151–160 of 200 posts
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I pursued video games as a professional programmer and all it did was kill my enjoyment of games in general. I couldn’t really get my creativity out either because you’re a cog in a 10-100+ person team and often you work on projects you probably wouldn’t play if you weren’t paid for it. I still dream about FIRE and working as a 1-3 person studio working on silly creative little games for the joy of it.
Is there a reason you can’t pursue FIRE now?
I graduated in journalism, worked early in localization, started my full-time career in customer support and quickly moved into a technical focus, then switched to software engineering. My journalism degree has been useful in how I think about communicating in the office. My customer support and localization background gives me a particular empathy both for end users and "internal customers".
That said, I wouldn't say I -love- software engineering like I love music (which is a hobby I have no professional aspirations in). I'm not someone who consistently does Advent of Code stuff (I need a real problem to motivate me, not a puzzle or toy problem), but I find the projects I work on satisfying and I like (most of) my coworkers.
Can anyone else relate? If so, have you solved this problem in your life?
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“Part of growing older is mourning the person you could have been.” One of the wisest and most succinct things I’ve read on this site.
"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig…
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-ta...
I don't think it's about the field, I think it's about what your role is. I like solving problems, but I can't have that role forever in a programming related environment, so I don't write code for money anymore.
I really like cooking and gardening, but if I were to get a job in a kitchen or picking apples or whatever, I'd hate it. For most people this isn't true, but for me, turning my hobbies into a job turns them into a chore and I start to hate them. I could make a casual business out of them, but I can't do them professionally.
Decide what role you like, and do any job where you can fulfill that role. Maybe you like pleasing people, maybe you like building things, maybe you like the tactile sensation of doing things with your hands. Don't pick a job, pick a role. If it's web dev or a gas station, doesn't matter. Don't let the siren of status and glamour have you broken washed up on the rocks. If the role makes you happy and keeps you clothed and fed that's all that matters.
Not sure it will "solve it"... yet following Adam's (Douglas?) suggestion to become top-25% in three fields. Then merge those fields. That has worked awesome for me. I merged technolgy (software dev/sys adm) with motor sports and with management. Love it so far. Good luck and Merry Christmas!!
Too bad there's no good payable intersection of software dev, video games, and three position bullseye rifle. Hah :(
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I demanded a minimum compensation amount to a recruiter once at a FAANG company, something really outrageous even for FAANG. They ended up giving me non-answers saying that I still needed to interview and determine what my SWE level was going to be before they talk about compensation. I stopped the conversation right there. That was a massive waste of time.
We need to talk money going in, or someone is wasting my time. "Don't be showing up on the Ferrari dealership forecourt with a Honda budget in your pocket." I don't generally deal with recruiters anymore. Haven't had a job through a recruiter in a long time. My last round of looking for a job (5+ months ago) I had an interview where I confirmed that the compensation would be satisfactory. Did the interview, got an of…
As I got older and more "adult" responsibilities started coming (mortgage, family planning), economic security became much more of a priority. More conventional things I learned about employee retention and organizational behavior started to make more sense where pay and time off were huge motivational factors. It's okay to be motivated by money.
I'm not obsessed about "working for my passion" or anything like that. I have a good life outside of work, supported by my high paying programmer job. I did a lot of job-hopping the past few years looking for the right place to work, and I finally found it. I look for companies that respect work-life balance, don't want me to work too hard, and have excellent engineering culture that values high quality work and has…
I pursued video games as a professional programmer and all it did was kill my enjoyment of games in general. I couldn’t really get my creativity out either because you’re a cog in a 10-100+ person team and often you work on projects you probably wouldn’t play if you weren’t paid for it. I still dream about FIRE and working as a 1-3 person studio working on silly creative little games for the joy of it.
I also work on a game I like and have played it a fair bit without being paid to do so.
It is hard to break into games, and harder still to find work on game projects you want to work on, but it is possible. Lots of people do.
I'm not obsessed about "working for my passion" or anything like that. I have a good life outside of work, supported by my high paying programmer job. I did a lot of job-hopping the past few years looking for the right place to work, and I finally found it. I look for companies that respect work-life balance, don't want me to work too hard, and have excellent engineering culture that values high quality work and has…
In another response you're saying you are 32. you are little more than one(!) decade into your adult and professional life. Christoph Waltz barely was making a living acting until he was 50 years old. With the exception of maybe being a soccer world class athlete you can pretty much still do anything you want.
An older guy I used to work with in China who was sent to some labor farm for half a decade and who only went on to study in his thirties told me when this discussion came up one time "don't worry, if you're younger than 45 you can just start over, everyone here has done it five times"
I'm not obsessed about "working for my passion" or anything like that. I have a good life outside of work, supported by my high paying programmer job. I did a lot of job-hopping the past few years looking for the right place to work, and I finally found it. I look for companies that respect work-life balance, don't want me to work too hard, and have excellent engineering culture that values high quality work and has…
>If I had a time machine, I would have stayed in better shape, practiced guitar more, invested my time more wisely. But I can't In another response you're saying you are 32. you are little more than one(!) decade into your adult and professional life. Christoph Waltz barely was making a living acting until he was 50 years old. With the exception of maybe being a soccer world class athlete you can pretty much still do…