home. I tried to complain, but it didn’t change anything, so I had to quit because I was losing money just trying to get there.

During all this, I felt like maybe God was calling me to start my own business, so I did. I got all the paperwork, sorted my taxes, everything. But getting clients has been an uphill battle. One person from my church asked me to set up their office IT and manage their network, but every interaction with them was just…disrespectful. I worked on a brochure for their business, asked for instructions, and they liked it at first. But then, a month later, they came back saying it was wrong and yelling at me. I just asked for clear instructions, but instead of helping, they blew up on me and said I didn’t know anything. I ended up just giving them their files back because I couldn’t deal with it anymore. And the worst part? They barely even paid me.

I’ve been praying. I pray every single day. I’ve fasted. I’ve thanked God for what I do have, but I still feel stuck in this endless cycle of humiliation and heartbreak. It’s hard not to cry at night. Back in school, I felt so blessed—like every time I hit a wall, God would show me the answer. I’d pray, and it’d be like this crazy eureka moment, like He was carrying me through. I thought all the struggles I went through during those sleepless nights in school would mean something. But now? I’m jobless. Broke. Treated like I’ve got a criminal record when I try to apply for anything, even retail.

The worst part is, as the media assistant at my church, I used to be able to use what little money I made to help fix things we needed. Now I can’t, and I have to just watch things fall apart. It kills me because I know I could fix it if I had the means.

I’m trying not to lose hope, but it’s hard. I feel like I’ve done everything right. I pray. I try. But I’m just stuck.

I’m not sure what else to do now.