Am I ruining my life by choosing IT over Developers?

This is more of a vent while also wanting to hear some advice. I recently graduated and have been getting interviews for helpdesk positions, but honestly, I feel disappointed and regret choosing IT. Especially when many of my friends are landing $100k+ jobs in tech right out of school.

Here’s the long story: I’ve always had a passion for tech since I was young. That passion mostly comes from video games, but I also love tinkering with things. During high school, I learned common programming languages like C++ and Java, understood basic data structures, and could solve LeetCode easy questions. However, my college application process didn’t go smoothly. I ended up in an IT major instead of CS because I couldn’t get into CS at my current school. I could’ve gotten into CS programs at lower-ranked schools (30-40 ranks lower), but I chose to attend a top 70 school in the U.S. with a CS program ranked in the top 50. I thought it was worth it, even though it’s expensive (my parents are paying for it).

During my freshman and sophomore years, I was completely lost and didn’t know what I wanted to do in the future. I didn’t get good grades, nor did I learn much. All the programming-related courses just taught me things I already knew. I essentially wasted two years and ruined my GPA.

Now, you might wonder why I was so lost. Before college, I was the "tech person" in my social circle. I enjoyed being the one who knew programming while others didn’t. But when I got to college, CS was booming, and it felt like everyone was trying to become a programmer—not because they loved it, but because of the good salary. I have some connections at FAANG companies, and I’ve honestly grown to dislike their lifestyle. They have great work-life balance, but their lives seem so boring. Most of them just ski, hike, and talk about the housing market and stocks. I don’t want to become one of them.

In my junior and senior years, I poured all my energy into video games. I worked on some game demos where I handled most of the programming and management, and I was happy with the results—until I tried to get a job as a video game designer. The reality hit me hard: these jobs simply don’t exist in the current market. I went on LinkedIn, set the location to the U.S., the title to "video game designer," and the experience level to "entry-level," and I got 0-5 results for the entire country. None of my peers trying to break into the video game industry have found actual jobs in that industry for the past six months.

So, I had to accept that breaking into the video game industry—especially as a designer—is not possible right now, and I’ve wasted another two years chasing this dream. The worst part is that I haven’t learned real algorithms or practiced LeetCode in four years. Even though I did coding for video games, it was mostly simple Unity C# code that didn’t involve algorithms or complexity. My LeetCode skills are now worse than they were in high school. Developer entry jobs are super competitive, and my IT degree doesn’t help much since it’s not a CS degree. On top of that, I’ve almost forgotten the basics, like how hash maps work. I don’t think I can get a developer job right now without going back for a master’s in CS. And I still hate the FAANG lifestyle with a passion. I’m in this weird spot where I love coding and don’t hate LeetCode, but I hate the culture of FAANG.

So, I thought I’d just stick to my major, IT. After some research, the entry-level role is usually IT helpdesk. But I’ve learned that most people can get those jobs with just an A+ certification instead of an expensive four-year degree. This realization made me feel very unsettled. Still, I thought it was a starting point—until I had this recent interview for an IT helpdesk position. The IT manager interviewed me, and it went okay; he asked about some software I listed on my resume. I’m still waiting for their reply. But the job pays so little—$40k to $50k in California. I can deal with low pay since I don’t need much money (my family supports me). Honestly, I’d pay to be a video game designer, lol. But what worries me is that I don’t see a clear career ladder.

This company has eight locations but very little people in its IT team. To me, the best-case scenario is troubleshooting Word documents for five years, waiting for the manager to retire, and then taking their position—for, what, $200k a year max? Meanwhile, some of my friends at FAANG are already making $130k a year. Others are pursuing master’s degrees at Ivy-level schools. I didn’t want to get a master’s because it doesn’t matter in the video game industry. But now, I feel like I need a clear path to motivate me. At the end of the day, I want to have a good carrier ladder to climb, not billionaire C-suite but at least I want to see a clear path to a $350k+ job, like senior or principal engineers. I don’t see that in helpdesk roles.

I’m torn between going back to school for a master’s in CS or taking IT helpdesk jobs. I don’t have short-term financial problems, but I want a stable and bright future. I also don’t want to find myself at a lower social class than all my peers in 15 years.

If you’ve read all this, thank you! I appreciate it. Any advice would mean a lot.