Finding a direction

I’ve been learning to program since a while now, I know to develop web applications using Django and Flask(I took CS50 and am currently taking their followup Web Development Course). Now, I’ve just began to realise that there’s no definite role that programming may play in my future(I’m 14). I feel like I like I lack direction and there is no definite purpose for me to continue, except maybe the fact that I’ve progressed a lot by now(not absolutely, but relative to when I started), so continuing to advance my knowledge will be helpful. I could do with some help from those who’ve perhaps been here or have suggestions for the same.

Hi @brjsh20 !

Most teenagers don’t have a clear sense of what the future is going to look like.
And that is completely normal.
You are still growing and trying to figure out life.
It is completely normal not have a definitive game plan for your career.

If I were you, I would just keep learning for fun.
Build some stuff that you think would be cool to build.
Just focus on the learning and exploring part.
Don’t worry about your career right now.

You have plenty of time to figure that stuff out later.
Just keep focusing on school and learning programming for fun.

Hope that helps!

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Acknowledging that it’s normal is going to be helpful. But it still leaves me uncertain about what to do about it.

All you can do is focus on learning and growing.
Just build some fun stuff you are interested in.
Now is the time to explore and learn.
Focus on being a kid that is interested in learning instead of what their future career is going to look like.
Take advantage of this golden time that you have where you can just focus on learning and not have to deal with all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult.

Remember that you will be an adult a lot longer than you will be a kid.

You have plenty of time to worry about your career later.

Maybe you can get involved in some high school programs that match your academic interests.
Getting involved in a STEM program or club at your school or community could motivate you to learn with kids who have similar interests.

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So there’s one thing you can focus on in the long term:

Go to school to get a relevant degree (like Computer Science) if you enjoy programming enough to learn this stuff now, odds are you will still enjoy it and know a lot more by the time you end up getting to higher education.
This means you should focus on school so you can get decent enough grades to get into college. If you can’t pay for college you can always look for other financial support, or if it just isn’t enough there are plenty of other routes in terms of getting a job as a programmer with or without a degree. The degree gets you “into the door” when trying to get jobs later, and college can give you a lot of opportunities to find those “doors”. Even if you don’t go to college, you can find these opportunities elsewhere.

Regardless of how you get some “higher” education or whatever you do in the long term, in the short term continue to learn for the fun of it. I like to compare this to enjoying the path to the destination, rather than focus on the destination itself. As if you can enjoy the journey it becomes less a trek, and more an adventure you can enjoy. Building that sense of enjoyment is what I’d focus on right now.

So learn what you want, learn what you could learn, look into everything, and enjoy it while its still “new” to you. That should be enough for the short term, as building that enthusiasm is what can fuel your drive to bigger greater things once you find a direction later, and start making your march toward your end goals, whatever they may be.

Good luck, keep learning, keep building :+1:

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