1. Apply for every relevant job on every board you can find. Right the hell now.
2. Apply for every remote job available with you skill set.
3. You are worth more than 40k in any demographic.
4. Be willing to move to any job that will take you.

Good Luck, wish I has some work for you.

Before empathizing, I'd like to look with a much more objective view. And I had a hard time to believe your story.

Married with 4 kinds got the first job as an intern

What? Did you just married underage? Or did you just slacked until you get married with a kid? If you don't have enough income you just don't make children. That's a common sense. This doesn't seem responsible of you. 4 is not a mistake.

"Your dream job" is to be "something" at a factory?

So minimum wage is $40k for a designer I guess. Well congrats chumps you've all been tricked. Legally there's no money paid for internships where I live, tax frauds are done without any problem -which negatively effects your social security services- aand experienced designers/developers get paid shit. For example I have 7yrs of exp as a professional I don't even have a $20k for a year. So the price is bullshit

Development laptop

Really? Is that a thing?

15 minutes to run the test suite

If you're using intel celeron while playing half life opposing force on background yeah, it might take that much.

We got a new developer, and on his first day in the office he was given a Macbook and a bag of accessories.

Did you just tried to look like a victim but instead you've only got jealous? Well go to hell man, I do not care about green-eyed devils like you. I really don't care if you don't get the same "items" or appraisals unless you don't fight for your rights. You've just begged for a better pay and eventually they've fired you. Instead of fighting equality you've just wanted exceed the newcomer for his precious face.

$75K

If you land a job with 0 exp send me their number also. I'll get that one also.

And my comment: Why fuck are you begging? Are you crippled? Are you forced not to leave your computer? Right now I'm living in a shit house with a very shit payment. For years I've been talking to designers/companies everywhere and there been times I've gone comically broke. Not that I'm irresponsible like you- the pays in here are shit but there's this thing. I never lost my dignity, never begged. You know what, it took from me. But I can have shit load of life and professional experience which can outsmart any other professional. And I've achieved this because I've scraped with my own nails. My pay only helps me so I had to leave the only my life partner. It turned out I couldn't start a family and we eventually agreed not to see each other. We didn't made children. It's really irresponsible to make children if you can't look out for them. And if I was an employer that would be the first thing that I'd notice.

For the naive designers/devs; let's look at the guys communication method. It's a random tumblr. Have you ever searched his name?(nothing comes up) Look at the weird email. Do remember receiving random mails which asks for money for winning lottery etc? If you're not 20years old you'd remember. This is the same and I really can't believe most of you've fall for it.

Go watch and learn before "aawww"'in anything you see on internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o26Eks801oc

These stories are always tough, but I always have to wonder if something more isn't going on. Is it location? I see grads with very minimal experience finding good work with no problem, even in a state like my own (FL) with lower salary rates than many places. One thing our industry isn't lacking is job openings.

would love to know the startup in question so i could boycott them appropriately.

Hello Pedro, you would do yourself a big favor by mentioning where you live (country, city) and what you're looking for. Development talent is so scarce I can't really imagine it will be hard for you to find anything and you can send me a private message, I'll help you connect with a bunch of people that might be helpful to you.

You should name the company that did this to you, I don't think it would affect you negatively and it would be a great service to the community as a whole.

This is a really sad story. I hope something comes up.

fwiw, I emailed this guy with an opportunity two days ago and have not heard back.

If this is some sort of troll I don't get it

Have you looked into remote jobs?

Hey Pedro, sorry to hear about that... I can't imagine how you must be feeling. Anyways, I know this might be a long shot, but we're always looking for more Ruby/RoR devs. Feel free to hit up our jobs board https://recurly.com/jobs/. We're based in SF but have a few remote employees.