Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 26 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#11

Post by genmaicha123 »

gtvwill wrote: post #8

"Most of my life I have had to work hard to create opportunities for myself, and open as many doors as possible. I was lucky to open quite a few." But did you really? To me it reads like you got to the circle of doors at the start of your career, opened one (tech) and the ran down that hallway full pelt. You've got plenty of doors to open...but they are all in one narrow realm. Imho it sounds like you have a really n…

Quite a few interesting points you raised, thanks.

> opened one (tech) and the ran down that hallway full pelt Breaking into tech, however unexciting it sounds from one angle, can be challenging from another. I agree I could've done more browsing, but it wasn't a good idea back then. At this point it could be, I don't know. Agreed they are mostly in one narrow realm.

> took the opposite path, worked all kinds of jobs that aren't tech(mining, out at sea, movies). It helped me narrow down what I want If I were to do this, here are some questions that'd keep me up every night: * Can I support myself / dependents working this new job? * X years from now, when it's time to put a downpayment for a house, send my kid to school, or pay for my parents' care, will I regret spending X years jumping between these careers instead of cashing in insane tech salaries? * What is my exit criteria for this exercise? Do I just keep browsing careers that expose me to the edges of the space until I find something I like? Do I have a limited runway? What happens if I burn up my savings and don't find anything life changing? I'm curious how did you think about these?

Don't get me wrong – I am trashing my tech job a bit, but it still gets me the life in which my problems sound ridiculous to 99th percentile of people. Vast majority of other careers won't get me that imho. And writing this comment reminded me I value that a lot, so thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#12

Post by genmaicha123 »

testingwaters4 wrote: post #3

Do you have any hobbies outside of work? Are you pursuing or maintaining any strong relationships with friends and family? I think you're a little wrapped up in finding your sense of being and happiness and satisfaction in your career, and you should branch on to find other sources too. Don't get me wrong, your work can still be a source of all of that, you might just need more sources. With hobbies, you can find new…

Nail on the head! I don't have much going on apart from work and a relationship.

Honestly moving to a new city just before covid ensured I have an excuse for not working on any of that. I'm trying to find a way to travel more, and do more things unrelated to work, but keep telling myself I need to move somewhere else first for a fresh start, and that causes a cycle with what I described in the post.

Thanks for the advice!

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#13

Post by genmaicha123 »

jaynetics wrote: post #4

From what you're saying, it seems like working on something nice with nice colleagues might be more fulfilling for you now than working at the bleeding edge of tech for the best salary. Some decisions might also seem more consequential to you than they are. Whatever job you pick, it will still be a job. Wherever you go, people will have the same basic interests and needs. Many seemingly big decisions are also kind of…

> Many seemingly big decisions are also kind of reversible

Funny how I practice and preach this in my job. When it comes to applying the same framework to decisions in life, I fail to do so

I'm somehow able to find really poor framings that present decisions as irreversible. For example, choosing to go to a smaller co with nice people but worse pay makes the opportunity cost of staying in my current job something that's not reversible (i.e. I'll never get the money et al, so the time isn't spent as good as it could've been). Thanks for reminding me of this, something I need to repeat to myself every day.

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#14

Post by a1445c8b »

togaen wrote: post #5

Just start doing things. You can’t figure this stuff out by thinking about it any more than you can figure out how to ride a bike by thinking about it. You’re young, you’re 29. Can’t decide between 10 things you want to do? Spend a year doing each of them. Always remember: indecision is a decision. The worst thing you can possibly do is nothing. That wastes time. Time is a resource you are always losing and you never…

+1 to this.

It’s how I approach life so far: Every chance I get to proof something, I go do it but always mindful that I have to design my approach such that, if it turns out to be the wrong path, it doesn’t cost me too much.

In the end, it turned out that where I stared at (software engineering), was the place I wanted to be. It wasn’t lost effort though because I ended up using the other skills I picked along the way.

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#16

Post by burntoutfire »

> My answer to "what do you want to do?" is rarely consistent for more than a few days in a row. I now realize I never really knew what I was after, and I was just lucky to be happy with whatever I had stumbled upon. Do I want to pursue being a depth IC, manager, founding engineer in startups, or even a founder myself? Hard to control scope in these decisions. Thinking this over day-to-day is a recipe for anxiety and endless analysis-paralysis.

My "fresh perspective" is that maybe none of that matters that much? What matters is that you enjoy your work colleagues, work is bearable and sometimes interesting, you make a lot of money, and you have a life (friends, family) to attend to after work.

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#17

Post by yigitcakar »

I think the career happiness and most success comes from when sth someone would have done if nobody would have paid that person is the thing other people need and pay for. It is hard to find that sth. but when you find it, it is gold.

For me it was art, especially concept art. You have to find yours.

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#18

Post by debuggerpk »

yigitcakar wrote: post #17

I think the career happiness and most success comes from when sth someone would have done if nobody would have paid that person is the thing other people need and pay for. It is hard to find that sth. but when you find it, it is gold. For me it was art, especially concept art. You have to find yours.

pardon my ignorance, but what is sth?

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#19

Post by carlgreene »

testingwaters4 wrote: post #3

Do you have any hobbies outside of work? Are you pursuing or maintaining any strong relationships with friends and family? I think you're a little wrapped up in finding your sense of being and happiness and satisfaction in your career, and you should branch on to find other sources too. Don't get me wrong, your work can still be a source of all of that, you might just need more sources. With hobbies, you can find new…

How do you then fight the dreaming about that hobby becoming your full time work? This happens to me every time and I end up getting competitive about it and losing the blissful enjoyment it once provided

Re: Ask HN: How to think about direction in life/career?

#20

Post by lightredelephnt »

> Before I get into it, I want to recognize how privileged this whole story is, and that myself 15y ago would laugh at how much this reeks of 1st world problems.

I think it’s stupid that in the current environment you must apologize for your perceived location in some sort of privilege hierarchy in order to lament a (perhaps) universal experience for humans: where am I going? Why? What does it mean?

Not your fault (and not an answer, other than to say “yes, I too have wondered where I am going, what I should work on, what I should do with my life”), just the way of things I suppose.

Post reply on HN