There are two sides to this that I am seeing. Responding to inside and outside influence.
Responding to influence
Everyone has their own personality type, and their own way of dealing with outside influence. From what you are saying here, it sounds like you place importance on what people close to you think (your parents), and what works for people who are in similar situations. This is not a negative by default, as collecting information and opinions from others before making a decision is a good skill to have. However, this can become a negative when you allow it to influence or override your decisions too much.
My advice is to direct your focus inward with a variety of tools/techniques.
If you’re a fan of reading, I recommend “The Power of Kabbalah”. This book has some spiritual influence (Kabbalah is part of the Jewish religion) but I am not religious and still found it incredibly useful for my self-growth. This book is not “self-help” advice, it’s a collection of thoughts and ideas about how the world works, what the universe is, and how you can think about yourself and your life in solution-oriented ways.
If you enjoy a more practical approach, there is also a technique known as mindfulness. There is a ton of resources on this topic, from videos, to mobile apps (for meditating and being mindful), to articles, books, and published mental health research. Mindfulness, in short, is all about being aware of your own thoughts and feelings. It sounds easy and simple, but I will tell you it is the hardest thing I have done in my adult life.
There is an article that I read recently about how all events that occur are processed by your brain through your brain stem which is where emotions occur, and is then passed through to be processed logically by other regions of the brain. These emotions affect every decision, interaction, and purpose that you do every day, without even realizing that emotions are guiding you before you have time to logically think and decide something. Mindfulness taps into this by focusing on just being aware of what you think, how you feel, and if it is emotional or logical. Is it negative thoughts you are turning into reality, or are you seeing things for what they really are?
When it comes to dealing with internal and external doubt, these are a couple of tools that I personally have used to change myself and found incredible relief and success from. I love to take input from others, and I’m a very agreeable person, and it was ruining my life. Now I know the difference between doing what is right and best for me, and accepting input from others or my own thoughts.
I’m 27, almost 28 by the way. I only have a two year degree in college and I’m just starting to truly understand programming in a way that might net me a job in the next year or two. You are not late, and you shouldn’t worry about comparing yourself to others anyways. In some cases this is useful, but in life it is the worst thing you can do to yourself. We all have a different path. A year ago I was a single alcoholic with a party lifestyle, and this year I’m successful in my work, have received 3 promotions, and I have two kids and a fiance. Who cares if others are graduated already, already married with a house, or already their own boss as a business owner? I’m doing just great for myself and that is more important to me than any other thing in life. I’m happy.
Do what makes you happy, and think deeply on it until you are 100% confident in your answer and no internal or external doubt can shake you. That is my advice.