Hard to tell without knowing much about you, what sort of work you’ve done, what sort of education you have, where your passions lie if not in software, etc. >

Hard to tell without knowing much about you, what sort of work you’ve done, what sort of education you have, where your passions lie if not in software, etc. > I'm barely 1.5 YOE, unemployed now, sending out endless applications, but by my estimates a mediocre programmer. Yep it’s a bad market right now. Luckily this industry seems to be teeming with idiots who never learn and continue to cyclically do the same thing over and over again, and I imagine eventually the market will pick up for “mediocre” types again. Ofc, do what you have to in the meantime. > Considering all this, should I just focus my efforts on starting my own business, or switch career paths? Start a business doing what? Switch careers to what? As I said at the start of my comment, it’s hard to give any sort of insight to something like this without knowing a bit more. Personally I hate professional software development. Hate the work, hate the companies, hate the people, but I’m going to try to stick it out for at least a bit longer. Why? The money is unmatched. Passion is great and all, but it’s expensive to pursue outside of the most casual way. I’m not someone who pursues money at the cost of anything else, but denying that money, often a lot, is needed to seriously pursue other things is stupid.