Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

Not sure if trolling. But unless you elaborate, very few people are going to read this and comprehend what you are on about

You may want to change your attitude toward work. There's a reason it's called "work" and not playtime. There's a reason they pay you to do it.

I like to think about the guy stuck in a shit town, working in a coal mine. Maybe they all drink themselves to oblivion and I'm delusional, but I envision at least some of them this way: Guy goes down there and busts his ass all day in the dark, getting dirty as fuck, probably doing long term damage to his lungs and such. But it's his job and at the end of the day he goes home to his wife, kids, and dog, and realizes that work is just something he has to do to support the parts of his life he cares about.

>> Does anyone have a suggestion for what I can/should do to improve my circumstances?

Yeah, quit acting like an entitled little child. Be grateful that you have a job that often requires more education than you have. Stop thinking you can just monetize some personal interests and retire. Life requires effort, give it some. Once you get over that hump you may be able to consider which alternative you're willing to put actual effort toward.

I personally attempt to rotate what I do and am always trying to optimize (it keeps me interested). An example: when I was 14 - 18 I worked in a medical billing office scanning old documents (and new documents as they came in).

There were 3 of us working 15 - 20 hours a week. Most boring job imaginable (I'd do it Saturday and Sunday, 10 hours each). I found I could listen to audio books so I smashed through several hundred over the years of doing this (as well as the Teaching Company and other lectures).

I also started to look for ways to improve the process. I spent a little time exploring databases and OCR over my mandatory unpaid lunch and breaks. Eventually, I realized I could rather eaisly automatically change filenames, add to an SQL database, add a few tags, etc.

I then could setup a scanning job, which used to require manual data entry after each page, to then do one massive scanning job and only edit a few "failures" after the fact. This let me scanning 10x over the other two employees.

It looked good for me, so I got moved into network admin (more fun), which further kept my attention.

My point, it's up to you to find the motivation. But if you're curious and interested in self improvement, money, moving up the company ladder, etc. Then you can find the motivation to push yourself to at least try to change your situation. I did it via audio books and experimenting on breaks, what you do is unique to you.

Do you get enough sleep? I know sleep makes a world of difference to me when it comes to working on less than exciting things.

I get what he's saying. If you feel at one with what is going on around you, it isn't boring.