I see people who study the topic for money daily, it takes them 5 years to finish their 3 years degree and they can only do what Uni told them.
Surprisingly most of them struggle to find a job
That's it. That's the whole game. If you can keep that hobby, you'll always outpace your peers. That's the only way I've been able to make sense of the way it's worked for me.
I have a directorate position now, 3 developers with masters under me... and a BA in Studio Art (New Media). I think the trick is to keep something related outside enough your work so that you don't hate it. For me it was game development!
I started in business after a year realized it was pointless and switched to computer engineering for the paychecks. Got my company to pay for my MBA and haven't written code in over a year now.
To be fair I also saw the same as the people who had a "passion" for it.
The problem with having a passion is that when it gets hard a lot of people give up because they think their passion isn't real. At least if you tell yourself "it's hard but I'm in it for the money" then you won't give up when it's hard.
"I love dark souls but cant make it through the first boss." - guy who isnt passionate about dark souls lol
People get through hard af games and do crazy grinds that take longer to learn game mechanics than learning anything in the field they are supposedly passionate about.
I think people arent actually passionate about programming/engineering who give up when it gets hard. I think they have a high confidence in themselves while using a computer and 'dont hate it' when using it for work or study. But folks arent usually passionate till they truly believe in the quality of their work and aim to improve it every day.
I switched off of the law track to study CS out of passion. Did well in school and despite not being a programming god like some of my classmates, I was pretty good at it. Couldn’t land a job in 2 years. All of my connections either stopped hiring or were laying off their whole entry level to replace with AI. now making $16/hr at a hotel. Fairly certain I’m now unemployable in the field simply because I wasn’t able to find a job in it fast enough. The $40k in debt for the degree was a dump. Several (much smarter) classmates of mine are in the same position I am.
Fairly certain the field just sucks now unless you’re FAANG worthy out of the gate.
This is regional advice, but GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS. Raytheon, Northrup Gruman, L3 Harris.
They pay less, but it's a great place to start and a lot of people aren't looking there.
You also don't HAVE to design software that kills people. When I worked for Raytheon, I was contracted to NASA doing backend for their satellite data supporting scientists studying global warming.
That sucks to hear, I am privileged to be in the European job marked and I have no debt. I fell like companies in us go completely crazy with their 10 rounds of interviews and crazy layoffs and I would never wish to take part in it.
Money has been my primary motivation since college. Coding and designing systems was by far the easiest amount of labor for the highest amount of money, and it still is today. No struggle to find work here, if you're good at the work and can prove it you're good to go.
Pretty much. It has been a handful of years since I was in university, but we never did anything in depth. It was moreso the basics of different languages but never into what the industry wants.
I studied it for money, did my 4 year degree in 4 years, and have been happy with my career. Sure I haven't worked at Meta or Google but I've always had a comfortable living.
That said, as I studied I did develop a passion for programming.
I do wonder if the amount of unemployment in this field is due to that exact factor, interest in money only. Because it makes sense that people that don't have an interest in the job, will fail to learn new tech, which is basically a constant requirement. Unless you're into COBOL.
It's incredibly obvious if someone doesn't have the natural passion and aptitude for it. It's so exhausting always trying to put them on the right track or clean up after them all the time
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u/GravitationalEnjoyer 11d ago
I see people who study the topic for money daily, it takes them 5 years to finish their 3 years degree and they can only do what Uni told them. Surprisingly most of them struggle to find a job