Some Advice: First, the good news. You are 23 and basically an entry level employee with nowhere to go but up, even if up is in a completely different career t

Some Advice: First, the good news. You are 23 and basically an entry level employee with nowhere to go but up, even if up is in a completely different career than what you do now. You are the career equivalent of a new born and people will understand that you might not have picked your life's passion yet. Second, pull yourself together and drop the ageist crap. If you actually think you will be considered "old" in your early 30s for any career other than professional athlete you are deluding yourself. Even US special forces will admit fresh faced recruits into their late 20s. In many places a "gap" year is typical and even required for high school students. G.I. Bill recipients need 3 years of service to fully qualify for benefits. You have taken four and the extra is negligible in my opinion. Third, you have been at your current job for four years. There are no negative effects for leaving for a new position IF after securing an offer you tell your current manager in plain terms why you are leaving and what would be required to retain you. If they counter, great, if they don't you part ways on good professional terms. Fourth, two years at a community college and finishing at a high quality university (whatever degree you seek) is likely going to be in the range of $30k to $150k depending on your family income. If you are motivated by the lure of a high paying career, that is likely something you could pay off in a very reasonable amount of time. Fifth, if you hate what you do it will eventually crush you. Taking a job you hate for more money is typically not a sustainable path. It sounds like there are some opportunities that do interest you and I would encourage you to explore them more, even if the money is not as great as what seems like a terrabad alternative. A Warning to Others: This person has fallen into the no credentials trap. The reality is that the majority of college students change majors and 30% do so more than once. This career uncertainty is not limited to college students and like this person, most people in their early 20s will ultimately agonize over their chosen career. The key difference here is that a high school student deciding to switch careers in the first few years after graduation has built nothing whereas the college student was still building towards a degree even if they switch tracks several times. I know some will want to counter that a degree is meaningless for a tech career and for some select few that might be the case, but we are not all programming savants or entrepreneurial wizards and I would strongly caution anyone from taking it.