30 year old arts graduate struggling to get by

Look into a postgraduate program in an area in demand that you like. IT and finance are the big 2 earners, but depends on what you are like with these disciplines.

Have a look on springboard and see if there's anything you'd be interested in.

Two choices after Arts - Teacher or McDonalds. No?

McDonalds are actually supposed to be decent enough payers

As for not going to Tallaght for college, sure you went to UCD anyway so it much of a muchness. Might have picked up a few more tips on making money from crime or even just practical things like how to hotwire a car out in Tallaght though

Yes, you'd be correct there with the high earners distorting the rental market, things are far different than they used to be. I'm glad I am 10 years older than you. The last recession and housing crash allowed me to buy a house on my own in 2010 that I would have been crippled on in mortgage payments at its 2008 price. Lucky timing I guess. But hopefully access to housing improves soon.

Are there any jobs you could work from home and move to live to a much cheaper place than Dublin?

You'll probably have to retrain. Something a bit more.... focused. I would imagine that, unless you own the company, working behind the scenes in media is always going to be relatively poorly paid. This is probably a HUGE (and inaccurate) generalisation but it seems to be a young-person's job and heavily leaning towards younger women (Mid-late 20s) unless, as said, you own the company. I apologise if this is an offensive generalisation (It was not meant to cause offense). Seems to be more about the "glamour" and high-visibility of such a job. Have you any interest in more technical fields? Maybe a technical field such as computer networking or security. It's never too late to retrain (I went back to college at 38 after losing a job I'd had for 13 years).

You should also cut yourself a bit of a break too. You have mentioned shame etc. You are being WAY too hard on yourself. You are working hard, doing what you can. It's not your fault that property prices have sky-rocketed. It's not your fault that your job is low-paying. have a look at Springboard courses (You can do some of them while being employed).

Is there another field that interests you?

I cant afford to buy a house and this makes me feel subhuman in this country.

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I want no hand outs, my political instincts are conservative (hate long term welfare, dislike how having a child is seen as a life choice) I just want a normal standard of living with a basic car, a secure home and enough disposable income to have a pint on a Saturday night. Why does that seem out of my reach?

How do I not feel inferior for my wages and being a renter?

Your issue isn’t that you can’t afford to buy property, or that you can’t afford a car, or that you made some education and career choices which didn’t turn out to lead to the opportunities you’d envisioned for yourself.

Your fundamental issue is that you can’t afford your political views, which puts you in the same category as the people you yourself see as subhuman.

I don’t have any sort of advice at all, but if your political instincts are conservative, you’ll probably do alright for yourself eventually, once you get over thinking of people in the same position as yourself as subhuman.

People make out IT to be some magical mysterious beast.

It's not.

And by just teaching yourself programming you can figure out if you have a passion for it or not and if you can sustain yourself in the field, and can learn new things yourself.

No dependencies, loads of time, 30 ...

Go go go !

You could always train up to be a cooper OP. Those fellas used to be well paid as well. Get yourself a job in Guinnesses and be set for life

Keep an eye out for comms roles in public bodies. Most would be on publicjobs.ie though some bodies recruit directly themselves.

You’ll find good opportunities for development and additional qualifications.

I'm only saying programming as that's my experience.

Once upon a time I'd programme for free. Getting someone to pay me for it was unreal.

Now, as I'm much older, and have family and life to deal with, the whole career aspect of it has become a REAL slog.

But I still love getting the chance to do some uninterrupted programming. It's magical.

You need to discover this yourself and not have some, possibly crap tutor/teacher turn you off for life.

I don't think there are normal office jobs anymore that pay well, they are all being automated. Maybe management or ...

I only suggested learn to code to see if you like it. If you do, then it's a great career option.

Now, the way things are going in Dublin, it'll still be hard to buy anyway, especially if you are single.

Or maybe there will be a crash ..

But with a programming job, you can work anywhere in Ireland or abroad.

It's definitely getting more competitive, but everything is getting automated and there is endless work to be done.

Some of it is absolute garbage, but if can still pay very well.

Civil service. Handy jobs. Secure. Great pension. And good support for training if you want to train up into something useful

You already said you went to UCD. And to do Arts no less.

Why the sudden concern now for people looking down on you as lower class? Where was that concern when you were filling out your CAO? What has changed in the meantime?

I'd imagine you wouldn't have to stay on the same ladder the whole time