Laid off after 10 years in software engineering. I’m 28, should I leave the industry?
Hey guys, posting this from an alt account for obvious reasons.
I’m 28 and have been working as a Software Engineer here in Sri Lanka for almost ten years now, since I started pretty early in my career. Over the years I’ve worked across a couple of different places, handling both local client work and overseas projects.
A few days ago, a large chunk of our dev team got let go, myself included. Management is heavily pivoting toward AI agents and automation to take over most of the coding and maintenance tasks. I am not going to name the company, but it was a massive shock to see it actually happen overnight.
Right now, I am trying to figure out what my next move should be. Part of me thinks I should stick it out, adjust my skills, and keep applying for senior or lead roles locally and remotely. But the other part of me feels like at 28, maybe this is the right time to step away from pure software development and pivot into something completely different, whether that is product, operations, consulting, or a non-tech business altogether.
I really want to hear from people in the local industry. Are other Colombo tech companies doing this too, or is this just an isolated wave? For anyone who actually left software engineering for another industry, how did that go for you, and do you regret it?
Would appreciate some honest thoughts and ground reality from you all. Thanks.