#CareerAdvice #JobBoredom #SoftwareDevelopment #CareerChange
Hey all, thanks for reading.
### Feeling Stuck in a Boring Job?
So you’ve been working in software development for a while now, and you’re feeling bored and trapped in your current role. You started out excited to have a job, but now you find yourself craving more challenges and opportunities for growth. It’s natural to feel this way after spending years in a job that no longer excites you. But fear not – there are steps you can take to break free from the monotony and pursue a more fulfilling career path.
### Acknowledge Your Feelings
It’s essential to acknowledge your feelings of boredom and restlessness. Ignoring or suppressing these emotions will only lead to more frustration. Recognize that it’s okay to feel this way and that you deserve a career that brings you joy and fulfillment. By acknowledging your feelings, you can start exploring opportunities for change.
### Assess Your Skills and Interests
Take some time to assess your skills and interests. Reflect on what aspects of software development excite you the most and where you see yourself thriving in the future. Consider exploring new areas such as embedded systems, back-end development, or AI if that aligns with your passions. Identify the skills you need to transition into these roles and start building them gradually.
### Seek Mentorship and Networking Opportunities
Connect with professionals in the fields you’re interested in through networking events, online communities, or mentorship programs. Engaging with like-minded individuals can provide valuable insights and guidance as you navigate your career transition. Seek out mentors who have successfully made similar career changes and learn from their experiences.
### Pursue On-the-Job Experience
While transitioning into a new field may seem daunting, remember that on-the-job experience is invaluable. Look for opportunities within your current company or explore job openings that align with your desired career path. Emphasize your transferable skills and eagerness to learn in your applications to increase your chances of landing a role in a new area of software development.
### Consider Your Long-Term Goals
Think about your long-term career goals and the impact of staying in a boring job versus pursuing a more fulfilling career. While your current salary may be comfortable, consider the long-term effects of stagnation on your mental well-being and professional growth. Visualize where you want to be in the next five to seven years and take proactive steps to align your actions with your aspirations.
### Take Action and Embrace Change
Don’t be afraid to take the first step towards change. Update your resume, reach out to companies that interest you, and be open to new opportunities that come your way. Embrace the uncertainty that comes with navigating a career transition and trust in your abilities to adapt and thrive in a new environment. Remember, growth often lies outside your comfort zone.
In conclusion, feeling stuck in a boring job is a common experience, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your career journey. By acknowledging your feelings, assessing your skills, seeking mentorship, pursuing on-the-job experience, considering your long-term goals, and taking action towards change, you can break free from the monotony and pursue a career that truly excites you. Stay resilient, stay positive, and believe in the possibilities that await you in your professional journey.
You’re not going to be able to just pivot into AI without a graduate degree. It is an insanely competitive specialization that requires a high level of mathematical maturity.
get a hobby, girlfriend, or dog.
Accept it for what it is. You’re in a really good spot for where you’re at. I’d keep doing the “9 to 5” and then use that money to further push forward your hobbies or self-study.
You could always pivot but the “grass isn’t always greener” phrase reigns true.
Just get a second job where you do all that challenging stuff – keep this job if it is easy for you for crying out loud
Unless you’re senior plus then the market is pretty shit. That salary and Michgian is pretty solid and you should be happy for yourself. Very lucky to have a boring job in my opinion! Take some of that downtime and work on fun projects or hobbies.
Keep your boring job and start a side gig.
Grass is greener!
Lots of embedded is totally boring C code that draws images on a 7 seg display because the EE doesn’t know how to layout high speed signals. Some things are awesome though like motion control and realtime SW.
Maybe you can do your own projects in your free time and see what you enjoy?
Or maybe you just need a long vacation to clear the mind?
Keep your job and shut up
The market is trash right now
Honestly, no harm in applying and seeing who calls back. I’m sort of in the same boat (albeit with much less experience and not as confident in my skills), but I’m also eager to find a project that excites me and that I feel I can make meaningful contributions to. I don’t feel there’s space for me to do that in my current company and I’m not getting a chance to grow.
So yeah, I get it. Nothing wrong with looking for growth or fulfillment in your career, or for wanting to surround yourself with people you can learn a lot from.
I was in your position. Got laid off and subject to the terrible market so I lived off my savings and traveled and focused on my outdoor hobbies for a couple years. Now I’m poor but much happier than before. I learned that money and security isn’t what makes me happy.
>I’m just looking for any tips about how to proceed, at the moment I feel kind of stuck and I’m ready to just shoot off emails to every company I have an interest in.
I mean, this is pretty much what I do. If you have 10 years of good experience you should be alright with lots of places except for spots completely out of your area of expertise. And if you’ve really gotten the current work you do down to a science it shouldn’t be too hard to carve out time in the day to work on other stuff to better align to what you want to do.
Unless the company you’re in is abusive or exploitative you’re in a great position to pick and choose exactly what you want to do in your next role, you just have to start doing it and stop talking yourself out of even applying.
So you know yourself more than we do (hopefully) and you need to determine if this is just a pattern you go through with an emptiness you feel when you hit a goal. If you start up another goal and achieve it, you’ll feel just as empty. The attainment of the goal distracts you from the empty feeling while you are pursuing it.
You have to determine what is making you feel this way about your position. It seems like you have work and are providing a service so that means you are useful but you don’t like how easy it is to do. If your work were truly a challenge that would mean you wouldn’t always rise to the challenge because if you could meet every challenge given to you, it would cease to be challenging.
Personally I think every position a person does will eventually become a routine over a long enough amount of time.
So ask yourself that. If you went to a new place, would you just be in the same position you are now after you learned the in/outs of it? Obviously you won’t know until you’ve done that but how would you feel if you knew you wouldn’t be satisfied anywhere you go? Would you just embrace it and keep switching every 5 years or just sit where you are and learn how to cope?
For the moment, I would suggest quiet quitting and just go on autopilot. Perhaps even watch netflix in the downtime. Save and invest as much money as you can. Do some cool chit just as traveling and doing epic hobbies. Also, if you want to transition into a different industry, try and learn about, watch youtube videos, take courses etc.
Work is work, life is life – find pleasure in life
if it’s boring and repetitive, can you automate any of it? That could be its own challenge
Id keep working your job and just try to enrich your life more outside of work. Maybe do that until you have a passive income network generating a living income then you can truly be free to take massive risk
Been at your position too. Did Front-end for 7 years, and at some point, I felt stucked. Felt like all I did was building UI components, CSS fixes, and bug fixes.
I moved to a Back-end team, as I was particularly interested in possibly becoming a Cloud Architect one day. Same company, just a different team. That allowed me to keep my sallary, even taking a few steps back, as I had no experience with BE. Still, I had domain knowledge for our product, meaning I wasn’t a completely “newbie” anyway.
Do you have other teams at your company that you could jump to? If not, your experience as an FE isn’t a completely waste of time – part of that knowledge is common knowledge whatever you do in SWE.
Dude, you’re blessed.
Well I am also a bored frontend dev but I’m making 60k less.
I’m leaving software engineering to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Imagine complaining about having a steady, chill, extremely good paying job.
Yikes OP. What do you mean you don’t have time to learn outside of work? If your job is so “easy” then complete your tasks and upskill on the clock. Or you can wake up an hour earlier to study?
Find enjoyment outside of work.