I feel &quot;software dev&quot; is too broad. And the ambiguity disguises choices that might harm you prospects.<p>I read this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;quantjob.blogspot.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;12&#x2F;how-to-avoid-quantdeveloper-black-hole.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;quantjob.blogspot.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;12&#x2F;how-to-avoid-quantdevel...</a><p>And the description of being &quot;sucked in&quot; to a &quot;housekeeping IT&quot; rang scarily true. Match with this phenomenon: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;B64WFyuCIAAjq3u.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pbs.twimg.com&#x2F;media&#x2F;B64WFyuCIAAjq3u.png</a><p>And you might realise there are shitty dev jobs with poor prospects out there, that bill themselves as more than they are. The whole &quot;passionate about my job&quot; thing then becomes a little sinister.<p>There are different classes of dev jobs. The bad ones pay little and lead to less, and will usually come painted with BS. The &quot;passionate&quot; dev will be happy with whatever they get, and they&#x27;ll get very little to be passionate about - in-house housekeeping all the way.<p>But at least the market is good enough now that you can always realise this later and try to fix things. When the gravy train begins to wain, you might be stuck with what you have...