A 17-year-old AI-heavy coder is unsure how to specialize
A 17-year-old developer is trying to choose a long-term path in software. They have programmed for about 5 to 6 years, starting with Discord bots and later trying web development, IoT, networking, and automation. From the beginning, they rarely wrote everything from scratch; they mostly edited existing code, copied and adapted examples, built on starter templates, and later leaned heavily on .
They are comfortable with Next.js, Three.js, Python, C++, and learning new tools, but they do not memorize syntax. Their strength is reading code and understanding what it does, even across different languages. They tried Framer and frontend work as a way to make money, but found that pixel-level visual detail and UI/UX work do not interest them much.
They enjoy , connecting parts together, backend , and IoT more than frontend styling. Their long-term goal is to become a strong software engineer and eventually build companies, not just freelance websites, but they are unsure whether to go deep into backend and , focus on IoT platforms, or keep exploring.
Key points
- The developer has about 5 to 6 years of experience across Discord bots, web development, IoT, networking, and automation.
- They use heavily and rely more on reading and understanding code than memorizing syntax.
- They know tools such as Next.js, Three.js, Python, and C++, and feel comfortable learning new ones.
- Frontend styling, pixel-level detail, and UI/UX work are not very appealing to them.
- They are more interested in , backend , IoT, and eventually building companies.