After watching this video I'm having doubts about my future once again. It's a recurring pattern and it triggers me multiple times a week. Am I on the right path anymore?

I started IT studies in 2023 and the first 1.5 years I worked part-time in IT support and focused on cloud/networking but it's not what I wanted. I wanted to be a dev, I just did it to get some experience.

For the last 6-8 months I've been really getting into coding, first I learned HTML, CSS and Vanilla JS, then I got in to some Java, after that I did Python for about two months and around September 2025 I started with PHP and Laravel and it's what I've enjoyed the most so far.

I'm really insecure because in half a year I'm gonna graduate and I don't know if this is all worth it anymore. It feels as if this web dev world is now only reserved for those who have had job experience pre-covid and that somehow it's not possible anymore to get your foot into the door at this point. It feels as if everything is over.

I really don't know what I should do. There's very little dev jobs let alone junior dev job listings here.

I really, really want it, but I don't think wanting something is even enough anymore.

Of coure no one will be able to give me an answer.

Hi @larsb-dev,

I've been a developer since 2014. Your concerns pretty much mirror my own, even though we are at different stages. I have real doubts over whether I will continue in the industry. In December I left a job as a Senior Engineer at a health insurance company. I left on ethical grounds, due to the use of AI.

Beginning around October 2024 I had been working on a project that integrated an AI chat bot on the site. The bot would suggest relevant links to certain parts of the site based on the user's query. This was fine, no issues. The problem came when the company wanted to use the same bot to reply to emails. Initially this sounds fine, however when I dove into the emails that clients were sending I became deeply saddened. People were writing long emails describing cancer treatment, their sick children, and deaths of family members. The Health Insurance company wanted AI to reply to these heart renching emails and simply suggest a link to some part of the web site. They felt that paying a skilled human to reply was too much of a cost. The clients of the health insurance company paid thousands every year, they deserved better. As humans they deserve better.

I left the company after voicing these concerns. Needless to say, they will proceed.

There was a time when programming was exciting, creative, and skilled. A time when it had soul. AI is only a tool. But it's a tool that ensures big tech wins. In the coming years the companies that control the data will come to control the knowledge base. Developers who give over totally to generative tools will only be as good as the subscriptions they pay for.

I'm taking a year off. I'll take time to gather my thoughts and figure out what I want to do.

I can't predict the future for you @larsb-dev . But I can tell you that the analytical thought, logic, and dedication to lifelong learning will always be valuable.

Best of luck.

Brian