> I guess I just want confirmation - is this industry only for people who very self motivated and don't expect any hand-holding?
I'm afraid that's mostly the case. That's why it pays so much BTW - you're expected to be thrown into a middle of complex shitstorm and start delivering value soon afterwards. In return, you get a salary in 90-95th percentile. My best recommendation is to not change projects too often - after at most two years on a project (unless it's some absolute behemoth like MS Word or Unreal Engine), you become one of the project elders, who touched most of the areas of the code already and for whom working is a breeze.
It's a weird situation where you can make 60k+ pretty early on in your career but still get yelled at more than you really thought you would as an adult.
I'm afraid that's mostly the case. That's why it pays so much BTW - you're expected to be thrown into a middle of complex shitstorm and start delivering value soon afterwards. In return, you get a salary in 90-95th percentile. My best recommendation is to not change projects too often - after at most two years on a project (unless it's some absolute behemoth like MS Word or Unreal Engine), you become one of the project elders, who touched most of the areas of the code already and for whom working is a breeze.