Ask HN: Is your work meaningful?

I work because I must provide for my family. That's enough meaning for me.

Insanely so. I go to sleep thinking about what I’ll be working on the next day and rise excited to get started.

It’s an amazing feeling and I reflect daily that I’m blessed for having a career that I excel at, pays well, and whole heartedly enjoy.

I used to think it wasn't. My jobs were, no matter how it was dressed up, trying to earn a massive retailer an extra percent or two on their already massive earnings over doing anything that impacted the consumer positively.

Since I started working for myself, I find it meaningful if only because I get to actually BUILD stuff.

But after all of the advertising I've done, I'd like for my next full-time job to be a net positive for society.

I have a personalized set of 'meaningful indicators' I use to help answer that question whenever I am job searching or feeling less than thrilled about my current work.

1) Does the work have a positive impact on people in my community? (this could be a literal local community, or a shared interest community)

2) Do I feel energized by the work that is happening around me at my company? Not just what I am personally responsible for.

3) If I were to leave, would I still care if the product/mission of the company succeeded?

4) Am I making enough to support my family and provide myself with a healthy/active lifestyle?

5) Have I ever felt like I have directly contributed to, or worked for a company that has, deceived or taken advantage of its customers for the sake of profit?

Outside of these questions, I feel like trying to attribute any other type of meaning to my work would leave me anxious, depressed, and perpetually stuck in the "grass is greener" situation.

I am lucky enough that my current work checks all the boxes (1-4 as yes, 5 as no). With the bonus of having learn a ton and been given the opportunity for career growth multiple times over.

Well, it's matter of perspective. It's not very possible that in 200 years or so, people are going to remember and study my work. That's reserved for the Newtons and the Gausses of the world, and even then, they are acknowledged from a tiny percentage of the world's population.

But I'm very grateful to work in a setting where I can solve exciting problems, get to collaborate and learn from really smart and passionate people, try (and fail) in designing software, and then sometimes find time for a hobby or two.

The 'safe 9-5 job' exists, and as programmers, we always want a fresh challenge, but in many cases it's in our hands to create the opportunities so it's not 'meaningless'.