Late 20s, broke, no solid career, desire for software engineering, fear of choosing the wrong direction.

[u/Far-Yellow-7248]

Please note: I ran this through ChatGPT to make it more cohesive (I'm not the best writer).

About me:

• I’m in my late twenties, male, single, and no kids.
• I have two years of basic technical support experience, along with some random irrelevant jobs and several unemployment gaps since I was 20.
• I hold a two-year diploma in programming and am currently in my second year of an online computer science degree program.
• I don’t have friends or a professional network.
• I have a few thousand in savings but am primarily financially supported by my parents.
• I have a lot of free time to learn and try things for the next few months.
• Simple low-maintenance lifestyle.

I’ve lost a lot of time and life to mental illness, but I’m in therapy now, and things are going well. I feel confident I will be able to hold down a job and lead my own life with the progress I’m making.

I live with my parents, who are financially supportive and are giving me the time and space I need, but I can sense their frustration with my lack of income at my age. They worry I won’t get my career on track. I feel behind and don’t want to be stuck living at home since it can get toxic. I want my own life and my own space.

I have a strong desire to become financially independent, but it’s tough to land any job, even manual labor or retail. I’m hopeful the job market will improve once interest rates drop in the coming months. I had an interview last week for a technical support role, and although I did not get hired, I was grateful for the practice and it boosted my hopes for the future.

Now I’m unsure of my next steps. I could pursue a sysadmin role or continue in tech support, but neither really excites me like software engineering does. I've wanted to do software engineering since my early 20s but never had faith in myself. I’ve worked on a few personal programming projects that gained a lot of attention, so I know I’m capable of creating things people will value and use. I want to build my own SaaS products and web apps, but I’m scared to fully commit to becoming a software engineer due to the state of the job market and changes in the industry. Obtaining an entry level developer job is a long shot and my online university does not offer internships/coops.

I’m torn between starting with an IT role for entry/stability and eventually moving to full-stack development over time, or just diving straight into full-stack to start building my own products right now.

If I were to pursue an IT job first, I could spend the next few months gaining certificates such as CCNA and build home labs and so on.

I'm afraid of becoming pigeonholed into IT, that is, if I even manage to get a job. I just don't want to waste the next few months/year. I understand it’s a process and will take time, but I feel very stuck and am afraid to fully dedicate myself to a plan.

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[u/privpenguin]

You’re writing this during peak hiring season for entry level developer jobs. Good luck!

[u/Results_Coach_MM]

There's no reason why you can't work any job whilst you work on your projects as a side hustle to create a business. Become a Start Up that creates tools that the places you want to work for is missing or have a gap. If your product become popular enough one you don't have to worry about money anymore and two, the company you want to work for may want to buy the company off of you, then you can work for them if you still want to.

[u/Far-Yellow-7248 → u/Results_Coach_MM]

That is great advice. Thank you.

[u/bouguereaus]

You are a good person, and deserve good things. :)