u/SARB033

I worked as a DevOps engineer for the past 3 years, and as a full-stack before that for 2 years. Got laid off in March 2025, and have had a very similar experience as many since then. I'll spare you those gory details since I'm pretty sure we've all seen it enough.

The only thing I'll add is that I hate AI. I despise it in ways that words fail to adequately describe. And I know that it's probably going to be unavoidable in tech moving forward.

I want to go back to school for something that will;

1- be a safe & stable career, it doesn't need to make tons of money but enough to get by hopefully.

2- won't have to interact with AI, or at most be very minimal

3- will be somewhat satisfying

My sister recommended looking into something medical and that seems like the best bet. I think looking into becoming a medical lab technologist would be a solid choice for me; it's a 2 year certificate program.

Here's my quandary though. I don't know if I can sustain myself for 2 years on my meager emergency fund (down to 10k now from 30k when I was laid off and got severance) as well as scholarships, bursaries etc. And I don't know if I'd be able to find a job to support myself in the meanwhile. I'm currently living with my mom in Montreal but my French is rusty from 12 years of neglect and it's a requirement to study in Quebec to have at least college level French. Also, if I'm being frank, living here is a disaster for my mental health. Somehow or other I think I'll need to move out ASAP. Am I stupid for trying to pursue this? I know I can keep applying for tech jobs and try and hold one down while also studying but that feels like I would be overfilling my plate, if it were even possible in the current conditions.