Ask HN: What is the smartest career path to take?

I had a lot of different jobs in my 20s and they all helped me become a better engineer, if I had stayed at one of the first ones (which was probably the most fun I had at work) then I wouldn't be where I am now..

Alt; land a gig at a consultancy or something doing some presales engineering stuff, you'll do an insane amount of weird things there for lots of different clients but have the security of a longer term position I guess.

How can research be easy? If it is easy, aim higher.

If you want to start a business but you haven't had an idea in 2 years even though you are paid for having ideas, that's a problem.

Being a business insider is the best place to come up with ideas. Maybe you can ask for a temporary transfer out of your research position onto the production line or into sales? Experience the problems. Then the ideas come by themselves.

Bring one idea to market and you have the reputation to be a freelancer or a founder.

In my personal experience being 'bored' is a huge red flag for me. When I'm bored I don't do my best work, and I don't engage strongly with the team. Thus someone managing me would get the impression that I'm not very capable.

So instead of an answer I'd suggest an algorithm to use to guide you in your career choices. It goes something like this:

Ask yourself, what parts of this job give me satisfaction?

There are different ways to measure that, perhaps the easiest is to look at the past few projects you have worked on and write down what was your favorite and least favorite part of that project.

Understand that "writing software" is a skill or a trade that you apply to different problems. A woodworker that applies their skill to building houses might see themselves as a home builder, or one who applies their skills to making kitchen cabinets as cabinet maker.

Some people find pleasure in the finding of algorithms and efficiency, some like to dive into how software is created (tools), and still others enjoy specific domains such as databases, or accounting, or operating systems.

So step 1 of the algorithm is to find the parts of your job that bring you joy. It will also help you find the things you dislike the most about writing software.

Step 2 then is to invest time in mitigating the things you don't like about writing software and to start focusing on companies or roles that are more focused on the things you love about writing software.

When I joined Intel out of college I had a co-worker who had started the same time I did who was a software engineer. They found they really liked writing accounting software (they wrote their own money manager for CP/M) they left Intel and went to work for a company called PeachTree that did accounting software and loved it. Another co-worker at Sun who started out writing software but found they really enjoyed the planning and project management aspects rather than the coding aspects, so they went into project management instead. Both examples of people examining what they liked about their job or skill and then investing in doing more of that.

To your point 1) ... you mention the 'strictly 40 hours', and that is possible in any job, you just have to stick to it. Others may chide you for it, or be jealous, but it's a life choice that you get to make. Managers who don't respect it are not worth working for.

And "earning potential lowers as you age" this is only true if you don't grow your skillset with age. You can also find yourself in a unique skillset that grows in value with age. So basically it isn't a given. That said, its always a smart move to live well within your means and bank the excess for later.

Personally, I get bored easily. I took a similar job to you out of college but used all my spare time to start building my startup. As soon as I had a thumbs up from an investor, I quit my job--in retrospect, very prematurely--and went all in. It turned out to be a good overall career move as I found out what I liked and didn't like by doing literally everything in my startup--sales, software, hardware, you name it.

Youth is an advantage, as you have no responsibilities, and can do whatever you want, so take some risks if you want to. The last thing I wanted to do is wake up when I'm 60 and wish I had done X, Y or Z.