I’m probably going to cop a few downvotes for this, but in my whole career the only software engineers I ever met who were worth a damn were people who loved it for its own sake, and would be doing it regardless. So, if your feelings about the field are such that you’re thinking you might be better off doing a trade, you’d definitely be better off doing a trade.
The most important aspect is motivation to improve and do cool shit. That can, also, be said about a lot of professions. The best thing you can do is to find what is most interesting to you and spend at least a few hours a week learning about it or engaging with it. It could be new features of a language you know, a programming methodology that is new to you, learning about/contributing to a FOSS project you like, or anything else.
School and work will almost definitely force you to engage with the parts of development you don’t like, as well will give you an opportunity to engage with the parts of development you do like. It’s on you to keep yourself engaged and improving in your skills.
It’s really not like that, programmers will always be extremely sought after. Just not bad programmers that haven’t really coded anything yet. Those are in quite an abundance. After giving the thirtieth intern a try and some lessons, it starts to feel hopeless when they turn in something that is using divisors on tick to solve a problem the engine already does and doesn’t notice the cpu cap because they are on a monster beefy developer station
I’m probably going to cop a few downvotes for this, but in my whole career the only software engineers I ever met who were worth a damn were people who loved it for its own sake, and would be doing it regardless. So, if your feelings about the field are such that you’re thinking you might be better off doing a trade, you’d definitely be better off doing a trade.
Good luck either way.
The most important aspect is motivation to improve and do cool shit. That can, also, be said about a lot of professions. The best thing you can do is to find what is most interesting to you and spend at least a few hours a week learning about it or engaging with it. It could be new features of a language you know, a programming methodology that is new to you, learning about/contributing to a FOSS project you like, or anything else.
School and work will almost definitely force you to engage with the parts of development you don’t like, as well will give you an opportunity to engage with the parts of development you do like. It’s on you to keep yourself engaged and improving in your skills.
If there’s no hope for getting a job, it doesn’t mean they’re not passionate.
It’s really not like that, programmers will always be extremely sought after. Just not bad programmers that haven’t really coded anything yet. Those are in quite an abundance. After giving the thirtieth intern a try and some lessons, it starts to feel hopeless when they turn in something that is using divisors on tick to solve a problem the engine already does and doesn’t notice the cpu cap because they are on a monster beefy developer station