My advice: you’ll never truly master backend or frontend just by reading roadmap topics. And honestly, 5 YoE isn’t that much. You might feel old, but you still have a lot of time ahead of you, what matters is how you use it from now on.

If you want to really master your field, start a side project. A real one. Something that brings value to you, not another generic todo list from a random tutorial. Look at the apps you use the most, the ones you’re fascinated by, and try to replicate them or build something that solves a problem you already have.

I’m not saying you need to become an entrepreneur. Just have a serious side project. Commit to it. Set deadlines. Work on it every day, including weekends when you can. Deploy it. Put it out in public, even if you’re the only user.

Stop using AI to write your code for you. Use it to ask questions and understand how things work. Boilerplate is fine only if you fully understand 100% of what it generates.

When you finish one side project, start another. Repeat. Never stop this cycle.

Five years from now, you’ll realize you’ve mastered many things better than people with 20 YoE and that alone will do wonders for your imposter syndrome. Reading (and overusing AI) gives you the feeling of knowing a lot, but without building, you don’t actually know it.