[eureka-belief]

I was in a similar situation fresh out of college. I’ve been hacking code since the third grade but somehow I found myself working for a dev shop in the Midwest full of non hackers making BS software. I remember burning with the feeling of “this can’t be it”. So I basically set a rule for myself that every weeknight I would take my laptop to a coffee shop and hack on whatever got me excited. Over the span of a year I wrote a chess engine in python and learned web dev via Django. The next year I moved to the Bay Area and doubled my salary by joining a startup and worked with some of the most curious and intelligent people I had ever met.

Something that might help is to cultivate a list of developers who you respect and make sure to follow what they do. (Eg. I personally recommend following Theo or Primagen on social media) this helps alot with not feeling alone and with keeping your sights and standards high. You have to learn to not see what’s around you as the norm.

Above all, make curiosity the foundation of your coding routine and your career. I know that sounds cliche but if you can tap into the joyful energy of curiosity then you will have superpowers and will have meaning in your life even if you’re broke and alone.