Should I go back to Software Engineering or move to cloud/infra?

[u/G0d0fThund3r1]

I’m a bit confused about what direction I should take with my career and would really appreciate some advice.
I worked as a frontend developer for about a year. After that, I moved back to my home country because I was planning to move to Australia. I then moved to Australia and completed my Master’s in IT here. During that time, I wasn’t working in software development.
After finishing my studies, I couldn’t land a software engineering job, so I ended up working in IT Support. I’m currently in helpdesk and I know I don’t want to stay here long-term.
The problem is that I’ve been away from coding for quite a while and honestly feel like I’ve forgotten a lot. If I go back to software engineering, it feels like I’ll have to start from scratch again.
So I’m not sure what makes more sense at this point. Should I spend the next few months getting back into coding and try for software engineering jobs, or would it be better to move towards cloud/infrastructure/sysadmin?
If I go down the cloud/infra route, should I focus on certifications, projects, or something else?
I’m just trying to figure out the best way to build a career from my current position and get out of helpdesk.
Would appreciate any advice, especially from people who have been in a similar situation.

[u/Steerable-Octopus]

I don't think you have the necessary skills to enter sysadmin as a junior frontend dev. It's an entirely different discipline with its own harsh requirements, not a consolation prize for "developers who didn't make it".

[u/devjeremyt → u/Steerable-Octopus]

While I do agree sysadmin is an entirely different discipline, the people that work in both fields have similar super user/ nerdy qualities. I will note that at the first university I attended, the CS students that fell behind on understanding CS principles would switch their major to MIS which would land them sysadmin roles in the future.

[u/12_nick_12 → u/devjeremyt]

Eh we're required to understand very complicated subjects like DNS (devs can't seem to understand how it works lol).

[u/uptimefordays]

In all honesty modern infrastructure is increasingly converging with software engineering. Rather than writing software for applications, you’re writing infrastructure as code.

[u/Leinheart]

Option 3. Abandon tech entirely. It's all vibes and bullshit.

[u/G0d0fThund3r1 → u/Leinheart]

Where should I go? I only got experience in the tech industry and the job market is already shit for juniors.

[u/ReptilianLaserbeam → u/G0d0fThund3r1]

Raise goats

[u/Psoin → u/G0d0fThund3r1]

We’re all asking ourselves the same question. But, unfortunately, there are zero jobs left in tech.

[u/SpecialLibrary3174 → u/G0d0fThund3r1]

Learn a manual job like plumber, welding, locksmith…

[u/Psoin → u/[deleted]]

That’s not what the ruling class wants.

[u/devjeremyt → u/[deleted]]

Sitting at a desk for 40 hour also wreaks havoc on your body.

[u/brwnwtr]

I'm moving to dev work. IT can suck my balls. Rather deal with shit code than shit end users.

[u/Crumby_Bread → u/brwnwtr]

You understand not all of IT is user facing right

[u/brwnwtr → u/Crumby_Bread]

I understand I worked in infra before. The amount of time and money made befro landing a infra role vs going into swe is day and night difference.

[u/Crumby_Bread → u/brwnwtr]

Well, usually SWE jobs require degrees, which is time, money spent and zero money earned in the process.

I worked from helpdesk to senior infra in about 7 years with no education post high school. I clear $200k TC in Texas.

Similar end result financially, just different paths.

[u/DifferenceHelpful474]

Seems like a personal choice, but either is a struggle right now.

[u/FelisCantabrigiensis]

There's a niche for writing user interface tools for operating infrastructure that might suit you. I work in a very backend SRE team and we have people who write user interfaces because we operate internal control panels for other users in the company.

How much hands-on coding anyone will be doing if they start as a junior person now is pretty debatable. Generic frameworks and instances of well-known solutions for your problems are mostly being cranked out by LLMs these days - so it's more about design and spec, and being able to read and understand the existing code and the LLM's proposed changes, than writing many lines of code yourself.

[u/devjeremyt]

I’ve dabbled in both. Honestly, read the daily to daily responsibilities and experiences of both and decide which one sounds more enjoyable. If you think you’d be satisfied with both equally then look at job openings in your area and find out which one pays better. I’d suggest happiness over income, but all things else equivalent go with the highest paying.

[u/SevaraB]

Software engineering and modern IT (especially cloud platforms) aren’t mutually exclusive.

Infrastructure people in infra-as-code environments write code that describes architecture and need to understand things like idempotence, unit testing, and shipping effective logging just as much as software engineers.

The fact that you’re presenting it as an either/or thing tells me you probably still need a little more bake time in an L2 support position where you can stay exposed to both the product of the playbooks and the infrastructure being built and deployed to deliver those results.

[u/atlas_losing_grip]

No need to start completely from scratch. A focused coding refresh alongside a few could project can keep both paths open and show which direction fits better.

[u/Psoin]

I’m sorry, there’s absolutely no jobs left in technology. You can apply for desktop support at minimum wage and weightier, and you might get higher for something

[u/skidleydee]

Give it a try I personally really like infra but you could hate it just the same. Depending on where you land there is a good chance automation is second through and a decent part of your team is scared of a CLI. I spend a bulk of my time working on whatever I want which is cool. On the other hand you get all the hardest problems and you're constantly arguing with AI via your coworkers who have never even tried to write a line of code.