The knowledge is available sure, but I’m finding out more and more how meaningless it is. I could maybe learn most of what interests me even outside CS. The knowledge is there, but what I’m missing is the opportunities.
For example, I didn’t go to school, but many of my friends did. One good friend of mine from high school ended up getting a job in a really cool domain, not simple because he had the knowledge, but because he had the opportunities to work on those things in a setting with other people and connection to recruiting pipelines, etc. I could spend years studying the sort of thing he does on my own and never have a chance of really engaging with it or getting since to work in it. For another example, here’s another commenter on this thread giving an example of things you just can never get a chance do outside an academic setting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37499943
Of course as I mentioned if I had gone to school at 17 or 18 I likely would have squandered all this trying to put in the minimum effort to get in and out asap.
My ideal goal isn’t to just snag some overpaid FAANG job. Though if that’s what will get me where I want than so be it.
Yeah idk what advice to give that you haven't heard. I don't know what you're aspiring to, but some dreams just remain that way. Sometimes it's best to accept that and focus on what you do have control over.
Do you enjoy what you do currently? Is it possible to grow that into a career that fulfills you?
Personally, I became much happier once I started looking outside my career for happiness. The best advice I got was use your job to earn money to pay for the things you love, as opposed to using your career as the sole means of fulfillment. Hopefully that helps
