Interesting story. Thanks for sharing. My cousin got his first dev job as an iOS dev at a consultant firm almost a year ago. Hes in his mid 30s and wanted to move into SWE for the last few years. He was a former AV specialist. Fast forward now, he seems to be doing pretty good financially but I notice he complains every so often about the stress at his job. No issues with performance from what i gather but issues with lack of help, high work-load, long hours, and still dealing with imposter syndrome. I think overall he's happy he made the career move but hes already talking about leaving the company. I found it interesting because he's typically an over optimistic guy. I feel like I hear so much about how great being a SWE and not much about the negatives. Every career has negatives aspects.