My parents want me to pursue a pharmacy degree instead of AI/ML — feeling completely misunderstood

I'm a BCA second-year (Computer science) student and I've been genuinely investing my time into building skills in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning — not just coasting through a degree. I've already covered most of the ML fundamentals and I'm currently deep into Deep Learning. This isn't casual browsing or YouTube rabbit holes — this is structured, deliberate learning with real projects behind it.

But my parents see it differently.

To them, sitting at a computer all day = wasting time. No exceptions.

Today my father suggested I enroll in a D.Pharma program — a pharmacy diploma — so I have a "backup." When I declined, he got upset and launched into a whole lecture: "Computer science gets you nowhere. There are people with multiple degrees who are still unemployed. What makes you think you'll be any different?"

I tried explaining what I'm actually learning. He wasn't interested. Call ended.

I thought my mom might understand. She didn't. She compared me to a cousin who's juggling two degrees and earning on the side, then suggested — and I genuinely mean this — that I learn electrician work instead.

I'm a CS student learning Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Electrician work was the suggestion.

At that point I lost my patience and said something I probably shouldn't have. That made things worse. A lot worse.

I'm not writing this to bash my parents — I know they're worried about my future and that comes from a real place. But the gap between what I'm actually building toward and what they think I'm doing is exhausting.

Has anyone else navigated this? How did you handle it — especially when the people closest to you can't see the work you're putting in?

I used AI to structure my points..