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Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?

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

#231

Post by HalcyonicStorm »

toddm wrote: post #212
HalcyonicStorm wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's exactly how I see it. A manyfold return on the money investment. I was an obese sedentary homebody before I signed up for a running class on a whim. It's been 3 years. Every run is a celebration of what I can do. I'd cut many other things before I cut my running expenses if push comes to shove.

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

#232

Post by greazy »

toddm wrote: post #210
dataangel wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you spending fitness money on? Dumb bells and a gym membership don’t break the bank for most software engineers.

See below - the biggest expense is personal training and coaching. I am not a software engineer, and I have never commanded software engineer salaries. I am what they call a "data scientist" and I have an academic background in the sciences. My wife is a project manager at a big company that is nowhere near the FAANG level. We have a bare-bones yearly burn rate of about $40K: that's mortgage, utilities, rice and bean…

I think i have a similar background to you. Mind sharing how you got into data science contractual work? Is it through academia or in the business world?

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

#233

Post by randomopining »

toddm wrote: post #210
dataangel wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you spending fitness money on? Dumb bells and a gym membership don’t break the bank for most software engineers.

See below - the biggest expense is personal training and coaching. I am not a software engineer, and I have never commanded software engineer salaries. I am what they call a "data scientist" and I have an academic background in the sciences. My wife is a project manager at a big company that is nowhere near the FAANG level. We have a bare-bones yearly burn rate of about $40K: that's mortgage, utilities, rice and bean…

Swing a kettlebell, squats, pull ups, running, yoga, hill sprints… those all cost about 200 bucks

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

#234

Post by bluehatbrit »

I don't know where you live, what your budget is, or whether it's an option but if it is - try going part time for a bit. It opens up time for other things in a really significant way and almost forces your job to be relegated to "just a job". The simple act of "sorry I can't make that meeting, it's my day off" can push you do spend that time on something meaningful and put up healthy mental barriers around work.

It may not be something you want to maintain forever, but dropping down to 3-4 days a week for a year or so can be super refreshing.

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

#236

Post by peterkelly »

the_only_law wrote: post #88
peterkelly wrote: post #56

Forget about chasing high salaries. It's just not worth it. As long as you're earning enough to comfortably support yourself and those that depend on you, that's enough. Health and happiness come first. Don't tolerate bullshit from anyone, especially yourself. Set high standards and meet them; the satisfaction of a job well done is a reward in itself. Take pride in what you do and approach your work as a vocation, no…

> This is actually an explicit requirement if you want to get a PhD, which I've found to be a valuable way of opening up fulfilling career opportunities that would otherwise not be available to me. As someone who’s considering getting a PhD, how do you know if you’re capable of completing it. I hear a lot that academia is a lot of bullshit and that you don’t have to be particularly competent to get one. But at the sa…

Do a small research project first to get the taste of it and see how you go. One option is a masters by research; another is an honours degree (this is something we have in Australia and at least in CS includes a research project, not sure about other countries).

You mentioned in another comment you're about to start an undergrad degree. I'd recommend getting to know some professors early on and letting them know of your intentions; they'll be able to give you guidance and maybe give you some exposure to an existing research project their group is working on.

Also a "substantial original contribution to knowledge in your field" isn't as big as it sounds. See https://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

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

#237

Post by crossroadsguy »

bluishgreen wrote: post #170

I will just add one point regarding health and sedentarism. Going completely remote saved about 2 hours a day from commute. This is big. This is not just 2 hours, but at the end of those 2 hours you won't be in a mood to do pretty much anything. I ended up working out for 30 mins and going on a long 90 min walk everyday. People tend to think 2 hours of physical activity is a lot and 'too much', but given how sitting…

Due to pandemic I had to go full remote. Lines blurred for work and personal hours. Not so much for the employer, but for myself. So the first thing I will do once the dust of pandemic settles, if it settles anytime soon, I’ll find a job in my city (my company is based in another city right now) and just go to office everyday.

Back then I honestly didn’t even have it in my mind that I do this work at this company after 5pm when I left my workplace. Now my house is my workplace. It used to be my most personal space.

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

#238

Post by LesZedCB »

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…

s/happiness/meaning

end up in the same boat

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

#239

Post by urthor »

the_only_law wrote: post #83
netman21 wrote: post #42

I have found that there are two types of people who are happy in their work. 1. Those that help others, like teachers and nurses. Their jobs can be stressful and not very financially rewarding. But they take satisfaction from seeing patients get healthy or students learn. The other type are people who create things. If you are not of the first type I highly suggest that you find a career where you make things. Creati…

Most nurses I know don’t particularly love their work and many are looking for a way out. It seems like a decent career in that it pays better than what else available to many people going into that career and the education is made more accessible thanks to incentives set up because of shortages.

Exactly.

I’ve lost my source, but teachers had the highest job satisfaction of any job in the US when surveyed at a random point in the middle of the day (they rated it lowly overall due to low pay, but during an average day at 2pm they were enjoying themselves)

Nurses hated their job.

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