Ask HN: What should I do with my job?

4 points by pzzld 10y ago ↗ HN

Hello, HN!

I need your advice!

I have been working on the same project for about 10 years already. This project evolved a few times, but it is kinda the same for many years. It pays good money. It's fully remote programming work. So I don't have to spend more than 4-5 hours completing all tasks for the job. But sometimes I work about 7-8 hours per day and after those pushes I feel super exhausted, sad and depressed for days. I do not get satisfaction from this job and at the end of the day I feel that I have wasted another day.

The work is not hard, it's more on the side of being boring and the challenge if there any is about quantity of tasks. Also I think I am the best in my team/project and I do not see anybody from I can learn in the company - this saddens me very much.

I sporadically take courses about Crypto, AI, do little project for that, but nothing big. I am not sure what is wrong with me? I keep looking for side projects all the time, but since my main job occupies most of my brain, it is hard to have big side projects same time. I feel a little at dead end b/c I have responsibility to feed my family and not sure if I can leave it now.

I have tried to build games, released on for free and was demotivated, that it got very little attention. I have an urge to complete projects, b/c my job does not give me sense of completeness at all. I have doubts which area of expertise to pursue: AI or ML or games in general. I want to have a little pride in what I do.

What would you suggest?

Thank you, HN. You have been great help in the past. I had to post from new account b/c of employer can read this.

manyxcxi 10y ago ↗

This might sound weird, but you might try seeing a therapist as you begin your new journey. It sounds like this long time of being unfulfilled might have left you with a touch of depression, or at the very least demotivated. It's kind of amazing what a few good conversations with a pro can do for your motivation.

Second, I'm not sure what your current stack is, but it sounds like it's old enough that you may need to retrain yourself some, depending on your area of focus. Whether it's through a legitimate course, or self taught, the evolution of a 10 year old product has likely left you in the cold.

Of course, it depends on exactly what you'd like to do, which is the most important thing (and something a therapist can help with). If it were me, I would note down everything about my current situation I really don't want to or can't give up (remote work, low stress, good salary, etc) and what I'd like to or need to find in the next job (a welcoming team, new and shiny tech, learning every day) and then prune the list to your satisfaction between negotiable and non-negotiable for a new situation. But you have to be realistic, if you want something like $200k/yr in Iowa working for a low stress agency, you're never going to get it.

After that, just start looking, maybe even put yourself out to a recruiting agency if you don't know how to begin the search. It's not really hard to find new positions with a lot of experience, it gets harder to find the ones you want.

You've got a lot of experience under your belt, hopefully you made the best of it, because it could make employers quite interested in you.

pzzld 10y ago ↗

Thanks for advice.

Do you think that working on the same project for many (10) years affects me negatively and makes me to see world clearly around me harder?

manyxcxi 10y ago ↗

Everyone is different- me personally, if I worked on the same tech product for 10 years I would go insane with boredom... probably. But I just couldn't fathom a universe where I ever would have worked on anything that long. I've never been anywhere more than three years and spent my entire career consulting or doing agency work precisely because I couldn't imagine being in a role where I was just doing the same thing for a long time. Even when I worked for product companies, I was in professional services customizing the product or some variation on the theme- each project was one of a kind (though similar) and I was usually in and out in under 6 months.

You say that most days are about a half day, that's a lot of free time where I would've been building my own ideas, playing with the latest and greatest, and have been reading about what all the "cool people" were doing. If I could, I would've applied some of these new learnings to my day job, but having been in PS for a pretty old Java product, I know what it's like to be kind of stuck with what you have (like writing code for Java 5 when Java 7 is out).

I'm probably very different than you though, I'm a builder not a maintainer, I can't stand maintenance. Other people are so good at maintenance they make me feel stupid and lazy. We like what we like- and I would think that if you were working there that long you probably like maintenance/steady type work more than I do. It might just be a change of scenery that you need.

Going back to the first comment, I think your first steps should be around figuring out what kind of work would make you happier- and not the kind of BS where if it isn't something you love don't do it. Be pragmatic, what is it you NEED to be happy about the job you will perform. What is missing from your current position that leaves you so depleted? What would give you energy in a new job. Is it the people around you, or lack thereof because you're remote?

I don't know how you've spent your available time as it pertains to the tech world around us, but I'm sure there will likely be some catching up to do, does that interest you? Does it scare you?

All of the questions are why I really think seeing a pro would be beneficial. No one is going to give you the right answer, you just have to get there yourself- that's life.