Ask HN: I'm 23, and I dislike my job as a software engineer

Same situation led me contributing to open source projects.

I'm 53 and trained in a lot of other professions.

I worked as an architect, which I didn't like too much, esp. the low pay. even if I was highly successful, been on national TV and press, exhibitions, ... Then I got into more technical jobs, like surveying, civil engineering, stage design, movies and also a lot more SW jobs. They were much more interesting and I got paid double.

Then I settled as SW developer in a big internet company, which was nice for a few years, but then I took a big risc with a B2B SW project which failed. Then I worked in knowledge engineering and mechanical engineering (support Formula 1 teams with their engine testing, I was basically a virtual Formula 1 "test driver"), which was nice I guess.

But in the end getting back from mixed engineering jobs to sole SW engineering made most fun. Now I'm writing compilers.

For the Formula 1 e.g. I wrote a C++ cross-compiler for an unknown platform, for which we only guessed what it was in reality (it was a blackbox with custom PCI boards), but it was successful and eventually helped this team win a couple of championships. (the unknown platform was 10x faster than the others). But technically it was as simple as stripping g++ from all virtual RTTI calls and IO.

Writing my own compilers and now also improving the libraries and VM's around makes a lot of fun, and has a lot of impact. E.g. planning a JIT. It's not as dangerous and has not a high budget as high speed controllers for high speed cars, with 10-20 PC's and a lot of custom real-time HW involved. (For which I also planned a JIT for a Visual Basic like real-time scripting language, but would have never been allowed to actually do it). But you are much more independent, have much less stress and much higher pay. SW engineer is the top job. Esp. in the USA.

I'll just say that getting a MS will not change your situation at all. MS is just a couple of years of working experience, and a stamp of validation if you get it from one of the top 5 institutions. Talk to product managers and see if their daily tasks are any more interesting than your daily tasks.

I'd say what you are going through is pretty similar to a lot of software engineers. It also contributes to why a lot of engineers end up starting companies.

What I realized is not that I dislike Sofware Engineering, it's that I can't adapt to the 8-5 culture. It's impossible to manage family, friends, health and personnal projects while working 8hours in a office (when in reality it's more about 10-11hours a day because of commute, lunch preparation, lunch break, sleep dept, etc.).

In fact, I LOVE Sofware Engineering. I realized that when I left my previous job to get back to school. Every time I had some free time I was programming on personnal projects.

I understand your problem the truth is that you are being paid to fulfill someone else's dream. You're giving up your dream for money.

Work is not about you. It's bigger than you. It's a way to get society's needs met.

Your job is to find your dream, define it and balance both work and your goals. Understand that you'll work for someone but it's only temporary until you get your dream going.

Do this or you'll be changing jobs and careers without much fulfillment. It's only going to be a drag.

If you're lucky you'll fall into a job with an inspiring leader. Where his/her dream will be comes yours but don't count on that.

There's the sentiment that says, "Do what you love, and you'll never work another day in your life."

The question is, "What do I love?" What I think it really means is "Define your current job in a way that fills your needs and you'll never work another day in your life."

Good luck, finding your needs.