Im 25, got a few years of full-stack work behind me, and i still remember how stupidly brutal the beginner phase felt. So when newer people ask if its even worth learning now, yeah, i get it. If all you hear is "AI writes code now" and "entry level is dead," of course thats gonna get in your head before youve even finished your second project

My take is pretty firm, the doomposting is doing more damage to beginners then the tools are. At actual jobs, the hard part usually isnt typing code from scratch anyway, its figuring out what the code is supposed to do, noticing when the output is quietly wrong, wiring backend to frontend without snapping 3 other things, reading logs, asking less useless questions, and dealing with that dumb feeling of "why is this one tiny thing ruining my whole night". Thats still human stuff. Still matters

What i wouldnt do is try to compete on raw codegen speed, thats the quickest way to feel pointless. Id focus on fundamentals and small real projects where you can explain every file, every API call, every bug you hit and fixed, because if a tool helps you learn then fine, but if it turns your practice into copy-paste without understanding its basically junk calories and your brain doesnt recieve much from that long term

If youre early and this stuff is messing with your head, youre not irrational or lazy. The market talk is scary, thats just true. I just dont think the answer is quitting before youve even given yourself a fair shot. Curious how other people are handling that anxiety while still making progress