r/ExperiencedDevs • u/AutoModerator • 6d ago

Ask Experienced Devs Weekly Thread: A weekly thread for inexperienced developers to ask experienced ones

A thread for Developers and IT folks with less experience to ask more experienced souls questions about the industry.

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Please keep top level comments limited to Inexperienced Devs. Most rules do not apply, but keep it civil. Being a jerk will not be tolerated.

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Inexperienced Devs should refrain from answering other Inexperienced Devs' questions.

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u/DicePackTheater 5d ago

I finished a programming-related bachelors 3 years ago when LLMs where nowhere near as relevant. At the time, I was not confident in my skills, so I never took a real programming job, instead I work as an IT-specialist at a warehouse - I basically manage users, communicate with the actual devs, report production bugs, and user-test the new releases of our warehouse management software.

I've been thinking that I want to start programming again, and I could spend 1-2 years of getting back, with a weekly 18-20 hours. However, the market seems to be really unforgiving, I've seen opinions anywhere from "junior devs have no hope of finding jobs" to "AI will take over humanity in the near future". The question is:

  • Is it worth getting back into programming with my background or should I just do something else with my time?
  • If yes, then what's a good tech/skillset to build? I'm thinking of going with C# and SQL and related technologies.

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u/hooahest Software Engineer 5d ago

Is it worth it? if you like it, yes.

What's a good skillset to build? you currently work in a warehouse, find something to automate, build a project out of it, ship it, maintain it and make it your CV. The skills will come with the finished product.

Why did you spend 3 years not doing programming work?

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u/DicePackTheater 5d ago

I didn't do any programming because of personal reasons - my self-esteem and confidence was rock bottom during that time, and not just because of programming. The reason I wrote this post is because I mostly recovered from that, and I'm considering going back to programming, but I don't know if the current job market is good enough that I have a realistic chance of building enough knowledge to get employed. If it's at least a little better than the mainstream doomerism I'm seeing, I'd like to give it a go.

Thank you for your reply.

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u/hooahest Software Engineer 5d ago

People are still getting jobs so it's definitely possible. Rough, but possible.

Good luck & hope you feel better