After almost 20 years working in the public sector, I've come to the realization that my passion for public service no longer outweighs my many day-to-day frustrations. A sense of purpose is what kept me in government for so long, but the bureaucracy, the aversion to change, and the outdated technology have made loving my work more and more difficult. I've been contemplating moving into the private sector for a long time now--I'm just worried that I'll end up feeling lost in a world that is driven by profit. I recognize however that my view is that of an outsider. I've never worked in business, and in truth, I don't really know what drives people. I'm hoping the good folks of HN can provide some insight. Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
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Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#2I'm sure you'll get a wide variety of answers here.
As a software engineer, I like solving complex technical problems and learning software, management, and people skills. It doesn't matter to me what I'm doing as long as it's ethical and I can grow.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#3By working on proprietary technology I (and many people) use daily, which I couldn't make myself, e.g. car infotainment, kernels and drivers. Pointing at something and saying "I partly made that". Being able to touch what you develop makes the rubber hit the road.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#4To be honest, a job is a job that pays the bills. Civilization is a huge resource optimization machine, and while there are pathologies, generally I believe in the market economys capability in guiding resource utilization. I.e. if someone pays for a job to be well done, I presume it is a job that's worth doing.
Mind you, for me it's obvious my employers software is useful as it is used in large construction project globally. Hence, for me I can point at buildings and say our work helped in achieving them.
I also to like to work with other people - there is very nice sense of achievement when a team manages to ship the next version to happy customers.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#5I work in the security industry. The products I work on help keep hundreds of thousands of people safer in an online world whose threat landscape is expanding daily. That sounds like a marketing sound bite, but it's absolutely true.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#6You might want to check out the nonprofit world. I've been in private and public sector IT and felt the same way you do. The public sector was frustrating. I couldn't get into the private sector work, nothing I did was worth it. But I've found a happy place at a non-profit. It's a small place and doesn't suffer from the govt drag. I believe we all share a common mission, and I like that mission. The people I work with are all into it. It helps that I really like the people I work with.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#7By making something useful! There's nothing wrong with charging an honest price for a useful service. That can be just as valuable as public service.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#8No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#9To think about it, govt is supposed to be profitable while providing the services. Private is no different. You have to be better and cheaper than your competition.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#10The private sector varies pretty heavily. I think it's fair to say that some companies/industries have a much better "purpose" than others.
I work in online payments right now. It's no Stripe - we're a smaller shop. But ultimately it feels good to know that many small businesses and mom-n-pop shops depend on us for their livelihood.
On the flip-side, I have a friend who spent many years working for this weird ponzi scheme / multi-level-marketing shop (overseas) that spent their insane earnings funding really bad movies starring the founder's adult kids. I have to imagine that person would have a much harder time finding a sense of purpose than I do at my current employer.