
Ask HN: Burned out 21 year old software developer, what's next? - funfunfunction
I&#x27;ve been writing software for startups for the last three years. I&#x27;m self taught and started right after high school. I&#x27;ve worked for my current employer for about 18 months and our team and technology were recently acquired. As I&#x27;ve begun to assimilate into the new company, I&#x27;m realizing how burnt out I am and how little satisfaction I get from writing software for enterprise companies. My question is, what&#x27;s next? I&#x27;ve looked at other tech jobs and few of them spark my interests.<p>I realize this is a very open ended question. Any advice is thoroughly appreciated.
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speedplane
College college college college. Your 20s are when you figure out what you
want to do. College is expensive but a great way to dabble in tons of stuff,
socialize, and get ready for the next step. Being 21 isn't too late, plenty of
people go to college at 21-22 after stints in the military. You'll be popular
as you'll be able to buy your friends beer (legal disclaimer: don't do that).

~~~
amorphid
College is a huge waste of money for someone who doesn't value it. Debt sucks.

~~~
zaccus
100% agree. I hated it. It was expensive, stressful, and unrewarding.

My loans won't be paid off until I'm in my mid 40s. I feel like a sucker who
fell for a scam. It's objectively the biggest mistake I ever made.

I'm sure my perspective will be soundly dismissed on HN. I'm sure I must have
done college "wrong" or something. Whatever. I'm not trying to blame anyone
else. My choices seemed like good ones at the time; these things are only
clear in retrospect.

~~~
akulbe
I _completely_ agree with you, and I'm in my mid-40's still paying off college
debt for a degree that hasn't helped. (I was a business management major)

Unless, you're going to be a
doctor/lawyer/engineer/$FIELD_THAT_REQUIRES_LICENSING... then college is a
scam, and a waste of time and money.

Don't be fooled, education != college. You _CAN_ get educated for much less,
in MANY other ways, for much less money (if not free).

~~~
amorphid
I'm in my 40s and still paying off the debt incurred to get 2 business
degrees. Maybe the advice should be "don't major in business!" :P

~~~
akulbe
I'd say >95% of the material covered in my business track could have been
learned by reading "The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman. If only it had been
around when I started.

------
codyb
A big thing not mentioned yet in the comments is to figure out exactly what's
burning you out.

Is it the work?

Is it the people?

Is it the office?

Is it the commute?

Is it the structure of the day?

Find out exactly what it is that's actually burning you out.

Some of these can be solved by becoming a remote worker (which comes with its
own cast of problems). If you can snag a remote job you can do things like
remote year (remoteyear.com (I think)), which sounds like something perfect
for a 21 year old interested in experiencing new things (while making money
instead of taking loans!).

On the other hand if it's the work in general then college may be a good step.
That being said, I'm not as certain how to combat long term dissatisfaction
with work. At the end of the day a lot of our job is doing the same sort of
shit of over and over again. Wire this up here, move this button there, get
this data heah, color this that there ova hea.

It's kind of a grind for a lot of us I think but it's still pretty interesting
stuff to be doing with decent amounts of satisfaction to be found through out
our projects.

Finally, if you're filled with emotions you'd like to get out, don't be afraid
to go see a therapist. Having someone to talk to, who can get to know you, and
work with you overtime isn't necessarily always just for the depressed.

Burnout sucks, it's real, there's no pill for it. Use all the tools available
to you to combat it. Don't make rash decisions. Do write in a notebook and sit
quietly for introspection. Do spend time figuring out the what, where, why,
when, and how. Do consider all available options.

------
CalChris
Congratulations on getting a head start on your career. Now go to college.
Seriously. Start at JC. You'll kill it. Then transfer to the best university
you can get into; that would be Berkeley.

There's a shit ton to learn at college and a lot of interesting people to
meet. You'll have a better broader handle on things than knowing everything
there is about Python.

~~~
funfunfunction
Interesting you mention Berkeley. I was visiting my sister there just this
last weekend and have since considered applying. It seemed like a great place
with lots of happy young people!

~~~
relyio
Are you talking about UCB? Nearly all my friends doing EECS or the likes are
depressed, swamped with work and borderline suicidal. It has taken such
proportions that it has become a meme on the facebook meme page UCBMFET. From
what they have told me, their administration has no interest in student
satisfaction or mental health.

The gruesome workload and collective depression is perhaps only topped by
Waterloo.

Yeah, you get a top notch engineering education. But, I'd wager the trauma
isn't worth it when you realize the workforce standards are well below what's
requires of you in the "dojo".

Stanford kids seem much happier.

~~~
skylark
I went to Cal and saw many of my friends go through the same thing. EECS is
one of the most impacted majors, so the weeder introductory classes are brutal
by design. For those who made it into the major, it didn't seem nearly as bad.

------
pizza
Contrarian advice:

\- do not analyze why you burned out, as it is because you feel ontologically
'incomplete', or insecure. you can't make meaning of a lack of meaning from
the same position of a lack of meaning. so, you will need to bounce this off
of/through others acting as nonjudgmental conversationalists

\- if you _do_ feel incomplete in this way, seeking internal answers/finding
your "real self"/learning who you "really are" will only become a Sisyphean
task/disaster

\- don't wait for your desire to come back, it's an unobtainable, by design -
see Lacan, or if that's unreasonable, just listen to the rolling stones:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0)

\- don't care too much about others over yourself: this is what leads to
burnout

\- if you get rid of your phantasies, you won't get reality: you'll get
something worse than reality. so retain your dreams, and keep looking for new
ones, as dreams and fantasies are really the only way to get into reality..

------
harigov
I have had this experience many times in my life. I noticed that I feel burned
out only when I am doing something that I don't enjoy. If I work on something
that I am extremely passionate about, I can withstand stress and work long
hours without feeling burned out.

I think most people underestimate the value of doing nothing. Seriously do
nothing for sometime. It maybe a week or a month. Just travel, eat, drink,
sleep, etc., You will start feeling yourself back in no time. Once you feel
normal, realize that you need frequent breaks to maintain that state of mind.
Now that you have an experience of burnout, you have an opportunity to not
repeat that again.

------
PhilWright
Sorry to sound negative, but welcome to the real world. The vast majority of
people are doing jobs they really do not want to do. Imagine what it feels
like to be work on a production line for a 12 hour shift in China. Or getting
up everyday to pack the shelves at Walmart. At some point in the next 40 years
of your working life you will have times when your are doing something you
don't enjoy, or that causes you stress or where you suffer from burn out.
Don't panic, as this is normal. Typically you solve this by doing one of the
following...

1 - Just work your way through it, it will pass.

2 - Switch to another project in the company.

3 - Switch to another company.

4 - Take time off.

~~~
CyberFonic
I'd recommend option 4. At 21 there's no need to rush things. Gain other
perspectives, soak up a bit of real life!

------
LansanaCamara
I'm in a similar boat as you. I just turned 22 and have been working as a
software developer for the past 3 years as well (interesting coincidence).

I noticed that I get the feeling of "burnout" when I'm doing things I don't
enjoy. For instance, I can spend a couple months straight working on fun
personal projects of mine all day every day, like the Medium.com clone I
built, but if I'm spending two weeks straight fixing other peoples bugs at
work I get extremely bored and am always watching the clock, looking forward
to going home. I don't enjoy programming in those moments.

I would err on the side of caution when calling this burnout, though, to be
honest. I think we are too young and haven't been at it long enough (no matter
how dedicated we are) to really feel true burnout. We're just fatigued,
demotivated, unexcited and a little annoyed (in my case).

I think a change of pace might help you, as it always helps me. Try doing
something really challenging and thought-provoking. Entrepreneurship might be
for you! Have you ever considered making your own startup? Got any ideas
you've been neglecting? Take one of them on! You never know what might come of
it. :)

Lastly, if you think programming in general just isn't for you anymore, but
you love technology and would still like to be in the space, another thing you
may want to consider is creating content of value for others to use and learn
from. For instance, you could start a YouTube channel and talk about tech,
crypto, AI, startups, etc.

Good luck!

~~~
bambataa
I also would not call that burnout. It sounds like you're realising that work
sucks.

Going to work is fun the first few months when you're all 'look at me going to
my big job!' and you probably feel richer than you have ever done before.

Then after a while you realise you're not loaded after all, the novelty wears
off the work and you find yourself repeating tasks again and again. The
challenge then becomes to work out what it is you value - do you want your
work to test your limits, or do you want to just pay the bills and find
fulfilment elsewhere, etc, etc?

I like your advice to do something challenging and thought-provoking, but
don't be afraid to think outside the tech sphere. Basically, the way I look at
it is that you have your 20s to work out who you are and what you value. You
should expect your value system to change substantially (which is where
college is useful, to link to the discussion above).

In the grand scheme of things the gap between birth and death is really small.
Don't waste it doing things that you don't enjoy.

~~~
LansanaCamara
Thanks for this. I agree with your statement about the value system. Mine has
already changed dramatically. I went to college for two years while working
full time, and eventually dropped out. It just wasn't for me; already knew
what I was being taught, and ultimately got denied entry into CS major cause
of poor high school grades. And ironically enough, I was working in the
marketing department on the school website at the time they denied me. Go
figure.. >.>

School, for people like me, is just a waste of time and gets you in needless
debt. I learn better on my own anyways.

As for doing things outside of tech, I also dabble in many other things. I
have been bodybuilding since I was 18 and an an avid gym goer. I'm also big on
philosophy and science (quantum mechanics really excites me). There are plenty
of things I am interested in...the hard part for me is figuring out which of
them I really want to dedicate my time and effort to, so I can take it to the
next level. I lack the ability to make that decision right now, and as a
result I'm just sort of a generalist.

But you're totally right. Spending time doing things I don't enjoy will now
produce a happy life. I'm growing more and more aware of this every day.

------
owyn
You have not yet begun to work.

It's one life time and the universe doesn't care, so figure it out.

You can stay on a treadmill of 1-2 years where you find a new project and get
bored and move on. You can pick a project to work on for 10 years and be "the
guy who knows all". Whether it's a Daily WTF or a great project that spawns
research papers is partly up to you and partly up to the people around you.

Realize that this is fine.

As you're doing this treadmill, develop some hobbies, and some friends. Buy
random people drinks at random bars and go home with them. Realize that's
totally fine. Hang out with co-workers and listen to their complaints about
the software. Don't go home with them. Realize that's totally fine also
because you'll see them again at some future job. Be as weird as you want,
just don't be weird about it.

Being able to write software is a skill that lets you be in interesting places
and work with interesting (and very demanding) people. Realize that's totally
fine. You've got the choice of being the solid reliable guy they can always
call on, or being the totally flaky genius that they call on anyway, or the
hack that gets the crap job but doesn't care. Half the time you'll pick the
wrong job and get fired or watch a company fail, and that's totally fine too.

Take a break, sure. You'll find a new job. Fine tune your crap detector. If
you can take a little bit of crap at the right place you can make out pretty
well. If it's the wrong place, take no crap from anybody and you'll find your
phone ringing later. Just be competent and don't be an asshole, and you'll be
fine. Exercise left to the reader.

------
wizardforhire
You're 21 years old? Have you ever heard of the grand tour?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour)

Nowadays just condense your life to a backpack and travel while you can.
Making money or going into debt for school is great and all but your true
wealth is your time and your's alone. Sure you can hawk it out to the highest
bidder but you can never buy it back no matter what you do. You code so go
experience the world and find over looked problem facing real people and solve
them. By not having a schedule and being self reliant you'll be forcibly
giving yourself the time to do so.

------
lwansbrough
I was in the same boat. I hate working for other people. 21 isn't too late to
move back in with your parents (or continue doing so if you're doing that
now.) There's nothing that burns me out faster than working on something I
don't believe in, or have personal interest in. Don't waste your life building
someone else's dream. If you've got the money, or if you're in a place to fall
back to living with your parents, consider trying your own thing. That's what
I did. I moved out when I was 19 and moved back in when I was 22. I wanted to
do my own thing but couldn't afford it, but am fortunate enough to have
parents who can help me.

Starting your own company is not necessarily a path to success, and you may
not be an entrepreneur. What it will do though, is provide a.) an
understanding of what it's like to work for yourself b.) provide you with some
insight about what you like to work on (as opposed to being told what to work
on), and c.) you might even discover a new pathway. Start with an idea you
care about, research its market, try to discover a niche. If it looks
promising and you're excited by the idea, try it out.

Also consider that enterprise isn't the only option for work. There are
startups, non-profits, and even small businesses. Small businesses can be
really interesting because of the value you can provide through simple
automation. If you're like me, the more you can see your personal impact on
the business and the people it serves, the more you'll enjoy your work. This
type of work is basically on the opposite end of the spectrum from Silicon
Valley programming work, but it can be just as fulfilling.

The other possibility is maybe you're not enjoying programming as much as you
thought you would, and you're thinking about a career change. My
recommendation would be to try and find a reputable trade school and check out
some options that relate to your current area of expertise. Please think long
and hard about attending college, though. There's a lot of things in college
that aren't specifically focused on helping YOU succeed, as much as they are
about helping you learn stuff that may not be relevant to you. I'm biased
though, I didn't go.

What's next for you is not something you're going to find the answer to from
any of us on HN. You need to discover more about what interests you. Have you
considered travel or taking up more hobbies? Might help guide you.

------
jotjotzzz
You're so young, now is the time to think about exploring other interests.
Read lots of books. Go do some traveling and immerse yourself in the world and
all of its cultures outside your own. Then get involved in other activities
that is not about corporate work. Volunteer your time and talents to help out
others. Learn something that is outside of what you usually do, perhaps art.
Since you have the skill sets that will get you hired later on -- now is the
time to figure out what life is all about, what you truly value, and explore
your own self-development.

------
Glench
The Recurse Center is a popular place to go to figure things out! I was a
resident there and it's pretty incredible.

[https://www.recurse.com/](https://www.recurse.com/)

------
UzhasKakoi
Take time off ... relax ... and I don't mean a week. :) May be travel to a
place you always wanted to see .. like Barcelona. As experience of Zuckerberg,
Jobs, Gates, ..., Ellison showed college is not a must. If you learned
software, you can learn everything on your own. You may look at Thiel's
scholarship. Peter pays $100K for young talents NOT to go to college. I have
nothing against college. But why pay insane money the system charges, if most
of what you need you can learn on your own? As for Berkley, you can meet the
same happy people without spending ....

------
nivwusquorum
It is normal. We recently finished a big project at my company. I barely had
any sleep during the process. It took me 1-2 months to recover and begin doing
useful work again. Just take it slow.

If in addition to being burned out you don't like what you are working
towards, just choose a different goal. I found that working toward Artificial
General Intelligence is a very motivating goal. I have been pursuing it for
the past few years and I am yet to grow bored with it. The only tricky thing
is there's a lot of bs surrounding the subject, so you need to learn to
navigate it.

~~~
funfunfunction
I'm very interested in ML but have had a hard time getting started. Any advice
on a good entry point? I've gone through Andrew Ng's course but haven't found
a great resource passed this level.

~~~
KnstrOnline
Try [http://www.fast.ai/](http://www.fast.ai/) Probably this is the best
course form non-mathematical side.

------
slackingoff2017
Stop working for startups. Crazy hours and low pay with a tiny chance of a big
payoff. Go work for a big established company where the pay and benefits are
good. Where you show up at 9 and leave at the stroke of 5.

Life is short, waste as little time as possible doing work for somebody else.

------
brailsafe
I'm following this in a somewhat similar position but with less 'success'.

Over the last 7 years I've worked for 6 companies and have been let go or
fired from all of the software oriented positions. In total accruing ~3 years
maybe of employment experience. I've now been out of work for over 1.5 years
and am confused about what's next.

My last position was for a large company. Worked out okay for a little while
but gradually turned into a political shitstorm amongst other problems. After
I left, I had realized that my interest in personal software dev had vanished,
I had no interest in working in software, and nothing to show for the time I'd
spent there.

Now things have got better. I surrounded myself with smart people, took some
time off (the majority I was unable to find gainful work), and tried to find
inspiration. I took some risks, had a lot of adventures, and am much more
satisfied and happy. Only problem now is that software development tends to
detract from all those things and it's tough to reconcile.

Also went back to school for this semester because as a Canadian I can't
hypothetically get a work visa anywhere else without a degree and I wouldn't
be doing anything more productive with my time.

------
agitator
You could have those feelings for any number of reasons so I won't make any
assumptions about the cause of your problem, but maybe hearing out some others
and finding a cause and solution you might relate to would help.

Personally, I found that I had the "burnout" feeling throughout my career in
instances where I didn't see a path between what I was doing and where I
wanted to be. So all the work I was doing felt extra draining because the
output didn't seem to be helping me make steps towards where I wanted to be.
The other times I felt defeated/drained are when I didn't have a clear goal of
what I wanted in the future, so any efforts at work seemed pointless. Yes, I
was working for a paycheck, but you can do anything for a paycheck, it was
important for me that my efforts contributed towards a bigger picture. So in
that case, I had to sit down and really find/set a goal. Doing anything
without a real goal in mind results in just a mindless/lazy churn that feels
pointless.

------
yummy
I don't know how exactly you feel. I've been burnt out to that point I
couldn't watch at other jobs or even think about writing code. I was about 10x
less productive. It was much more than just a lack of motivation. I had
immediate health issues too. It happens all of a sudden when there's no
motivation. A couple of month not doing any programming and I felt recovered.
After that I started to feel I'm another person from the professional point of
view.

Enterprise companies. People go there for a stable and well-paid job, which
would look good in their resume, but probably not for personal satisfaction.
Some may disagree.

If it's about not knowing the next step.. No one knows better than you. It's
even funny how much more stress you can take when you feel motivated and
needed.

College can be stressful too. Some people like it, others don't.

------
brad0
Take some time off. You should sit down and work out what you really value.

The definition of burnout is when you force yourself to work on something that
you don’t see the value in.

When you know what you really value then make steps toward experiencing those
values in your every day life. This doesn’t just go for work but every part of
your life.

~~~
ChristianGeek
That’s not the definition of burnout, that’s just being uninspired. Burnout is
a combination of cynicism, depression, and lethargy that can come from failing
to maintain a healthy life/work balance. (I’ve experienced burnout at a job I
loved.)

~~~
brad0
Can you go into more detail on your experience with burnout? I’d like to
understand how it came about for you.

~~~
funfunfunction
I don't have time right now but I've been thinking about writing it all down
once I've had a chance to reset. I'll post it in here if you're interested.

~~~
brad0
Sounds good.

------
RealityNow
Do what you enjoy, and don't be afraid to venture outside of software
development. At the end of the day, not everyone obtains fulfillment out of
staring at a computer screen all day fixing bugs and developing incremental
features onto a piece of software. That's ok - we're human, not robots.

You're still young, so you can try something else (eg. product development)
and easily go back to software development if you end up missing it. Or maybe
there's another are within tech that'll interest you (eg. blockchain, AI/ML,
game dev).

I will say one thing though - software development is probably the best job
for money, work life balance, and ease of finding employment

------
jakeogh
Find exercise you enjoy and stick to it. Some friends got me into indoor
climbing (bouldering, no ropes, just thick mats) and I love it. Your physical
state is irreverent. Take chances, let your guard down, be humble, meet
people.

The rest will come to you.

------
0x4f3759df
Read some biographies. See what other people have done with their lives, at 21
you have skills and your life is a blank canvas - get excited.

One thing that always seemed neat is to teach English in a foreign country
maybe that would be a worthwhile diversion for you.

In terms of tech, the really exiting stuff happens at the edges, which right
now is AI, blockchain, web assembly, decentralized systems - find a way to
inject yourself into the new and exciting frontiers of tech -- if you are just
debugging some enterprise CRUD app, don't blame tech, blame corporate.

------
frabtanium
Start with what you enjoy doing. Write code that interests you. Do it for no
other reason than to scratch you personal itch. Share it on GitHub. Get good
at it through enjoyment of the 'work'.

Then you'll have another perspective to evaluate future opportunities and
you'll have a much better chance of getting a job that also interests you.
Getting paid to do something you enjoy and that interests you doesn't feel
like a job, but it sure is.

------
sekh60
Not a dev myself, but my wife is. My wife finds it hard to feel fulfilled and
motivated at work unless it involves some sort of cause she believes in. Have
you considered working at a Non-Profit based around something important to
you? From what I've read at reddit non-profit/charity work can be really
fulfilling, but you do have things like shoestring budgets to deal with.

------
PurpleRamen
I don't think there are many people around who get satisfaction from writting
enterprise-software. In the beginning you might get some, because it was all
new, shiny and you had responsability and could learn new things? But now you
reached the basic level of grind, and there is no fun in this. So basically
you are bored.

What you should do is to find something fresh, something enriching, something
distracting, something valuable. Many developers have side-projects for this.
Or are trying out new things. Doing this at work is a bit problematic, so you
should be careful what you actually do there. But automating your work,
enhancing your workflow and learning to spark up your worklife is always
accepted if you get your work done.

The other option to take a longer vacation. 4 Weeks, 3 Months, depends on your
situation. And don't overwork yourself of course. 7-8 Hours a day is more then
enough. A human can't code for longer then 4-5 hours a day without losing it
anyway.

------
paglia_s
Have you thought about working part time? If you're 21 you probably don't have
high expenses, can rent a room in a shared house instead of a full house/flat.

If your job pays decently you should be able to make it. With the remaining
time you can go back to college, work on side projects or a hobby.

Then of course it depends on where you live and how much you're paid.

------
sitkack
Travel.

Also read some non-fiction and unplug from tech. Your a human, not an
algorithm.

~~~
iopuy
Love the non-fiction advice, I wish it had been a bigger push when I was in
school. I didn't enjoy reading until I picked up non-fiction as an adult.

------
togusa2017
My 2cents would be balance your life. Workout, read, meditate and look for
another gig where you find the work interesting. Going to college would just
delay this phase . Last advice would be travelling, it would do wonder to your
mindset .

------
nestorherre
Travel, take some time off and enjoy life (for a while). It will help you put
things in perspective and maybe get clear about what you want to do next.

I quit my job last year and backpacked 2 months around Europe and it was a
very richful experience.

------
dagw
I've been where you are (although I was 22). Going to university and, more
importantly, studying something other than computer science was what really
helped me. First it opened my eyes to all kinds of interesting areas where my
programming skills could be applied. Secondly I found that being a pretty good
programmer with solid domain knowledge in something other than computers (math
and economics in my case) opened up a whole bunch of interesting jobs that
weren't really available to someone who was just a pretty good programmer.

edit: One caveat is that I'm in Europe so university was pretty cheap for me.
I have no idea how I would have reasoned if going to university had cost me an
additional $20k+ a year.

~~~
terminalcommand
My experience is exactly the opposite. I also made the choice to study
something else other than CS and got into law school. Now, I'm in my final
year, and I don't know what to do.

I feel sad that I didn't have the opportunity to study CS. Outside of
school/internships all I think about is still computers. I've been struggling
with this throughout my entire college life.

My advice would be that if you're genuinely interested about something, think
real hard before choosing another field of study.

------
reitanqild
I'm not sure based on the description if this is a burnout. (When I think of
burnout I think uncontrolled crying, physiological reactions etc.) If you have
a real burnout you should seek professional assistance if that is an option.

If it is just a lack of motivation then things are a bit easier and I think
you have at least two choices, maybe more:

1\. (I've done this when I was just a few years older than you.) Accept that
your current work is boring but otherwise OK. Do side projects. Build a
portfolio.

2\. (I've done this as well.) Or you can start applying for every job that
looks interesting. Since you already have a job you have a great starting
point.

3\. (Not always an option.) Go back to school as others have mentioned.

------
richardknop
Burned out at 21? Too your for that. Most engineers burn out in 30s/40s.

I'd suggest one of:

1) Stop working for startups. Get a job at some boring enterprise company.
This might give you a) pay rise (big boring corps pay more than startups) and
b) better work life balance

2) college - no reason not to go to college, you are still very young so this
is ideal time, it will get harder and harder the older you get

3) travel - I assume you have saved some cash before you have burned out. Take
few months off, go travel to some interesting countries, explore the world.

Or any combination of these three would probably work out well for you.
Probably best order would be 3), then 2), then 1).

~~~
imhoguy
I warn against boring big enterprises 1). If they are boring then they are
usualy soul killing with all processes/plays/politics and you have no way to
improve things without stack of aprovals. Regarding work/life balance all
depends on company culture. I have witnessed constant crunch times in various
companies, it is up to management and yourself if you want to fight for a
badge of honour.

I recommend part-time/freelance work gigs + study + travel at once :) That is
all possible in Europe and with Erasmus.

------
vacri
#1: Realise that work is the way of the world. You'll need to get used to it.
If you're burnt out after only 18 months at a job (and it's not the fault of a
bad job etc), that's a problem you're going to have to solve at some point,
because you have decades of work ahead of you.

#2: But you don't have to solve it now. Go travelling while you're young,
healthy, and presumably have few significant commitments. It's not guaranteed,
but you'll likely get more insight into what you want to do next while
travelling as well.

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adomanico
Go traveling for a month or two. Don’t write any code. Just do whatever you
want to do and clear your mind.

Ideally find a new job that is cool with you starting in a few months.

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HappyDreamer
Maybe go working for a software development organization that does something
not-just-for-money-&-profit, but instead because of a vision?

Then maybe you can focus on having an impact on other people's lives, rather
than appeasing shareholders & hierarchical bosses.

For example:
[https://www.norrskenfoundation.org/](https://www.norrskenfoundation.org/) —
I'd like to work there if I didn't have a job already :- )

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blikdak
Take a break, travel the world, see new things, meet new people, do something
different every day. You might be able to use your skills to directly help a
community or be able to do some tutoring or teaching, either voluntarily or
for money, either way it is a good thing to see how what you know can help
people out, and introduce you to new ways of thinking. Your twenties should be
awesome fun and relatively care-free :-)

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gt_
Read and learn about the world. Software is an achievement of western
knowledge and determination. College can possibly help you with this but it's
likely to burn you out again as well. Make some art. Start making music.
Travel to another country. Read some books. You might just find yourself
running back to your computer to code. Maybe.

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totalZero
I had something similar.

What I was recommended, which worked for me, was this.

Go do something that has no connection with your career expectations, which
can't be justified by any means other than to say, "I did it because I wanted
to."

Once you take a moment for yourself, and it soaks in, you will have a better
frame of reference to understand the best next step.

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javajosh
Hey there. I'd like to make two suggestions: find a therapist, and go to a
meditation retreat. As for the later, I can strongly recommend a 10-day
Vipassana retreat - I believe the nearest center to you is in North Fork, CA.
Check it out at dhamma.org. It won't be relaxing, but it will help you
practice _putting things down_.

~~~
funfunfunction
This looks amazing. I've been considering something like this but wasn't sure
where to start. Thanks!

~~~
javajosh
Good! I hope curiosity, at least, drives you to go, and luck gives you a spot
on the schedule. If you do go, please get in touch and let me know how it
went!

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zghst
I was in your position a few years ago. A year older than you, I left my job
completely, moved to a new city (SF) and live a fantastic new life. What you
need is to find your people, be among peers who you respect and feel good
about what you do.

The Bay Area is the place to be, if you're not there.

~~~
senatorobama
Wow. I also live in a city where tech is not popular. How many people here
have found the same thing when moving to SF?

~~~
funfunfunction
I live in Seattle but the people hear are all in institutional tech,
Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Not too many truly innovate startups here either,
mostly B2B. Was in The Bay recently and really liked it.

~~~
iopuy
Is it just me or does it seem like people glaze over how hard it is to land a
job with the major players. I have a degree in CS and every time an article
popups about their interviewing process or a random comment on a successful
applicant I am extremely discouraged. Graph theory, cutting edge technologies,
bit shifting and IEEE 754 are not things I use on an everyday basis and topics
such as these always pop up. I interviewed with Microsoft coming out of school
and the high level discussions were great but when it came to white boarding
algorithms in c for finding substrings and palindromes recursively I fizzled
out. Believe it or not I am actually one of the "stars" at my company but feel
woefully inadequate compared to people hired by the well known SF companies.
If only it were as easy as Hacker News makes it seem.

------
jbergens
Find a job that is not a startup. Other companies often have less stressful
environments.

You can even go to another country, many European countries limits how much
you work every month. Sweden is for example really great in this regard.

------
RickJWagner
If you don't love software development, get out. (Maybe wait until you have a
financial cushion first, though.) You won't last.

Do consider other jobs in the neighborhood. Testing, training, project
management, etc. Your background can be o f use.

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fooker
Do something that feels important. Maybe a tech/sysadmin job at a non profit
that involves coding once in a while?

It doesn't seem like you like academic environments, but if you do a PhD might
be a nice idea.

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Just1689
Go work in a bank (read: retirement home) for a year.

/s

Sorry to hear about your situation. Is taking a sabatical an option for you?
You could study or do a course for six months. Stay with the folks while you
unwind and re-humanize.

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kapauldo
I agree with the other posters. College is a great option. I've never met a
person who regretted education and now is a great time in your life to do it.

------
HiroshiSan
Here is my advice:

Email Derek Sivers. He's helped me in the past, though I didn't listen, deep
down in my heart of hearts I know he is right.

~~~
iopuy
For the unenlightened, who is Derek Sivers and what does he do?

~~~
LansanaCamara
Here's a bit of an intro to Derek. This article has helped me go from a
hopeless teen to a 22 year old with years of industry experience making 6
figures in tech: [https://sivers.org/kimo](https://sivers.org/kimo)

------
pmoriarty
Maybe it's time for a career change. Consider that carefully, as the older you
get, the harder it'll be to switch careers.

------
ericjarvies
You'll have a constant flow of "nexts," whether you want them or not, they
come.

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theparanoid
It's possible to switch careers. Medicine was appealing to me.

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fulafel
Consider a day job at an NGO that you identify with.

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Hendrixer
Don't do college. It's a waste. Even for building a network, it's a waste.
It's 2017, not 2007. Instead, start something!

