I get my sense of purpose from my family - my wife and daughter - and not my career. Work is something I do to enable the other parts of my existence.
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?
#102Private sector is not immune to your woes. You’ve got grass is greener syndrome. Experiences vary between public and private so wildly that it’s not worth comparing them each as a monolith.
Personally - I gave up on the non-profit/do-something-holy mission after I got out of college and I realized no government or university was going to hire me for some mundane reason. (I had been employed at a university before) So I went with private options - doing startups, enterprise, seeing a company to IPO, joining large public tech companies, etc.
I don’t regret it. It certainly pays much better. I know the troubles with government/public positions and I handsomely prefer the quality of life improvements I’ve been afforded that come with working in the private sector.
Truth is - government often uses a lot of the private sector anyway. I worked at a company that had government contracts. So, in some ways, I was a public worker as much as anyone else. I just got paid better than if I was in the government. The government pays like it’s 1950 and you live in a LCOL area.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I work for companies that create things I find valuable. I've found this to be really important for my satisfaction. My current employer ships food to people who otherwise would have a tough time getting nutritious food (largely Medicare patients). This helps people age in their homes and delays the need and cost of nursing homes. It improves people's health outcomes significantly. The work I do every day helps that…
I'm genuinely glad to hear that you've found a mission-driven workplace with a healthy, supportive work culture. In my experience, I've found that many mission-driven workplaces use the righteousness of the company's purpose to justify pressure tactics paired with low pay. This is a commonly-reported experience at non-profits and even for-profit companies like SpaceX. I'm now at a crossroads where I'm seriously consi…
This is the conclusion I found after working for a company people are passionate about working for. I prefer my current company which has a fine (if bland) product but the culture is fantastic, I have a lot of agency in my work, and the pay is great. I enjoy my day to day life in this situation.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#104No post body was provided.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#105Does anyone working in software honestly feel like their work gives them a strong sense of purpose? Honestly I'd imagine the far majority don't, working on proprietary code for companies driven solely by profit, within agile factories where a developer's sole role is to churn out tickets on an assembly line, and have no real ownership or stake in the company's success. Hence the high rate of burnout despite the job b…
I've never found sense of purpose at work. I wish I could but nope. The idea of passion projects is what keeps me going but to be honest, work tends to exhaust me to the point that my own projects make no real progress and I don't know if I can ever make something I'd feel happy about.
Have you tried getting up earlier (and going to sleep earlier) to save your best hours in the morning for your own work? It's easier said than done, especially if you have family to take care of, but it's the go-to solution recommended by past HN users for getting personal work done when the workplace is exhausting.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#106If you want a “sense of purpose” have children. Your job seems like the wrong place to expect purpose from, because for most of us work serves the primary purpose of providing an income, which is often contrary to our personal desires.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#107For me, it's the code. Making existing code better, finding elegant solutions, learning new tools and tricks, and helping other programmers improve. When the code's new, it's like sculpting crossed with poetry, but testable. When the code's old and crufty it's like restoring an old car.
I'm just glad that a big stable company is willing to pay me to do it, I don't really care that we're not curing cancer. Taking personal pride in a business you don't own invites heartbreak anyway...
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#108My purpose, identity, and worth have nothing to do with my work. Work is something I do in exchange for money which I use to fund my life and goals. I've never been able to relate with someone who needs a purpose to do work. I would gladly hop to any job that paid more and required less effort than software
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#109By 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.
Further to this - most useful goods and services are made in the private sector. Food, clothing, housing. Pretty good stuff.
Very reasonable people wonder how anyone can spend time in the public sector. They don't seem to get much done there, they waste a lot of people's hard earned money. They can be viewed as at best a necessary evil, and at worst downright corrupt. I don't agree 100% with those notions, but they aren't crazy either.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
#110"Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?"
I don't. Probably best to look at your personal life rather than professional.
Also, the frustration, bureaucracy, etc is also present in the private sector. At least that's my experience. If anything, you'll have less worker protection than working as a civilian for the government.