been there - only way out is to start your own company.
Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
81–90 of 112 posts
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#82I don't think you can fix burn out with new responsibilities and challenges. At least it didn't work for me.
Before you will make any significant changes in your life I highly recommend to take long vacations. It depends how severe the burn out is. Maybe you need 2 weeks, maybe 1 month, maybe 2 months will help.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might be asking too much of a job. Speaking from my own experience, the only times I've ever looked for a job that "made me feel whole" were also the times I felt like other important parts of my life were empty, and I was trying to compensate for that by finding some mythical job that would "complete me." It's as big a mistake to ask that of a job as it is to ask it of a partner. If you don't show up to the situ…
A lot of value to this wisdom. That said, individuals can have a different kind of brain and carrot/stick equation. For me, the only time I felt whole was when I was only working 20 hrs a week as a freelance dev and I took a lot of breaks/vacation. Made half of what I could be making as a salaried employee but I had the space to build the rest of my life to feel whole. Kept my dream space nice, not dreaming about cod…
You said “was”, so are you back to a regular salaried job now? Because it was not sustainable?
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#84>Tired of software
Why not hardware?
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#85The traditional career progressions for software developers are management, entrepreneurship, and carpentry.
you've missed craft beer brewing
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'll just drag myself and the team/project/org down I wish everyone had this much self awareness. Some people just hold on for dear life to collect a paycheck. I get it, people have a family and bills to pay, but at least use the slack time to find another job.
> I wish everyone had this much self awareness. Thanks, it didn't come easy. A few personal, professional, and academic failures before I got there myself. The last straw was when I realized I was the toxic asshole at a job. Lots of problems, my concerns were real, but my reaction was not helpful for anyone. I bounced and gave myself a mental reset and have been more deliberate about it since then.
>> The last straw was when I realized I was the toxic asshole at a job
It takes a lot of experience, wisdom and courage to accept and fix that. What other factors do you think helped you fix it? Financial security which allows one to take breaks or top notch in demand skills that helps one find a new job quickly come to mind, but it could something non-material and I am interested in hearing that. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#87> I don’t care about what we are building I don't switch jobs much, but this is when I do. If I don't care about it, and I'm tired of the org and its practices, and the system is stuck in some way, I have to bounce. I'll just drag myself and the team/project/org down because my paycheck will only buy so much caring from me. We'll all be better off if I'm somewhere more satisfying and they fill my slot with someone wh…
> I'll just drag myself and the team/project/org down I wish everyone had this much self awareness. Some people just hold on for dear life to collect a paycheck. I get it, people have a family and bills to pay, but at least use the slack time to find another job.
The problem is once I'm deep into a certain job all recruiters assume that I should continue working on this type of job. It's extremely difficult to switch career.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#88I was in your position with web development and went back to uni to get a mechanical engineering degree. Started at 38 and graduated at 42. I’ve been working at it for 10 years now and specialise in designing data centres funnily enough. There’s much less ageism in “physical” engineering work which is positive but I also took a very large hit in seniority and compensation to switch. In hindsight, moving sideways into…
This was my plan too, until I realized I'd start at 40 and finish at like 45 or 46. Would any company/engineering firm hire a mid-life intern with no engineering experience?
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#89It was the stress and oft-time futility of debuggery that drove me from software development to technical communications. I could interview developers without having to walk a mile in their moccasins. I wasn't writing poetry, but I wasn't writing octal either.
Re: Ask HN: Tired of software career. What now?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I wish everyone had this much self awareness. Thanks, it didn't come easy. A few personal, professional, and academic failures before I got there myself. The last straw was when I realized I was the toxic asshole at a job. Lots of problems, my concerns were real, but my reaction was not helpful for anyone. I bounced and gave myself a mental reset and have been more deliberate about it since then.
>> The last straw was when I realized I was the toxic asshole at a job It takes a lot of experience, wisdom and courage to accept and fix that. What other factors do you think helped you fix it? Financial security which allows one to take breaks or top notch in demand skills that helps one find a new job quickly come to mind, but it could something non-material and I am interested in hearing that. Thanks for sharing…
It's been a busy day, so I'll say that after that the main thing that helped me was finally accepting I have issues with anxiety and doing something about it. Things that most people would consider small get blown out of proportion in my head (or can). And many small things become insurmountable to me, or excessively frustrating. Cognitive behavioral therapy, in particular, helped me a lot with dealing with it. I still have anxiety issues, but now I see it coming and react in better and more effective ways than becoming burnt out, frustrated, depressed, toxic, or whatever else I had done prior to that.