After an initial peak of interest in participants in contentious politics, the literature on Egyptian politics has reverted to traditional analytical frames, focusing on elections, Islamism, authoritarianism, and so on. And while some authors have focused usefully on the dynamics of contention, little if any research has systematically evaluated the consequences of the event on individuals. But what happened to the people who participated in the 2011 uprising in Egypt, in the decade following the fall of Mubarak? What were the consequences of their participation in the revolutionary episode that shook the country after decades of “political stability”? How did they cope with the closing of the political space after the military’s seizure of power in 2013? While the early years of the Revolution empowered many people to participate in politics and hold high expectations and hopes about the future, the authoritarian turn has had important consequences on how Egyptians, especially the country’s youth, feel about what can be done. While many expected “better tomorrows” from the revolutionary situation, individual salvation (through work, family, religion, migration) and collective demobilization are now the most common solutions for many people. In other cases, when individuals have kept their commitment alive, it has taken many forms, ranging from entry into violence to reconversion in less contentious modes of collective action (NGOs, cultural activism, etc.). What explains this variation? By following the same individuals over many years, it becomes possible to restore the different steps of an “activist career”, giving space in the analysis for both the weight of past experiences conditioning future ones and the weight of situational logics. I contend that looking at the individual level in that way can help observe a series of mechanisms that are usually posited without being demonstrated.