Feels like anyone can do what i do now
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TLDR I feel like in today's age, any knowledge I got from my degree and my studies became a very known commodity and anyone now can do the same, even more if we expand 5-10-15 years from now on. What's even the value of the field now? I lost my motivation as years passes by, got from 100 to 0 in the frame of 8 years, and don't know what to do, things got very bad I even became clinically depressed since 2 years ago.
I'm a full stack .NET and Mobile developer. I'm junior level through, in a medium sized company that dominates a specific market in my city. I had a 2 year internship at the same company, so most of my graduation was being a working student. In total I have 2.5 years of experience and 7-8 years of study. I'm 22 now and started my studies at a tech school when I was 14.
The problem is that since the commodity of software (got into programming in the era of a slight no code hype), I felt like something that required some expertise, like programming, became easily replicable by anyone, but it was still in simple things like building websites or frontend in general. Since I'm a very fan of fiction, I imagined back in 2019 that something involving LLMs in the future could maybe do coding, it was not absurd to conclude that in my simple data science classes, since coding is a very syntax driven and direct language, the more high level it is. It's so unfortunate it happened so fast.
I've got a thing to develop shell scripts and automation to almost any menial task I found on a computer. Started doing private packages to some softwares (like Obsidian for writing, Foundry VTT for table RPGS I never played, scripts for tabletop simulator or others simulators, Minecraft mods, etc). I really fell in love with solving things, sometimes even making useless but fun things made me smile (did a desktop buddy one time).
Then one time i became a solo game developer since almost 17, it was the most fun I've had building skills and solving problems. I got into math, 3D, shaders, a bit of low level stuff, data structures, optimization, all because of it. I've always felt like I had something to learn.
I've got back to art, learning technical art, I was always a fan of art, but did very little myself. Started to do digital drawing, then got into 3D, image editing, video editing, VFX.
I was an expert at nothing but felt like I could do anything if i put enough effort into it. I've built an entire personality around being a fan of computer and knowing things many people thinks is dark magic.
Then AI came out in 2021-2022. In the start people were skeptical, judgmental, everything, and since that era I only got scared honestly, because the thing I've thought in 2019 became real too fast. People started using it to generate texts, funny memes, broken images, and all things, it hadn't good practical benefits beyond that.
Then it started doing digital painting better, with most technical stuff way better than I did at age. Rendering, lineart, perspective, composition, even some bland images had better technique. I dropped drawing by 2023, got utterly depressed since then. The job/internship when I was doing comp science was what still made me keep going. I've decided to focus on my programming and computer skills to assure my career and my mental skills, since it's the only thing I feel like I'm good at.
Then as time passes by, everyone starts using LLM to do code. Gradually it became a trend and now it's almost required. My company still does not make it mandatory, but sometimes tries to push us into it in today. I really do not know what I will do when I'm out.
I did setup agents and tried making programs entirely and it surprised me a lot, at least in C# development.
Since 2025 I became lazy, unmotivated, depressed even more. I feel like every skill i tried captivating became a commodity any random person at street can do now in seconds, I feel so useless today, even though i still have a job. I fucking hate how things are today, I should be enthusiastic with AI and LLMs now than ever, and I do find very interesting all the math and logic behind the models, but I can't find that urge anymore.
I stopped doing projects, studying (graduated this year), taking care of myself, even watching fun content about low level, I gave up. Like, I'm even slow in my job, that I found somewhat tedious since last year, but it was refreshing to solve legacy code problems and implement new features in the new software. Everything feels a chore. Life is gray for me since last year, I'm almost on meds to keep going.
Got friends and colleagues bragging about doing anything with ai now, or literally shutting up in my face that can code all things I've done with way less effort. Some friends even generating lots of assets for our table RPGS and doing content with that even though we don't even needed it.
Got people straight up putting my work onto training models and posting about it (or putting it on public domains, then I found it), so I stopped posting it publicly, even open source.
I feel like I'm an old school manual carpenter when there's an entire automatic industry making all types of art pieces or housing decorations.
I really does not see value in my skills anymore, it's like I'm having a middle 60s crisis when I'm only 22. I know I can learn others skills or get into other fields, but I don't see myself liking the job like I was privileged (still am sometimes) to have a job I like.
I really feels like I'm devalued. All the value I've put into learning computers is pointless, even though it does not do everything now, what's the point? I will be jobless in 10 years and god knows if I will ever work again in the field, it's sad as fuck.
Sorry for the defeatist atitude guys. I really liked a lot, reading all posts in this sub and lots of related subs every morning with my coffee, before starting typing numbers and letters. I really do not know what I should do with my career, my depression, my life. Sometimes things just sucks. Don't know if someone is also feeling like it, but you're not alone. I'm sorry.
Sorry for manual typing all this text. Hope it's understandable, English is not my first language, and I just put a little effort in writing all that.
Any tips on how to even get on track on my career after loosing a lot of drive for it? My reason is a lot more complicated than it should be, but I need help, I hope I'm not alone on this. Sorry if it feels more like a rent.