Imagine losing everything, like you went back to square one, everything lost and down the drain because of one small, avoidable mistake. Not a catastrophic accident, not a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy, but a series of tiny, seemingly harmless decisions that snowballed into something irreversible.
This is my story.
I had just graduated from university, full of fire and ambition. My degree wasn’t in tech, but I was drawn to the world of possibilities I saw in it.
This was in the early 20-teens, and the buzzword floating everywhere was “Fullstack Developer.” YouTube was overflowing with success stories, “I went from zero to six figures in a year,” “How I became a Fullstack developer without a CS degree.” It was intoxicating. The idea that I could break out of the trenches, skip the struggle, and become a success story myself.
So, I jumped in.
I started hoarding resources-free courses, paid Udemy tutorials, and YouTube walkthroughs. My bookmarks bar became a graveyard of half-started journeys. I’d spend hours each day coding along to tutorials, copying projects line by line. I called it “building my skills,” but really, I was just vibe coding, floating through it all without a map.
It felt like progress. I was busy. But deep down, something didn’t feel right.
At first, I focused on frontend development, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React. It was visual, colorful, and gave me a sense of creative control. It felt like the right choice for someone wondering how to start a tech career from scratch.
Then came the noise: “Frontend is dying,” “Backend developers earn more,” “Best programming language to learn in 2025.” I began to feel like I was on the wrong path. Every tweet and video made it seem as if you weren’t learning APIs, databases, and infrastructure, you were falling behind.
So I pivoted. Again.
I told myself: If I can just learn .NET Core (C#), I’ll finally be taken seriously. I began stockpiling backend development materials, registering for even more courses, and diving into the backend world. I explored Docker, databases, and tried to understand how full systems worked.
It felt like a smart, future-proof decision.
Then Web3 happened.
Suddenly, every developer roadmap was pointing to Solidity, Clarity, and blockchain tech. I saw people deploying million-dollar NFT projects, getting hired remotely for $300k+ jobs. “Web3 is the future of tech,” they said—and I believed it.
So I ran after it. Learning how to become a Web3 developer became my new obsession.
But before I could truly build something meaningful in the space, AI came crashing through the front door.
ChatGPT, LangChain, Stable Diffusion. Prompt engineering was suddenly the hottest job in tech. “This is the future,” they said. Build tools with LLMs, create autonomous agents, and solve anything with AI. Once again, I pivoted.
I joined Discord groups, enrolled in the latest AI courses, and started building toy projects using Python and LLM APIs. I told myself, This is it. This is the one that’ll stick.
But one evening, something changed.
I opened my laptop, ready to fire up yet another tutorial. But instead, I just stared at the screen. My GitHub profile was a scattered mess, tons of repositories with fancy names and zero traction. My notes folder was overflowing with half-digested AI, Web3, and backend theory.
My to-do notes were full of “learning,” but I had no shipped projects, no real contributions, no proof of growth.
It hit me hard: I had spent years chasing everything and caught nothing.
I had no identity. No specialization. Just a trail of half-baked skills and abandoned roadmaps.
In trying to ride every wave, I drowned. In trying to learn everything, I learned nothing well enough to stand out.
I didn’t fail because I lacked passion; I failed because I lacked direction.
I wasn’t building depth. I wasn’t staying long enough to master anything. I was chasing hype, not building value.
If I had to name my biggest mistake, it wasn’t choosing the wrong programming language or stack. It was not choosing anything long enough to grow in it. Every time things got hard—or a shinier opportunity came up, I jumped ship.
In hindsight, there was a better path.
I should’ve picked one domain, Frontend, Backend, or Web3, and committed to it for at least a year. A focused, immersive year. Not a week. Not a weekend binge. A full year of building real things.
I should’ve taken on real-world projects. Contributed to open source. Solved problems that mattered to me. Shipped things, even if they were imperfect.
Had I stuck with JavaScript, I could have grown into a senior React or Node.js developer. I could’ve freelanced, built a side business, or joined a startup. But I let fear and FOMO drive my choices.
Every pivot was a retreat, disguised as momentum.
And I know I’m not alone.
Right now, someone is on their fifth Udemy course of the year. They're switching from JavaScript to Rust to Solidity, telling themselves, This one will work.
But if you haven’t built anything, haven’t shipped anything, haven’t committed to the process, you’re just delaying the pain.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
Mastery beats curiosity. Commitment beats hype. Real depth beats scattered potential.
So if you’re reading this, and you're stuck in tutorial hell, ask yourself:
Are you learning? Or are you running?
Lesson
Don’t let hype hijack your journey. The fastest way to succeed in tech is not by chasing every shiny new tool, but by sticking with one path long enough to get good. You don’t need 10 skills. You need one skill that’s sharp, tested, and valuable.
If you're wondering how to avoid burnout in tech, or asking is coding even worth it in 2025?
You're not alone. I’ve asked the same. But now I know: your breakthrough won’t come from a new course or trend. It comes from quiet, consistent work done with intent.
Ignore the noise. Ignore the hype cycles. Tech changes fast, yes, but the people who thrive are those who go deep, not wide. Mastery beats curiosity when it comes to long-term impact.
I lost years I can’t get back. But I gained a lesson that I’ll carry forward: you don’t need to be everywhere. You just need to be somewhere, fully present, fully committed.
That’s where growth happens.
If you want to see some of the side projects I built through this chaotic journey of failure, check out my posts.
Follow me on X to stay updated on what I’m up to in the world of Web3, AI, and what it means to grow as a developer in 2025.
Top comments (24)
Relating real hard to bouncing between trends and ending up with nothing solid - honestly, not sure focus is something you teach or something you hit after hitting the wall a few times. you think sticking to one stack actually matters most, or is just about what gets you finishing projects at all?
Finding a balance is the missing piece. I walked the same thigh rope, imagining if I just use the skills found online to finish this job or that, that's the same.
Not true, bro.
You have no real experience, and you can't replicate your journey.
My advice is to learn one thing so well you know it by heart and build on top, not alongside, but on top.
Same history story but my learn from it was that you never learn frameworks!!! You learn standards and foundational technologies and then you build your own frameworks!
That worked for me very good, now no matter how much tech industry is gonna change i can always very easily "catch up" if needed or just upgrade my powers if wanted.
Hope this helps 😁
Agree. Instead of just learning tools, languages, or frameworks, the more important thing is we have to hone our skills to formulate concepts and ideas to solve the problems we face.
Real practical application across different sphere. That's the mark of skill development.
True, just having deep foundational knowledge allows you to pivot when naccesary.
Thats a good one.
Thanks for your honesty, I hope it will help other people.
I think they are things/advices I can add :
For the true technical aspect (paradoxically, it won't help much finding a job but will help for adapting to whatever stack you need) :
This is valuable.
Thanks for sharing such a relatable story! It’s easy to get caught up in the noise and excitement of new trends, especially in tech, where there’s always some “next big thing” to chase. Your experience really highlights the importance of focus and consistency - sticking with one path long enough to gain real depth and expertise. I think a lot of people can relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed by options and constantly jumping from one thing to another. It’s not always about learning everything; it’s about mastering one thing and building real, tangible projects that you can be proud of. Your lesson about commitment over curiosity is a valuable takeaway that many beginners (and even more experienced devs) can learn from.
Mastering.
That's the keyword.
Becoming proficient and using the knowledge to build.
Thanks for your astute feedback
One thing that could be an effect of this story is, I can't identify what is my expertise. So when I want to explore a new job opportunity, I'm having trouble to choose one. Because I feel my skills in this or that tech stack is not deep and maybe I'm not qualified with my current knowledge and skills. It ends with I'm not applying to any job opportunities, and feel stuck :(
True. I always feel I am not the right guy because of my fear of not being good enough. Then, when I see others doing amazing stuff, it clicks: I can do this, too.
I believe just doing it is the best, no matter the consequence.
Thanks for sharing your story ! I'm living almost the same journey in learning.
Excepted that I think expanding the knownledges to many differents technologies is really helpfull to have a global vision and choosing rights tools for the right problem.
But you're right : mastering one (at least) is very important.
Finally, a real-world story on dev.to
too bad!!
Great article! Unfortunately, it's probably the story of many of us. It seems our higher education institutions are good at teaching theory, but very bad at preparing developers for the real world.
We learnt so much without learning anything.
But we must all navigate and build a holistic pathway to success.
I was about to change my path, but this has reminded me to stay on track. Thanks a lot for sharing your story and the lessons you have learned!
This is inspiring, knowing I helped in your journey of staying the course.
Best of luck.
Great writeup. Currently learning. Hoping to master frontend development.
Stick to it and dont get carried away.
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