for more experienced devs, is it better to be a jack of all trades, or a master of one? and is it feasible to be both? /u/In-Hell123 CSCQ protests reddit

I’m 22 and in my last year of IT. I’ve completed about 18 freelance projects so far and worked for a company for six months on a contract to develop some things for them. I’m working as a full-stack developer using SQL, MERN, Next.js, and PHP. I’ve deployed projects on AWS, mostly using EC2 instances for hosting websites. I’m extremely good at frontend development and decent at backend development, though I can definitely improve. I’m also working on gaining more DevOps skills.

I have a small background in security; I took six months of courses on securing servers and web application penetration testing. I’ve also completed numerous web scraping and automation projects using Python. I’m really good at JavaScript, React and CSS a weird flex with CSS, but I’ve been able to recreate a ton of things with minimal Googling or AI assistance. It’s about 90% me writing the code. I’m also really good at finding bugs in full-stack projects; all my classmates would call me for help whenever they faced any CSS, JS, or full-stack-related issues.

Now, I’m trying to learn something more challenging, like C or C++, and create a complex project with it—maybe a game or a chess engine.

My current goal is to become a better full-stack web developer by significantly improving my backend skills, building a solid foundation in DevOps, and gaining more experience with it, if feasible. Additionally, I want to specialize in a specific field of cybersecurity, primarily securing servers or web applications.

The thing is, I believe web developers aren’t as respected as other developers, and I think there will be a lot of money to be made in other fields in the future. The problem is that I have no idea where to start or what to focus on to truly master. I feel like I’m spreading myself too thin.

I think fintech is great the money is great and I’m very passionate about software and coding in general, so let’s ignore the passion part.

I’m extremely lost and I need guidance I wish I had someone who is like a senior or just someone with more exp that can guide me, not code wise, just generally.

I’m 22 and in my last year of IT. I’ve completed about 18 freelance projects so far and worked for a company for six months on a contract to develop some things for them. I’m working as a full-stack developer using SQL, MERN, Next.js, and PHP. I’ve deployed projects on AWS, mostly using EC2 instances for hosting websites. I’m extremely good at frontend development and decent at backend development, though I can definitely improve. I’m also working on gaining more DevOps skills.

I have a small background in security; I took six months of courses on securing servers and web application penetration testing. I’ve also completed numerous web scraping and automation projects using Python. I’m really good at JavaScript, React and CSS a weird flex with CSS, but I’ve been able to recreate a ton of things with minimal Googling or AI assistance. It’s about 90% me writing the code. I’m also really good at finding bugs in full-stack projects; all my classmates would call me for help whenever they faced any CSS, JS, or full-stack-related issues.

Now, I’m trying to learn something more challenging, like C or C++, and create a complex project with it—maybe a game or a chess engine.

My current goal is to become a better full-stack web developer by significantly improving my backend skills, building a solid foundation in DevOps, and gaining more experience with it, if feasible. Additionally, I want to specialize in a specific field of cybersecurity, primarily securing servers or web applications.

The thing is, I believe web developers aren’t as respected as other developers, and I think there will be a lot of money to be made in other fields in the future. The problem is that I have no idea where to start or what to focus on to truly master. I feel like I’m spreading myself too thin.

I think fintech is great the money is great and I’m very passionate about software and coding in general, so let’s ignore the passion part.

I’m extremely lost and I need guidance I wish I had someone who is like a senior or just someone with more exp that can guide me, not code wise, just generally.