Ask HN: Techniques for surviving a job you loathe?

I'm a college student and I'm also working as a software engineer.I'm somewhat close to being as occupied as you are. I'm also working on a side project while at home. I think the key to managing my life is prioritizing. You have to get good at prioritizing stuff when you are living a busy life. And the better you prioritize the better output you get.Also try not to get burn'd out while you are doing all of the stuff you do and don't forget to go to the gym and just wreck yourself there(read stay fit). Also try to sleep well. There's no general formula, just survive and win. About the work : I'm in the opposite situation where my work requires me to be constantly focused and come up with solutions, and my tactics are : give it all you got.

Hey! If you're from where I think you are you should definitely make an appearance and a local meetup a friend (@joshgillies) and I run monthly called Web Developer 42°. We have a couple of locals talking about anything from database security to git flow to front end design tooling. Beer, soft drink and pizza provided - and it's free!

Knowing local people who love what you love can make a big difference. Whilst dev jobs are few and far between down here, they do crop up - usually in smaller consulting firms. All of the consulting firms down here generally have a presence at #wd42. And everyone that meets really cares about the sorts of things on the Joel test - so any potential employers you may meet here are on the same page.

We'll be putting out the speaker list next week but in the meantime hit up our website (http://web.dev42.co/) and maybe follow us on twitter. If you want an email reminder email me and I'll add you to the announcement list.

If you are from here, shoot me an email (in profile) and we can catch up for a #pubhack, #coffeehack or similar. I'm not a hirer - but I love to code and enjoy coding with others.

Edit: I thought you meant Hobart (as it is literally at the bottom end of Australia) but was mistaken. Either way if anyone is down here on the last Wednesday of any month come to #wd42 for a beer. We're friendly only some of us have 2 heads!

> My home town is literally at the bottom end of Australia. Beautiful place but there are very few development jobs and no paying startups here.

You should work to go to events like Startup Grind Melbourne, or at least such events in Adelaide. Network, approach people and introduce yourself.

> I fear that someone will beat me to market (trying for bare minimum viable product).

This shouldn't be a big worry. Even if it happens, move on to the next thing.

> I also fear burn out (has happened before)

Pull back on your startup work if this happens. A job you don't like, new baby and your own startup you're working on solo and in a rush as someone might beat you to market sounds like a recipe for burnout. Your startup idea can be put on the back burner when the other things take precedence. You fear burn out, so you should spend less time on it. You're not really cutting down time from it any how, your brain is going 24/7. I often have programming breakthroughs after waking up in the morning, or coming home from a dinner. I guess I'm unconsciously working on the problem even when doing something else.

Maturity might be part of these things. As people get older, that they hear BS at work becomes less important.

A proper perspective helps as well. You say "the managers are micromanagers and the developers sit at the bottom of the org chart". This may be true, but you should look at it with equanimity. Just think logically how to further your agenda. If it's unfair or illogical that developers sit at the bottom of the org chart in a software company, getting emotional about it will not serve you. It is something you have no control of, you can only vote with your feet, and for now you've voted to stay.

I just wanted to emphasise that while the employment situation isn't good, I'm more keen on actually starting a business thank moving to another job, unless something really challenging and exciting comes along. With that said though I would never quit my day job and lose that security until my product had paid me 1.5x annual salary. I'm in regional Victoria, but a commute to Melbourne isn't viable for me and all our family is out this way.