Ask HN: What keeps you going?

You know what's bad for health? Being homeless. Imagine the stress you have now. Now imagine the stress down the line when you have an eviction notice in your hands because you can't afford to pay rent, drive to work and eat at the same time. If you aren't getting hired for low-end jobs then a) You are a fake and you cannot code (fizzbuzz is an impossible task) b) You disgust people when they meet you and they vomit once you leave the room c) Your resume and job search process is fucked up You need to be amazing to get an amazing job (or fake it like most people do). You need to be average to get an average job. Can you code fizzbuzz? Can you create an android calculator app in a weekend? Congratulations, you are way above average! Because the average guy basically needs a personal assistant because he's fucking retarded and he still gets hired. No problem at A. Do you shower? Do you have a clean set of clothes? Do you have greasy hair and a tattoo of a dick on your forehead? Do you look like you listen to heavy music and will shoot up the place? Do you manage to look at the other person in the eyes at least once when they talk to you? Do you manage to make sound when you open your mouth and not spit at the interviewer? Do you manage a handshake and do you manage not to cuss and swear during the interview? Then B is okay. The reason you can't find a job is because 1) your resume sucks 2) you suck at prostituting yourself to the employer 3) you have no projects. Make a fucking android calculator if you apply for mobile jobs. You've opened android studio and managed to compile something that doesn't set your phone on fire, you are already ahead of 99% of applicants. Make a web calculator if you are applying to web jobs. Make a flappy bird clone in Unity if you are applying to Unity jobs. Unreal engine if unreal engine jobs. Sure, curing cancer or making spaceships fly is cool and all, but "I have experience WITH THE TOOL YOU MENTIONED IN THE LISTING AND I HAVE A PROJECT IN GITHUB THAT ACTUALLY RUNS WITHOUT CRASHING AND IS OVER 20 LINES LONG" puts you above and beyond 99.99% of job applicants because they have a hello world app in C# that doesn't even compile. Open a job listing, pick every technology they have and make a project that includes it. C++? Sure thing. Git? Yup. ReactJsAssemblysadfsadfeafsefsaf Framework? Yup, got a USD to EUR converter in that. Once you start to have projects that include stuff your employer is interested in, you can talk about it. I did some obscure random thing in Matlab like fucking ages ago back when I was a 1st year student. And the employer happened to be interested because he did a similar thing 20 years ago and we talked about it for 30 minutes and what kind of things did I learn since and blah blah blah. Boom, hired. I fucked around with a library employer mentioned on the listing and did a simple proof-of-concept (like 30 lines of code, took me 30min) in it because I was applying to a job way above my competence level. I cut the line straight past everyone else because they had nothing, I had something. Hired. Applied to 300 jobs every summer during study years. NOTHING. Fixed my resume, added projects, tailored resume for each employer to tick off every box. Actually get interviewed almost every time and since I actually did familiarize myself with the technologies instead of lying, I started getting hired because everyone else was like a deer in headlights when asked about the technology. If you don't give a damn about working a top company, you don't have to be a top candidate. You just have to beat everyone else. Everyone decent and above will apply to top companies and end up not getting hired because they weren't top candidates. You are smart, you don't need a top company. You will be the best candidate in a mediocre company.

> Let's do a quick game. If you had all the money in the world, would you still do your job? Probably not.

There have been times when I said to myself, "Don't they realize I'd do this even if they didn't pay me?"

Those times are fewer than they were earlier in my career. I've learned that real fulfillment isn't in my job. But, given that I need money, having a job that I enjoy is really sweet.

I've shifted to finding more enjoyment in good interactions with coworkers, and less in the high of getting something to work that never worked before.

I agree. Between jobs the spark comes back. Shoving out and doing it solo for life now, due to reflections on circumstance changes. Not everyone must have the spark to code now that we have 0-100 code schools and stuff. I’d love a cozy job in R&D where the funding speaks for itself and not one breath will ever go down my neck. Haven’t browsed for it, but I can picture creating it myself with books, merch, contracts, etc. Helps to have a handle on energy flow, costs of things.

Employed work is by definition for money and will always be heart/gut wrenching or soul crushing to degrees, that’s a cost. Holding personal boundaries helps but invites plenty of abuse from above and ridicule from beside, in competitive markets. Economics, incentives, biology all factor in. A small piggy bank of FU money helps mindset and against being put in an intolerable or worse compromising spot.

I'd say give it a go. Sit down, work out a budget for say a year, and go do something else! I imagine after the amount of time you've spent in industry you've probably got enough contacts to come back to it later if you want/need.

My dream was always to retire by 40 - probably won't get there at this rate as I underestimated how expensive kids are but I still want to be semi retired by 50.

Occasional thanks from end users, hearing how stuff I wrote makes their lives easier.