Same. I have a low paying white collar job that I don’t enjoy. I thought I would start learning development just in time or AI and then layoffs. It makes me feel really sick and scared for the future.
A lot of posts and videos have been put up about how it will be fine. That AI won’t take jobs and even with the layoffs, they say head counts are still up, but it feels pretty hopeless to me.
I don’t know what else to do, so I’m just going to keep trying and keep pushing myself to be a better dev. Maybe I’ll get there someday.
dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Bouncing between high paid tech work and driving forklifts and lifting boxes every few years is not fun
rockstarmode@lemmy.world 9 months ago
This hasn’t been my (anecdotal) experience, or that of anyone in my network.
The industry is unstable no doubt about that, but we’ve never had trouble finding better places to land.
IMO if you’ve been in tech building your skills for a few years, you really shouldn’t have trouble finding work. '01 was weird but there was still plenty of work, especially in defense. '08 was scary but turned out to be a great time to join a startup. Sometimes it’s a lateral move instead of up, sometimes it requires relocating , but if you’ve been doing good work and building your professional network you should never have to go back to driving forklifts (unless you choose to).
rambaroo@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Are you actually in the market right now or just making stuff up? You use a lot of qualifying language in this post that makes it sound like you’re just reassuring yourself. It comes off as condescending.
There are hundreds of thousands of unemployed devs right now, plus all the scrub gold chasers trying to break into the industry.
rockstarmode@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’m not sure what qualifying language you took offense at, and I wasn’t intending to be condescending.
I admitted that my experience is indeed anecdotal, but I stand by ky statements. If you’re good at what you do in tech, you have a few years of experience, and you’re willing to take take positions that differ from your comfort zone you should never be without well paying work.
I’m always in the market as you put it, even though I’m not looking to leave my current position any time soon. I did 2 interviews in the last 7 days, and I turn down offers probably once a month.
I know this isn’t how it works for everyone in tech, but once you get your career grooved it isn’t unrealistic.
afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 9 months ago
That’s why I went back to factory/infrastructure. The highs are not high and the lows are not low.