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Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

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11–20 of 111 posts

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#11
I thought I liked programming as day job but realized I never was happy doing it. So I transitioned, first to self employment and then to requirement analysis, which gave me plenty of other interesting opportunities. It depends on where you work, but the fact is that much of the programming that pays is boring. Interesting, challenging programming of course happens at the companies that are technology leaders and is a different thing so I am not so much speaking of that.

In any case, my advice, don't take for granted that programming as an occupation is the right thing just because you like it when you can choose exactly what to do.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#12

There is this very popular place earlier known as Hacker School and now known as Recurse Center at NYC, so if you can manage to arrange some place to live in NYC I suggest you to go and check out this place. It's community driven and ask for no fee though is very good and worth giving a try. Here is the link to the same https://www.recurse.com

This is nonsense, unless the OP lives in or around NYC this advice is useless.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#13
I found myself in a similar situation about a year ago. Started developing https://mocktastic.com (REST API mocking electron app, with team collaboration) on the side. It's kept me going through periods of mind numbing boredom in office, even though the user growth has been rather slow (but steady).

I'd say find an area of interest – one that doesn't have anything to do with programming. Then learn as much as you can about it. Next, identify things you can change with your programming skill.

Once, you've identified 3/4 things, find some people who make a living dependent on those things. Go talk to them about how you would improve things. If they light up, it's time to start coding. Else find something else to change.

The combination of learning about a new industry you know not much about and trying to build a solution for that industry, should keep you busy outside office. Leverage that, and use your office time as your down time.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#14
I do career consulting (and resume writing) mostly for clients from tech. I think some arrangement where you had multiple forms of income (or potential income) might be a good solution for you. What might that look like?

- Freelance software development - This would give you some control over what types of projects you work on, and you could focus on areas that really interest you. Maybe it would be projects that enable you to learn a new language. You also can typically work from home, and you will be able to balance your time between different work.

- Freelance writing - If your writing is good you can certainly pick up some $$ here and there by writing articles for tech sites. I've done that for tech sites as a writer on career topics, and many of these sites are always seeking new content. The amount of money may not be a game changer, but if you enjoy the work you can probably make this 10% of your overall income.

Personal projects - Perhaps some of them can be monetized and you just haven't come up with the correct concept. Or perhaps you can come up with some ideas for projects that are both interesting and able to be monetized.

Working for yourself is quite motivating. I've done it for several years, and when failure isn't an option you will find ways to stay motivated. I spent 20 years in recruiting before transitioning fully to my current job (resume writing, content writing, career consulting, other freelance writing projects), and I've really enjoyed the change.

Some people aren't cut out for a 9-5. I certainly am not, and it doesn't sound like you are either.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#15

Freelance. Seriously, freelance remotely. You will be able to find work you love. If not, you will be able to easily switch projects and find something you will love doing. You will have the flexibility to work when you need money and the flexibility to work on your own projects when you have some savings in your pockets. Or better, you can do part-time projects for clients and part-time in your own projects. You can…

It's hard to find freelance work - the contract roles are guarded jealously by recruiters and agencies (who take 30-40% of the revenue prior to giving it to you), and anything else is extreme luck or extremely good networking. If the latter (networking), remote is very very hard for someone who isn't already well-known.

Based on my knowledge of the market for freelance software gigs, I think you are grossly overestimating the difficulty of finding good work. "Extreme luck" is not necessary, nor is "extremely good networking".

30-40% is also probably a bit of a stretch for the recruiter's take (former recruiter here). Those numbers and higher are certainly possible, but 20% is a bit more likely. Also, if you are getting a competitive rate for your work, it really doesn't matter what the recruiter is taking, does it? If they are able to negotiate a huge finder's fee on top of your competitive rate, that's their skill being rewarded.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#17
I always advise to really reflect your current situation and think what changes might be possible. Work is a big part of your life. It depends a bit how willing you are to do more risky stuff, but the great thing is that skilled programmers are in demand. You can always go back to a boring job. Freelancing is an option, but you probaly need to aquire the gigs yourself. Might be an option. But you have total control over what you're working on. You can also work part-time and persue more finanically unrewarding in the remaining time, like teaching. A friend of mine is working 80% and painting the remaining 20%. Are there part-time study options? I would not recommend an online-degree. Have you contemplated working in a startup? It's risky, but there are a lot of different challenges and you can branch out of your technical role.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#18

There is this very popular place earlier known as Hacker School and now known as Recurse Center at NYC, so if you can manage to arrange some place to live in NYC I suggest you to go and check out this place. It's community driven and ask for no fee though is very good and worth giving a try. Here is the link to the same https://www.recurse.com

This is nonsense, unless the OP lives in or around NYC this advice is useless.

They are just adding an option? Usually if someone asks for advice there are other people with similar problems reading the threads and it can be useful to them.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#19
Boredom is caused by a lack of attention. You can change your activity as much as you want but after some time it will become boring again.

The only solution is to realize the scale of this Grand Happening which we call as life or existence. That every day comes fresh and new, not a single atom is the same as it was a moment ago. But if you don't have this much attention it feels "the same", "boring". And it's not about the job only, friends, family, movie you name it.

If you realize this you can swipe a floor for the lifetime and it will never be boring.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do when I'm bored with my career?

#20
The main thing to learn in a work environment is how to finish things - or what it takes to finish things.

I suspect (happy to be wrong) when you say you like learning you mean you like everything about programming except the tedious task of drawing everything into a coherent whole and polishing it.

I think if you conceive of learning in a broader sense you may enjoy work more by finding insights in the process and in the people.

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