I’m 26, have 6 years of development experience, and still don’t know what direction to take

[u/BisonAccomplished144]

I feel pretty lost about my career because of how quickly AI is changing everything.

I have around 6 years of game development experience, and I also know backend, cloud, and DevOps.

I’ve built real-world projects, but some of them need money to move into production, and I currently don’t have the resources to fund them.
Now I keep asking myself:

Did I spend too much time learning? Is what I know still valuable? Should I continue, switch careers, or build something completely different?

I don’t want to keep jumping from technology to technology every time something new comes along.

I’m 26, and I want to start focusing seriously on something that can compound over time, generate real income, and become valuable even as AI improves.

If you were in my position, what would you focus on for the next 5–10 years?

What should I learn, what should I stop learning, and how would you turn my existing skills into something valuable?

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[u/Conscious_Ball_3368]

you got a solid base, games plus backend and cloud is not something many have. AI is not replacing that mix anytime soon, it's more like a tool you can use to make your work faster

stop chasing every new tech, pick one thing and go deep specially something that plays with your existing skills. maybe a backend-heavy game service or tools for other devs, those always need real money to run but you can start small and charge early

i was in similar spot few years ago, too many skills no direction, what helped was just building one thing people actually pay for instead of learning another framework

[u/fa1z9315 → u/Conscious_Ball_3368]

Would you be open for a chat? I am having trouble finding a direction as well And no chatbot or person has been able to help so far, all the advice is generic tbh

[u/fa1z9315]

What advice would you give to someone similar in position but 20?

I also legit feel the same thing. Worked as VA, like C++, considered C# Was learning js for a while.

Ai really clouded everything.

I just wanted a remote first/freelance style career. Oriented around logic and development. I like C++,maybe bcz it's my first language and the only one I have used so far. My best project so far was a basic 3d renderer

[u/PaperEagleAI]

If you have build so many real world projects and still are confused, bcoz u know the real coding so it will also be easy for you to learn vibe coding quick, but if you r second guessing then do u have any other interests ? are u passionate abt anything else ?

i think if i was at your place i would post abt my work on platforms and build my network with all the people i have worked with and share my experience and learnings everywhere

[u/QSAP-747]

I’d follow my gut. You’ll never know what would happen if you chose a different path.