Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#211

Post by bboylen » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:42 PM UTC

thanatos519 wrote: post #175

bitlax wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for those who are able, getting married and having children will tend to bring even more fulfillment than becoming a clown.

I did that, and I agree in principle, but I regret that my child will experience the collapse of civilization before he knows what it means. I don't think it's a good idea to make more humans right now, because they will not have a very good life.

A child born today in the west has a better life expectancy than any other period in human history. Despite all the global challenges, we still live in the most prosperous age ever

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#212

Post by toddm » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:43 PM UTC

HalcyonicStorm wrote: post #127

toddm wrote: post #111

For me, the special part is truly viewing any job as just that: a job. I no longer assess my worth as a person as a function of job title, salary, or anything else. I take contracting work primarily and expect absolutely nothing more than a paycheck. Work is a transaction and I deliver what I can and am not a jerk. Almost every disposable penny goes toward physical fitness. My spouse happens to be cut from the same c…

This is the direction I find myself going too. I am a runner in NYC. Its also fulfilling my social needs because I am a member of multiple running clubs. I get to interact with people outside of the tech bubble from all walks of life. I also have met people who are role models for different stages in life. I now have an idea of what I want to be like in my 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s because of the people I've met since I've…

Good for you, and keep it up - just finding a workout group or running buddies is a great investment for encouraging you to stick with it. Plus the ROI - low blood pressure, heart health, and so on - is almost infinite given the low cost of entry.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#213

Post by cruelty2 » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:47 PM UTC

asdfjke wrote: post #158

The software industry is designed by nature to be an absolutely soul sucking experience. Operating off the premise that most people get into computer science and programming because of the control, and general artistry, involved: 0. You are a cost center as a software engineer even if you produce value well outsized relative to your salary. You will always be a cost center because some party school MBA can't factor y…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#214

Post by cruelty2 » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:49 PM UTC

People chase a higher salary so that the work they do now through clenched teeth will seem worthwhile one day. So what's the solution for those people? They need to make sure today is good. Not tomorrow.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#215

Post by toddm » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:49 PM UTC

sillynonce wrote: post #198

toddm wrote: post #111

For me, the special part is truly viewing any job as just that: a job. I no longer assess my worth as a person as a function of job title, salary, or anything else. I take contracting work primarily and expect absolutely nothing more than a paycheck. Work is a transaction and I deliver what I can and am not a jerk. Almost every disposable penny goes toward physical fitness. My spouse happens to be cut from the same c…

May I ask how does one start their contracting path? Is it feasible with say 2 years of experience in the industry?

For me, I networked via LinkedIn with some old classmates in different fields of study. I truly accepted anything I could do at first. There were bumps in the road. There were mismatches between my skills and what was expected. I believe most others who contract will report the same.

There are organizations that are clearinghouses for outsourcing contract work, and my name and CV is with most of ones I could find.

Be proactive. Reach out. Apply for stuff on LinkedIn (most of it goes into /dev/null but not all of it) and just get going. One other piece of advice: if you have any desire/skill at technical writing, that is a great angle. Pay is good and there is always demand.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#216

Post by nostromo » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

atmosx wrote: post #200

We live in the post-modernism era. The common theme is the maximisation of hedonism, and through that we pursue "happiness". Happiness needs to be experienced. Explaining what it is or how it feels is of low value. The problem is that happiness is directly linked to unhappiness. It's like notes and pauses: if we remove pauses from a melody, the melody turns into a "sound" that doesn't give us any pleasure.. it's not…

“Meaning” ends up being empty too.

In truth there is no lasting meaning. Eventually the Earth and the solar system will end, followed by the galaxy, followed by every star.

Shoot for contentedness instead. Enjoy the life you’ve been given for it’s own sake and without preconditions.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#217

Post by alecbz » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 12:02 AM UTC

azemetre wrote: post #135

alecbz wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if working with others and having an impact is what brings me the most fulfillment?

Then offer to do work in your community than your employer. There are many food banks and code for america (and other country equivalents) that can use your help to impact your community.

Volunteering is nice but I think rarely takes up enough time to be a significant part of one's life. I'm not going to form deep connections with people or feel a deep sense of accomplishment volunteering somewhere for an hour or two a week.

Even if I quit my job, lived off savings and did volunteer work full-time, I'm likely not going to run into many other people like that. I could start taking a more active role and organizing, maybe with other full-time volunteers.

The work I'm doing while volunteering is also generally likely going to be less interesting to me than the software engineering work at a tech company. Maybe I'd be doing some kind of software engineering work full-time at a non-profit.

But at that point I've just traded in my job at a tech company with one at a non-profit. Ignoring whether this is better for the world overall (I'm skeptical it is, but whatever), how is it better for me?

edit: Not to imply that for some people, full-time work at a volunteer or non-profit organization can't be fulfilling, but I'm very skeptical that this is the case for most, or even many people.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#218

Post by shaunxcode » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 12:03 AM UTC

Find a language you LOVE. To not mince words I mean something like APL, Haskell, F#, prolog, LISP etc. Life is too short to live in a state of tolerance of your language. Finding a place that will employ you using LOVE language is the next step towards happiness optimization. Note this does not preclude a startup!

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#219

Post by xeromal » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 12:03 AM UTC

I found a company where the people are lovely, it's pretty small (45 people) and we make enough money to pay everyone and give raises. The leadership don't force you to eat shit and they actively back you up when you need help, advice, or the client needs a reality check.

I've never been happier and I'd stay even if my pay stagnates.

Re: Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

#220

Post by redisman » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 12:12 AM UTC

stingraycharles wrote: post #43

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #11

The special thing I’ve done is mostly being willing to sit with hard questions like “who am I” and “what do I really want out of life and a job?”, sometimes for years at a time (low-key). The answer is always the same, and will probably always the same: I am motivated by mastery and autonomy. Thus I put lots of time into finding work that is interesting and has a lot to dig into. I routinely annoy the institutions I…

I feel like this advice focuses on execution (“I know that mastery and autonomy make me happy, $this is how I achieved that”). It’s much harder to actually understand what makes you happy, and when your mind is deceiving you: you may not fully appreciate what you have to give up to achieve a certain goal. Would you be able to elaborate how you realized that mastery and autonomy were the things that make you happy?

I’ve found what makes me happy. The issue is that it is not something I can get out of work or a business.

As a smaller example. I know we were all lied to that you just need to find what you love and then do that as a job. For me it just killed the enjoyment for one of my passions for years (video games). I enjoy them so much more since moving to general web dev.

I also used to love programming but 14 years of doing it as a day job has sucked most of the enjoyment out of it. Now it’s just a great career which is not too bad of an outcome.