Transprogrammer

OP, I've been reading your replies in this thread, and in my humble opinion I think you need to re-evaluate your worth. If you believe you're only worth a minimum wage job, then it's not surprising if you end up in a minimum wage job.

This industry is rife with imposter syndrome. But you know what the thing about imposter syndrome is, is only the people who know enough to know that they don't know everything feel it. Do you truly know nothing about programming, or are you a boss babe with a couple of years of formal education in the field?

If you really feel that you don't have the experience to get an entry level job, then you deserve to do something for yourself to raise your confidence. Start a project, especially if your education has been mostly theoretical. It can be difficult at first, especially if you feel like you don't know where to start. But in my experience, even the most difficult problem can be broken up into small, manageable pieces. I think you'll be surprised how quickly you'll learn to build stuff, and you'll be getting some real experience to. You might even wonder why you were ever worried in the first place.