First off, I am mainly a lurker here and read a lot of this stuff, for better or for worse. I'm a junior in high school, unsure where to go next. I do a lot of programming and I suck at it.
I have read quite a few comments that say programming is not a good career. It's hard to do what you love because there are so many people who do the same thing, it's not a unique skill, it's unstable unless you settle for Visual Basic maintenance work, etc.. Judging by the amount of “this thing is so difficult, I need to take a 50 year sabbatical so I can have a proper work-life balance” type of posts I see on HN, it's stressful too.
So, my question is, is it even possible to get a job (in a few years) under the label of “programming”? Do I need to find something better to specialize in (sysadmin, network guy…)?
I enrolled in a Python/C++ independent study class because I took AP CS for the A+ I needed to boost my average last year. So, in a sense, I've already committed another year to this. Is this a skill I will end up using, or will I look back at this as a waste of time for the rest of my life? Am I just being especially pessimistic at the moment?
I don't need any more of that “follow your dreams” bullshit.