I studied IT for the wrong reasons and after I worked for a year, I realized how unfulfilling it is to me.
After 1 year of unemployment, I’m feeling completely useless and I’m considering getting another job in programming just for the sake of working (perhaps life suck for everybody and I’m just being too picky), but I’m also considering doing a master in other area (I’m thinking of finance (but I’m afraid that automation will kill the jobs) or risk management) or going for a second bachellor degree.
If I could go back in time, I would definitely don’t go for CS, I would go for something more humanistic like law, medicine or economy or maybe civil engineering (not finance but it’s one of the masters I can do with my bachellor).
I have clinic history of depression, so I don’t know how to tell if I disliked my job or I wasn’t capable of feeling okay in general. I find spending all day in the computer and working in such a fragmented industry sad. Also, where I live, programming is not well payed; if you get 30k/yr you are at the head of the curve, average is 25k/yr.
That’s tough. Don’t make any rash decisions or rush into anything. There’s something to be said about enjoying what you do and only having one life to do it. There’s also the having a job and money to live aspect. I suffer from depression, also. I would get medication if you’re not already taking something and see if you can begin to tolerate things more. You have to do what’s best for you, of course. Try to find something that you really enjoy, some sort of hobby. I’m lacking in this area myself so when I leave work, I don’t have much going on and it makes my depression linger. Best of luck to you.
I would say you need to try and slide into management areas in development. No one is going to be an energizer bunny their whole lives. Being on the “front line” of any dev team is a young man’s game.
Being in a mid level management job will allow you to pace yourself a little better so you can take breaks when you start to get depressed.
Also medicating the shit out of yourself can be good.
I’ll second on the medication part for sure. I’ll attest to what cauffe has said. My brother works for the same company as myself, in a different department albeit, but he tells me stories about incompetent developers who get promoted to management and that if you’re a great developer, they’ll keep you there. It gives me hope lol.