Life advice from Experienced programmers sought?

Apologies in advance for being long winded but as background I have a Masters Degree from a leading university (LSE fwiw) and was a national champion athlete during undergrad. My first job was with an investment bank for which I sold $7M in investments only to see the business collapse a year later with 95% in net losses. While was not charged or involved with any malfeasance, as a result I am essentially banned from working in the Investment Industry.





In 1998 I founded a ';dot-com';, raised $2M from friends and family but in hindsight blew this on bottom of the barrel staff whose respect for me is shown by their (accurate) web post about ';looting the office'; when the industry collapsed.





For the past 8 years I have lived hand to mouth allocating whatever money earned from day trading or consulting projects to resurrecting this business. Also I personally went into debt ($150K on credit cards, $100K to a 2nd mortgage, $5K to a friend and $75K to parents) to pay web development companies didn't produce even a demo site but essentially laugh when I threaten to sue them.





Most recently I've spent the last year alone in front of a computer learning how to code myself, however, now that I am arguably competent, various motivations requires I find some sort of ';job';.





Nonetheless, sending out my ';real resume'; has produced zero results in the past three months (50% ';over-qualified';, 50% ';Your entire work history defines the term failure';). So today my mom visited with a help wanted page ripped from her small town newspaper and insisted on helping me dumb down my resume to high school drop-out status in order to apply for $14/hr entry level warehouse and cashier positions she'd circled (if I'm lying, I'm dying).





So my question is should I:





A.) Keep trying to sponge off of friends and family in hopes of someday finishing this website so that it can (hopefully) be stolen by VC's before it is copied by well funded competitors





B.) Iron my best AC/DC T-shirt and work hard at whatever entry level position I can get in hopes of impressing my single mom manager sufficiently that she invites me to bring a six pack (of boxed wine) to her trailer home on the first date I have had in approximately 4 years





C.) Start my own company (say domestic house cleaning?) and keep programming on the side, then when that proves disastrous go back to school to train to be oh, maybe a high school teacher?





D.) Learn from the fact that I have failed at everything I've touched of late and that my friends (of whom I have none) and family all would have been better off if I had died at birth and say walk into a hospital emergency room to put a bullet through my brains (thereby facilitating the harvesting of my organs for a donor program).





I'm looking mostly for just a poll of A,B,C,D answers so please save the moralizing and/or peppy aphorisms, experience has unshakeably taught me both that if a God does exist then he/she hates me and that it is NOT always darkest before the dawn.Life advice from Experienced programmers sought?
My answer is: None of the above. You need to repair your self-image before you do anything else.





We can't do anything to change the past or the future. We can only change the moment we're in. Change is scary, especially when we're in a deep dark cave of self-pity. But tomorrow is a brand new day. A good day for change.





Redirect your focus to something beyond yourself. Help yourself by helping others. Volunteer at a homeless shelter or a food bank. Place yourself in a position among people who are worse off than you are. It'll help you count your blessings and make you feel good inside. Volunteer to do some programming for a non-profit organization you believe in.





Not what you wanted to hear, but to give up or resign yourself to failure is counter-productive. How can you convince an employer, business partner, banker or whomever that your life and skills have value if you don't believe it yourself?





Life advice from Experienced programmers sought?
Latest software update for iPhone is out, but how would you know?
KMR first sentence is the reality!


You still have a good sense of humour: KEEP IT!


Don't start a ';company'; at this stage: you are too fragile.


Find a job, even as a cashier at the supermarket: this will keep you in touch with the rest of the World and, at night, program if you like to do so. Develop small websites for little money to gain confidence (don't make it a ';business';: web-design does NOT pay well, unless you are extremely good: the competition of WYSIWYG crap is too high.)


Just, for a year, calm down and look at yourself.


As for your past?


Have you tried a ';profit and loss account'; of your life? It certainly shows your mistakes, but it also shows your STRONG points!


Work on these!


(and, since you had a (successful) investment company at some stage, I would be prepared to offer something for your help on this one: www.actionlodge.com!)



Man, please don't call urself a looser. u have a long way in front of u .


I do agree with the person b4 me . So I'd think u first go to a career counselor and discuss that with them in private .Man, this is not a good time for starting any company; I'd think first we gotta learn the basics by working even in simple jobs , which will teach us a lot . Don't lose hope and God does exist, there r ppl in much worse conditions than u , so thank Him that he gave u a lot of gifts.


Man, accept any decent job, even if it's a $14/hr and hopefully luck will smile for u sooner :) .





Man , get up and have strong faith and intention ; yup, saying is easy and doing is hard BUT u can do it ...Well, all the best





Good luck