61–70 of 1001 posts
I say quit your job, but don't have a plan; figure things out afterward. Catapulting yourself out of your comfort zone is the best way to get to know what you really want to do, and force yourself to care about what it is you want to do. Nobody here can tell you what that is.
I believe this kind of "we need the brightest engineers to spit out HTML via JS" is the major reason for the ridiculous amount of yak shaving around web development.
I’ve done the startup scene before, and I can tell you, you will be doing 3 different jobs and using 100% of that mental capacity. You will be making changes that wouldn’t be possible without director-level oversight at larger companies. You will feel like you’re making a difference.
It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.
No, most comments say to find fulfillment through personal projects/hobbies. Work is work; it doesn't necessarily have to be the most satisfying or fulfilling experience ever. That's always going to be the case if you're working for someone else. Earning a boatload of money (and saving it) to retire early isn't anything to scoff at. This also assumes one can find a more fulfilling job elsewhere (with ideal compensati…
Edit: I think maybe I didn't communicate well. I just mean that being fulfilled at work can be _very_ significant because work is such a huge part of our lives whether we like it or not. And so not _seeking_ fulfillment in work can be a huge blind spot.
I didn't mean to imply it should be prioritized above all else, or that it's shameful not to have the luxury to achieve this to a high degree, as the OP presumably does.
It's sad and revealing to see the other comments here. Many of them say, don't seek fulfillment in your job, just keep on cruising. What a change from the exciting atmosphere of the 2000s. Seems like software engineering has become a safe, dull career nowadays. Don't listen to them. Your 20s are the time to learn, push yourself and discover who you are. Autopilot is for middle age.
Therapy is the answer here. You have to un-brainwash yourself from the notion that your job is your life and figure out what really matters to you. Then focus on that, and use your job to fill the boring hours in between.
I agree that you need to push yourself and discover who you are -- but the answers to those questions aren't going to be found at work. This sort of mid-life crisis is pretty common for career-focused people in their late 20s - early 30s and the solution is to find interests and friendships outside of work.
If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…
Strong disagree! I can't believe all the advice here telling you to stay in a situation where you don't feel challenged. Clearly you wouldn't have written the post if you were content with the status quo. Find a role you thrive in, doing work that musters your enthusiasm. Whether it's at Google or elsewhere. Yes, it means giving up the cushy freeride, but there's no substitute for the deep sense of pride and satisfac…
If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…
Strong disagree! I can't believe all the advice here telling you to stay in a situation where you don't feel challenged. Clearly you wouldn't have written the post if you were content with the status quo. Find a role you thrive in, doing work that musters your enthusiasm. Whether it's at Google or elsewhere. Yes, it means giving up the cushy freeride, but there's no substitute for the deep sense of pride and satisfac…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, most comments say to find fulfillment through personal projects/hobbies. Work is work; it doesn't necessarily have to be the most satisfying or fulfilling experience ever. That's always going to be the case if you're working for someone else. Earning a boatload of money (and saving it) to retire early isn't anything to scoff at. This also assumes one can find a more fulfilling job elsewhere (with ideal compensati…
We spend a LOT of time at work. It's ridiculous not to seek fulfillment at work as well as elsewhere. Edit: I think maybe I didn't communicate well. I just mean that being fulfilled at work can be _very_ significant because work is such a huge part of our lives whether we like it or not. And so not _seeking_ fulfillment in work can be a huge blind spot. I didn't mean to imply it should be prioritized above all else,…
There is only so much interesting work to go around, and you're usually not going to be doing it. You can seek fulfillment at work, but you also have to be prepared not to find it. Seeking fulfillment elsewhere is the secret to not burning out.
If you can not only survive at Google but slack along well enough to get promoted once on "10% of your mental capacity" I'd stay right where you are. You aren't going to find a better place to earn money for equivalent effort and it sounds like you've already adapted to the ecosystem. Sounds like you need an interesting side project or just a meaningful hobby. Don't go looking for the missing sense of fulfillment you…
Strong disagree! I can't believe all the advice here telling you to stay in a situation where you don't feel challenged. Clearly you wouldn't have written the post if you were content with the status quo. Find a role you thrive in, doing work that musters your enthusiasm. Whether it's at Google or elsewhere. Yes, it means giving up the cushy freeride, but there's no substitute for the deep sense of pride and satisfac…
However, one thing i disagree with you and a lot of other similar replies on is that finding another more challenging job is the only way to solve it. Wouldn’t OP working on a side project or contributing to open source with all that free time he has solve the existential problems he is having just as well? Not even mentioning the fact that doing so sharpens his technical skills, adds projects to his resume, with the main difference (as opposed to working an intense job) being that he has way more freedom to choose what he wants to work on and how.
I worked at a Big Corp, and would often spend the day surfing or training for ironmen, and coding at the cafe shop between sessions.
My reviews came back nearly the top ranking consistently. My “secret” if anything was jumping into the hardest technical problem available to me and taking it on largely myself.
The folks that were promoted faster were the ones that put out business critical fires and spent 80 hour weeks debugging customer issues. Which was well deserved imho.
Google is a huge company, with tons of opportunity. Your risk adjusted return there is probably higher than YC. If you can’t figure out how to hit homeruns at Google you are likely to fail everywhere else.
Your managers job is to tell you what you need to do to become a “critical” employee that’s on the fast promotion track.