[cratermoon]

In the late 1980s/early 1990s my dad prodded me into becoming a programmer rather than what I was really interested in doing after college, becoming a photographer. His view was that it was more of "real" job: stable, pays well, lots of room for growth. I had some programming experience as a hobbyist and took a few CS classes in college as electives, so it wasn't completely out of the question.

Here I am in 2025, having had many jobs, many layoffs, some lean years, and facing age discrimination.

I ask myself, would I have done worse had I followed my real interest?

Cue LLMs eating up all the creative output and upending the market for original, real photography.

[astronautmonkey]

Appreciate you sharing this.

I'm a first generation Indian raised in the US. There's a big push from parents in my culture for stability over happiness (cue Indian doctor joke). Sounds like you went through something similar.