Ask HN: Should I leave web development to study medicine in my mid-30s?

For a while, I’ve been quite demoralized about my job. I just can’t take pride in what I do as a web developer anymore. I don’t know if that will ever change. I can’t help feeling that a lot of dev jobs out there, whether highly or poorly paid, are kind of pointless in the grand scheme of things. I apologize for being so blunt: I just want to convey where my mind is at the moment. I struggle to see my own work as useful, and it’s seriously affecting my self-worth.

It’s bothering me to the point where I’m seriously considering a career change. The alternative I keep returning to is medicine. I feel drawn to work with a clear human purpose, in which my knowledge could directly help someone. Between self-study and late-night deployments, I already work long hours anyway. Part of me thinks I might as well redirect that effort toward something that feels like a net positive. However, I may be idealizing a profession I haven’t experienced firsthand.

If I were younger, I would go for it. But I have to be realistic about my age, finances, and the skills I’ve already acquired. I live in a European country where medicine is a six-year degree and tuition itself is manageable, but I don’t know if I can afford to put my life on pause for so long.

In hindsight, I can’t help but wonder whether coding was really a self-imposed limitation born from familiarity and fear. As a teenager, I spent an awful lot of time on my computer, so I grew up within that world. Maybe I shortchanged myself by not considering other life paths. Meanwhile, I increasingly feel detached from and disappointed by the direction of the modern web. AI tools are one of the few silver linings: ChatGPT and Claude have genuinely improved many parts of my life.

I’d be very grateful for any thoughts or advice. For the sake of my privacy and well-being, I won’t be responding to comments, but I will read and carefully consider all of them.