Is finding gaps just hard now? As a 24 yo, everything seems to be done already

"Hey I did extra at my job, but nobody cared. That's okay, no big deal" "Hey I did extra work at my job and improved process/saved money. Nobody cared, this sucks, my career is crap, my life sucks..." <-- time to either do less at the job or find a better job

Avoid the Ph.D., take a BS/BA and an MS if you have the time, but avoid even trying for a Ph.D.

30 years ago we had other challenges. For starters computers were "rare" (by today's standards). So you first had to convince buyers that "computerization" is a thing.

We also didn't have things like always-on networks, or OS-level printing. (Fun fact, my first payed gig was writing a program that could draw a diagram and print it on one specific printer model, an HP Laserjet 2.)

Anytime there is a new platform, (think dos/windows/web/mobile) there are opportunities to enter the market. For example we built a business app for windows circa 1997. It's been constantly developed since then. We gained a foothold in the early days, and are now a big player in our space.

But -entering- markets is harder. We entered a mature market with a different product in 2014. While we were a lot better, it was very (very) hard to break into the market dominated by 2 existing players. We have made progress, but frankly it's hard going.

So when looking for new things, it's helpful to first identify new markets. Timing this us hard, but if you hit the sweetspot it can work. That said, betting on a platform is risky (as Twitter API consumers discovered.)

You've already seen a flood of AI products, and you can expect a LOT more in the next couple years. It's the closest thing to a new platform in a while. Of course in 10 years that market will have consolidated and 99% will be gone. It's certainly a risky space, but worth a punt if it interests you. Hard to stand out though.

Finding new markets 30 years ago was easy. Finding new markets today is much, much harder. The niches are by implication much, much smaller.

That said niches exist. And getting a foothold in one niche can lead to it growing, or take you into another niche etc.

Selling into niches now is easy. My HP program was only useful for people doing genetics research, who submitted papers with genealogy diagrams, and happened to have an HP Laserjet. Talk about a niche market, Before those folk were on the internet...

Today I am, if anything, even more niche. I sell to a potential market of maybe 2000 people world-wide. I reach maybe 10% of that. But it makes a decent living. Not VC decent, but I do ok.

I would encourage you though by "trying things out". Find a niche, however small, and plug it. Then move in to another.

(Hint: at some point you'll discover that marketing matters more than coding. Getting good at marketing to niches is a killer-skill.)

Good luck.

Here's my back-burner side-project: software to track materials being checked in or out, like a tool crib or maybe a library. Exists in many forms already, but mine's better :-)