I finish my last class for my associates degree in December. I'm trying to move out of my mom's house in South Carolina and to Puerto Rico next year, so I will have to get full time work. Right now I'm working at a chain restaurant part time in dish/kitchen.
After my class ends, I will probably go back to the Amazon fulfillment center in Charlotte I briefly worked at previously for the next 6 months or so, hopefully they'll hire me again even though I quit after a month working there last time because it was stressful. My part time restaurant job was a nice change of pace for the time so I could finally focus on finishing school, but I got tired of the dish pit after 2 years of working there, and I'm barely scraping by, especially with the shit spending habits I made due to stress. Despite the stressful 10 graveyard shifts with heavy lifting and long commutes, I think I can pummel through with enough caffeine and nicotine for 6 months or so (and thankfully they have an okay PTO policy) as I save enough money or so I can hopefully survive the first month or two on savings, but i will need to look for another full time job immediately.
As for my previous work experiences, I was working at factories and warehouses since 18, and for the first several years I got fired from jobs after a few weeks-months, partially due to acting up on concerta, but the rampant discrimination against us sure doesn't help. I got off concerta at age 21 and was finally able to keep a factory job for over a year, but I quit after they switched from 8 to 12 hours shifts, so I then worked at Amazon for a month before starting my current job a little over 2 years ago.
So what kinds of jobs can I get that are either remote jobs I can use my associates for or get an easy certification, jobs where being a native English speaker in Puerto Rico as I still try to get myself immersed and learn Spanish, or can maybe use my warehouse/factory or restaurant experience in, which can make enough to afford a 1 bedroom or studio apartment and car payments, and can maybe help me save up for a house eventually, as well as a shipping container to ship my video game collection and TVs over there? I know I will have to start living a lot more frugally. I have to eat out very infrequently, as well as a halt on collecting video games and movies for a bit (thank fuck for piracy), among other things as I live on my own for the first time, but I learned as I live my life that I can't stand living with other people, and I really want to get away from my MAGA parents and State as well
If you're reasonably tech savvy you could look at Software Testing. You can get certified online and sometimes remote work is tolerated.
So I looked up certifications and they're way too expensive, is there any job that with at least $36k/year or $17.31/hour after taxes that doesn't have such a steep financial barrier to entry?
There are a few different types of certification, maybe there's a cheaper one. Last one I did was a fair while ago, and I think they've become more competitive in pricing, so I recommend you keep looking.
What I'll do is start out with a data entry job as I teach myself programming (I already know a bit of C# but it's rusty) to then get a certification and job in that field, so I can afford to then get my own house. I always wanted a house, with my own garden and above ground swimming pool