Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#21

Post by cliffy » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 12:35 AM UTC

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #19

cliffy wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be exhibiting signs of learned helplessness. You can absolutely learn how to automate something, if you try. If you want normal, boring work to do why are you complaining about having nothing to do? The most normal, boring work of all.

Yes I am. I feel as though I have little to no control over my condition. I'm sure I could learn to automate something. I just have no direction as where to begin. I am complaining about having nothing to do because I want work to do, to contribute to a team, to work with other people and befriend them, but it's hard when I feel so arbitrary.

Apparently the original experimenters who identified learned helplessness seem to now think they got it backwards: Learned helplessness is actually the default behavior of mammals, and we need to learn how to overcome the default state.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4920136/

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#22

Post by gitgud » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #12

cliffy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find someone that looks like they do repetitive work a lot and sell them on reducing their workload through automation.

Why would I want to do that? I don't want to bother anyone. And I don't know how to automate shit, either. I just want normal, boring work to do.

> "I just want normal, boring work to do"

Such an odd statement. Automation (and programming in general) is probably not for you.

Perhaps look at other opportunities to help in the company? Surely they would be happy you have completed your duties...

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#23

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 3:05 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#24

Post by TurkishPoptart » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 3:53 AM UTC

gitgud wrote: post #22

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I want to do that? I don't want to bother anyone. And I don't know how to automate shit, either. I just want normal, boring work to do.

> "I just want normal, boring work to do" Such an odd statement. Automation (and programming in general) is probably not for you. Perhaps look at other opportunities to help in the company? Surely they would be happy you have completed your duties...

You don't know what it's like to do nothing! I mean, I want some normal work to do so that I'm not wasting my time here. To learn stuff, build new skills.

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#25

Post by kunmyt » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 4:58 AM UTC

You need change your work, refresh yousefl

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#26

Post by highprofittrade » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 5:04 AM UTC

Good opportunity to start a business just do it you learn more than you can ever imagine

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#27

Post by hnthroaway1926 » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 6:24 AM UTC

I know exactly how you feel and have experienced it in two different work environments, first as an intern during college (which only lasted 3 months but felt like eternity) and second as a senior level engineer for about a two year period.

Like some other things in life, people that haven't gone through this are not likely to understand the experience.

Since you care about increasing your employability I recommend that in addition to self-learning you also do the following.

Write up 1 or 2 short paragraphs that are mostly BS about the positive business impact that your work is having. Break this paragraph down into small work tasks or interactions that you would have needed to have in order to accomplish. Over the course of the next few months start mentioning those tasks casually when talking with coworkers. It is important to do this gradually so that people have enough time to absorb the false memories you are seeding.

Your goal is to build up a working memory among your coworkers of the awesome stuff you did while working there. You can then write these accomplishments into your resume and they will be backed up by your coworkers. Your manager especially will appreciate this as it makes them look like a great leader.

Good luck and keep yourself focused on the future!

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#28

Post by TurkishPoptart » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 7:26 AM UTC

bernierocks wrote: post #7

You will not get this opportunity again. Almost nobody will pay you $25/hour for many months, to essentially learn anything at your own pace until work picks up. Most companies are not busy between the end of November and the end of January due to everyone taking vacations, so you probably won't be getting much work until after the holidays.

You're right. Working on it.

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#29

Post by TurkishPoptart » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 7:28 AM UTC

runninganyways wrote: post #20

Ha, omg I've so been there. I was doing automated testing for a company for a good five months and they seriously did not care at all. Like they have nothing for you to do and you feel guilty for not doing anything because you're getting paid. Then you gravitate towards laziness and when you finally do get some non-task you know it's of zero value to anyone and your time would probably be better spent recycling old f…

I love the Costanza reference![0] Will definitely work on job applications.

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kafq7yrKAOQ

Re: Ask HN: I have nothing to do at work and it's killing me

#30

Post by TurkishPoptart » Wed, Dec 11, 2019, 7:30 AM UTC

el_dev_hell wrote: post #13

I have so much empathy for your situation because I was there about 3 years ago. I had a job with a fortune 500 company and would have everything finished by 9AM everyday (with one task at 4PM that was laughable). I wasted most of my time and regret it. It's not that easy to sit there and learn something with the stress of having a manager walk over and "catch" you doing nothing. In the last 6 months on the job I sto…

Thanks for your comment. Yeah, my manager "caught" me tinkering with an AWS thing and some tutorial open, but probably assumed it was important. It's even weirder because my old manager person went away on parental leave, so my new person doesn't really know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I have some freedom and I'm going to try to use it productively.