Why I'm moving away from Software Engineering

When I first started coding, I decided that Software Engineering would be the only career option I'd ever take. But over time, my passion for it started to fade. The current landscape of Software Engineering just feels very unstable for a long term career, and the main cause of that is obviously AI.

Now, AI is NOT the reason I'm deciding to pursue something different. But it's worth talking about, because Agentic Coding has basically become the norm. Writing code is becoming less common in industry. You still need to understand the code that AI produces, but the role of a Software Engineer has shifted into more of an orchestrator, where you're managing sub agents to do the work and reviewing whatever they produce. Universities don't really mention this, yet it's pretty much the standard now.

I don't actually think this is a bad thing. It saves developers a ton of time. Coding was always a hurdle to getting a solution out the door, and AI removes a lot of that hurdle, which lets developers focus more on the problem solving side of things. That's what the job has always really been about anyway, solving problems, not writing code. Coding is just a tool to get there.

The downside is that this same shift dramatically reduces the need for Software Engineers, which is a big reason the job market is so rough right now. So many people are studying Computer Science, yet the number of roles has actually declined.

So if AI isn't the reason, then what is? Honestly, it comes down to two things. The first is that my interest in Software Engineering has slowly been fading, I just don't feel the same excitement for it that I used to. The second is the uncertainty around AI. Nobody really knows how stable any of this is, where the field is heading, or what the job actually looks like in a few years, and I'm not comfortable betting my whole career on something that unpredictable.

In this blog I'm going to explain my plan until I graduate next year.

What will I be pursuing?

Aside from Software Engineering, Computer Networking has always been the thing that interests me the most. There's a reason I chose to study IT in college, which covered a lot of networking topics, rather than Computer Science. Understanding how computers on a network communicate, how to design a network, and the physical hardware behind it all has always fascinated me. That's also why I picked networking related modules at University like IoT and Computer Networking & Communications.

What will I be doing to achieve this?

Networking is a very practical, skill-based role, so it doesn't really require a specific degree, which makes it a valid option for me to get into. On top of that, both my college diploma and my degree included networking related modules, so hopefully that gives me a small advantage going in.

Up until now, I've been spending my time learning Software Engineering concepts, working on projects and grinding LeetCode. I'm going to slowly drift away from that and instead focus my time and energy, until I graduate, on learning as much as I can about Computer Networking. That means working on networking based projects, taking industry leading certifications and talking to people who already work as Network Engineers. This isn't to say I'll stop coding altogether, I'll still build hobby projects and do the odd LeetCode question, it's just that my main focus will shift towards Computer Networking.

Why not other fields like Cybersecurity or Artificial Intelligence?

I've thought about those fields, but they both require pretty deep expertise, which means I'd probably have to do a masters in one of them. I was leaning more towards Cybersecurity for a while, but that field is quite hard to break into as a junior. And honestly, I suck at maths, the maths in AI courses is NO joke, so that's probably not the best idea for me lol. So that leaves me with Computer Networking, which is great because I genuinely have a passion for it.

I'll admit, Computer Networking isn't the most glamorous job in the tech world compared to Software Engineering, Cybersecurity and AI, but it pays well and it's stable. There's a reason the boring jobs are the most stable ones, they're the ones nobody is rushing to automate or flood with thousands of applicants. Networks aren't going anywhere, every company relies on them, and someone needs to actually design, maintain and secure that infrastructure. To me, that kind of stability is worth a lot more than chasing whatever the hyped up field of the year happens to be.

Don't get me wrong though, when I say "boring" I don't mean stagnant. Computer Networking is a field where you're constantly learning new things. The technology is always evolving, there's new protocols, new hardware, cloud networking, automation, security practices and so much more to keep up with. You never really stop learning in this field, and that's actually one of the things I love about it. So when I call it boring, I just mean it's stable and not overhyped, not that there's nothing new to learn.

Conclusion

So yeah, that's pretty much where my head is at right now. Software Engineering was my plan for the longest time, but my interest has faded and the uncertainty around AI just makes it feel like a risky bet for a long term career. Computer Networking is something I've always genuinely enjoyed, it's stable, and there's always something new to learn, so it feels like the right move for me.

If you're someone going through something similar, questioning whether the path you're on is still the right one, I'd say don't be afraid to pivot. It's never too late to lean into what actually interests you, just make sure you have a plan and put in the work to back it up.

But yeah, thanks for reading and have a good one! ❤️

psst* come say hi if you wanna chat about any of this