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Ask HN: Lost in My Career

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Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#11

Post by jeffreportmill1 »

If you have like-minded buddies, you are way ahead of the game (even if you don't have an idea). Choose something that seems fun - maybe something you would want to buy/use yourselves and start working on it. Borrow 8 hours a week from your current employer. They won't miss it, because you will probably gain that much in productivity as your skills and morale improve.

In the end, if you find success (which is rare) it probably won't be with your original idea. Once you have a body of work, keep an eye out for other applications of your core technologies. When your real idea comes along, be willing to pivot.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#12

Post by andersource »

I was in a similar position, ended up transitioning to machine learning. Very happy with it, but I also echo the sentimemt expressed in other comments that work is work and ultimately fulfillment is better sought outside of the workplace.

If you still want more challenging technical work (as opposed to e.g. enterpreneurship challenges) maybe you can play with more niche topics (3d / scientific / DSP / whatever) and seek employment there, though that may come with other compromises.

Hope you work it out, and enjoy the journey!

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#13

Post by altdataseller »

What I did was realized that my job is just a means to an end. I do my work and promptly leave at 5 PM to play with my kids, family, and enjoy life. I pursue challenges in areas outside my job, including being more fit.

I acknowledge this perspective isn't for everyone though.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#14

Post by yakak »

Personally, I have nothing against a CRUD app, you just have to avoid ones of so little or such generic significance that they will be replaced endlessly with commodity churn (a logical thing for a business if they want to avoid lock-in and bidding to be part of that churn is an illogical choice of roles as a techie) and look for ones valuable enough to someone to sometimes need interesting depth bolted on somewhere, buying you lock-in and something interesting to work on.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#15

Post by baremetal »

andersource wrote: post #12

I was in a similar position, ended up transitioning to machine learning. Very happy with it, but I also echo the sentimemt expressed in other comments that work is work and ultimately fulfillment is better sought outside of the workplace. If you still want more challenging technical work (as opposed to e.g. enterpreneurship challenges) maybe you can play with more niche topics (3d / scientific / DSP / whatever) and s…

>but I also echo the sentimemt expressed in other comments that work is work and ultimately fulfillment is better sought outside of the workplace.

I disagree. People live in and conduct business inside of my work product. I get great satisfaction and fulfillment from my work.

I was a software engineer for 13 years. Now i own a construction business.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#16

Post by dazc »

> My buddies and I want to start a company as we are all in the same position, but we have no grand ideas...

Just improve something that already exists then.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#18

Post by andersource »

baremetal wrote: post #15
andersource wrote: post #12

I was in a similar position, ended up transitioning to machine learning. Very happy with it, but I also echo the sentimemt expressed in other comments that work is work and ultimately fulfillment is better sought outside of the workplace. If you still want more challenging technical work (as opposed to e.g. enterpreneurship challenges) maybe you can play with more niche topics (3d / scientific / DSP / whatever) and s…

>but I also echo the sentimemt expressed in other comments that work is work and ultimately fulfillment is better sought outside of the workplace. I disagree. People live in and conduct business inside of my work product. I get great satisfaction and fulfillment from my work. I was a software engineer for 13 years. Now i own a construction business.

Congrats, that sounds awesome (not cynically)!

But I think there's a big difference between owning your own business (where you make all the big decisions, you dictate the business values, and are directly responsible for the value you add to the world) and doing CRUD for some company whose values you're not necessarily aligned with.

Also, I'm not saying one can't or absolutely shouldn't seek fulfillment in their daily job, I do too; but only to some degree. In my experience It's far too easy (and common) to overly tie one's identity with the job, forfeiting other important sources of fulfillment.

And of course, different people find meaning in different things; what works for me may not work for OP, what works for you may not work for me.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#19

Post by a1445c8b »

I transitioned to a domain that was outside my comfort zone. Specifically, I was just pure software dev, bored like you. Thought I’d dive into this new IaC thing my peers are working on, and down the rabbit hole I went all the way to the nitty gritty of Ops.

It was and continues to be fascinating even in my current mid-40s because there’s so much common-sense software development practices that are applicable but missing in Ops and I like the interaction between the two fields.

Re: Ask HN: Lost in My Career

#20

Post by mgdev »

I was in your shoes ten years ago. Since then, I’ve increased my income over 10x, and wake up every day ready to tackle interesting problems.

If you’d like to chat, reach out.

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