[honkycat]

I totally feel the "I hate that my only talent is computer programming." I am in the exact same boat. I really don't even like the career anymore, other than the money, which I would trade in a heart-beat for a stable job that allowed more leisure time and made OK money.

I worked extremely hard on a start-up for half of my 20s and I ended up with basically nothing to show for it. Employers do not seem that interested in my start-up, they want "People with experience scaling large systems." Whoops.

Now I'm sending out my CV and I'm not getting many bites.

[flashgordon]

Please please dont be hard on yourself. I actually "wasted" my 20s (and most of my 30s) in startups and "learning". But employers really dont care for this (I am in a FAANG hiring committee) and are no different than recruiters who care more for nothing more than the latest buzz words ("scaling distributed systems"). What is worse is even startups who are meant to value diversity/breadth of skills are doing the same.

But would I trade my breadth of knowledge and learning. Nope. Would I try to become a one-trick-pony? Not at all. Do I still code - Yep totally but on things I care about and enjoy rather than on a yet-another-engagement-driver while also building up on other hobbies.

Also where are you based? DM me if you are looking at roles in the bay-area. (Unfortunately as much as Id hate to see it die, leetcode is unavoidable at a FAANG interview :) ).

[beefhash]

The job market has been very hard on everyone lately. And looking at current event, I don't think that's going to improve in the foreseeable future.