The lower end of the software job spectrum, which is probably web and full stack developers, is where I spent most of my career. It’s what I enjoyed doing. The problem with being on the technology low end, lower barrier of entry, of an industry is that it contains the people least capable of accepting more challenging work and least capable of adapting to change. You can imagine the behaviors in play for people to reinforce what they have before being squeezed out. Fears around AI are exaggerating these concerns.

My best advice is to always pursue the highest barrier of entry positions in software like OS design. Keep in mind there will be comparatively very few of these jobs. It will take much longer to find and land one of these less common jobs.

In the meantime I would recommend self learning to write assembly for hardware controllers or open source OS hardware driver design. The core of any OS is the kernel and memory management. Modern kernels also directly manage OSI layer 4 network traffic. If want to get deeper into network engineering look at layer 2 traffic management from the hardware perspective, the NIC. Simultaneously, you need to be paddling your resume so take any remotely related shit and junior job, like internships, that you can find. The goal at first is not big money. The goal at first is employment, preferably highly targeted employment in your interest area, by any means.

Good luck.