
Ask HN: Finding meaning in what we do everyday - pkrefta
I&#x27;m fairly successful remote software developer working in the industry for 15 yrs. I&#x27;ve recently realized that I&#x27;m doing one or the other thing over and over again without any deeper meaning. I deliver what am I asked to, keep up with new technologies, improve quality of my work. But I find those things a bit soulless. I live in outsourcing country so projects and startups come and go. But I&#x27;d love to do something more meaningful and write code that matters. Working on something more impactful would bring some sense into what I do every day.<p>And I&#x27;m struggling to fix this dilemma. I&#x27;m aware that this is not 1-day-change. Has anybody experienced feeling like this ?    I&#x27;d to read your story. And I&#x27;ll more than grateful for any suggestions&#x2F;ideas how to overcome this situation.
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detcader
I read something in an article recently that feels relevant: "respect your
9-to-5." If I am a developer for 40 hours per week and then add more coding
and learning on top of that without a deep drive and clear vision (and healthy
structure), I will risk burn-out. I have found it more helpful to consider
whether what I need is really more meaningful _doings_ , verses taking time to
grow spiritually. Around the world there are classes and meetups on topics
like Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness that don't ask any standard
supernatural religious beliefs or devotions of you. I got a lot of
introductory information from _Wherever You Go, There You Are_ by Jon Kabat-
Zinn.

I also think coding for a living matters to you: you are important and coding
provides your basic necessities. I know it's tempting for us to seek ways to
code for a better world, but there are tons of devs worldwide already working
at this. Hopefully some will comment here with good projects they need help
with! But locally, offline, there are likely many things we can do with our
time and our strength.

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Zelmor
Your job is just that. A job. Find a hobby, find a community. Hold up your
life on as many columns of meaning as you can, so that when one collapses, you
do not go down with it. It will be a loss, but you will have plenty more
things to live for, and over time the loss will fade.

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grawprog
When you really think about it most of the jobs people end up doing and
honestly most things people do in general aren't really 'meaningful'. It's up
to you to figure out a meaning to the things you do.

It doesn't need to be grandiose. I like the fact that I get to make things at
work. The things I make take skill and craft to make and not everybody can do
it. In my free time I enjoy making other things. They're all kind of frivolous
but in the end anything other than the things necessary to exist could be
considered frivolous.

In the end I found it was better to try and find a bit of meaning in otherwise
meaningless things and appreciate that than search for some overarching grand
meaningful thing to do.

I tried that....in the end it didn't end up mattering, my own wellbeing in
life ended up suffering and I didn't really feel that fulfilled doing things
that 'made a difference'. In the end everything comes down to perspective and
not everybody needs to do something grand and amazing.

As long as you're doing your best to better yourself at various things in
life. Whether it be skills or life in general I figure you're probably doing
alright. Anyone can only really do the best they can at things. This may
ending up being great and beneficial for lots of people or maybe only a few.
But everything kind of makes a difference. Even little things.

Sorry this may have came off kind of discoherent and rambly but these are kind
of my own thoughts i've had about such things over the years.

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thiago_fm
What you mean is: I have a real job and live a real life.

It is normal to do that. Even making rockets can be the same thing you told
us, 15 years doing the same thing. Ask a NASA engineer what he has been doing
his whole life.

How to make that meaningful? Well. Somebody needs that work done, you are the
one doing it. Whether it is some evil company or not, you are doing it, you
have worked your whole life in order to have the skills to do that kind of
work.

You are doing well.

I had the same question a while ago and came up with that conclusion. I'm
actually doing quite well. Maybe consider joining a company, moving abroad or
focus on hobbies, I for instance started playing the guitar, look at your
early days in life and see things you liked and never tried. Also stop
watching the tech news and thinking that you have to do something bleeding
edge and make a dent in the universe, it is all bullshit. People are just
doing their job, you can be a hard working person in any context, not only as
a CEO. If this is what you want.

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EADGBE
I would just really like to emphasize this:

 _Also stop watching the tech news and thinking that you have to do something
bleeding edge and make a dent in the universe, it is all bullshit. People are
just doing their job, you can be a hard working person in any context, not
only as a CEO. If this is what you want._

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bartcobain
As Musk quoted Roosevelt in the podcast: "Comparison Is the Thief of Joy".

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lihaciudaniel
Jordan Peterson's 12 rules for life I want to highlight.

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lihaciudaniel
It has 2 rules (instead of rules think as them as highlights. 1\. One is about
comparison. Why? Because now we are more connected than ever and it is easier
to fall in that habit, instead the Author argues that you should use this
habit to have a look at the day before, basically compete with one self. The
other one is about telling the truth, I don't want to sound like an edgy 15
year old JP fan but this reminds me of Tim Ferris' quote about how a
successful man can be measured by the amount of uncomfortable conversations he
had in life. Also from a rationalist point of view sincerity is a virtue. I
didn't said the number of rules from the book because even though the book
starts with numbers (1) it is a good read book (worth the effort)

(1) this isn't an unhealthy book to read, quite the opposite the rule of N
list of things applies to articles, JP has good wisdom for our lives in
industrial society:
[http://www.paulgraham.com/nthings.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/nthings.html)

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billylindeman
Personally I've become pretty jaded at the entire tech industry. The majority
of companies in the industry are not solving real problems :\ We're making the
world mildly more convenient.

This is something I've been pondering alot myself.

To write code that matters you must define what matters to you. Once you know
what matters to you, you must answer the question: how might software help? In
many cases it may not help, that's okay too. Maybe there are other ways you
can apply your skills, or other skills you can learn.

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anoncoward111
Whatsapp and Youtube are way more convenient then the previous alternatives in
my opinion, and I think we will eventually have more widespread use of open
source and decentralized versions of these to combat censorship issues.

Software is immensely helpful. But maybe your average bs b2b SaaS app that is
merely devised to take money out of each others pockets is less meaningful and
helpful to our world.

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imhoguy
As remote guy too I notice that if you neglect human interaction and social
aspect of every day work then it becomes boring quickly. You may miss work
feedback loop, praise moments and new project deal outs. Although lucrative
remote jobs put nice bread on my table, I try to fill my curiosity and social
gap by doing some local in-office consulting gigs and side projects.

Go part-time remotly if possible and buy some time for more interesting
things. Good luck.

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usgroup
Nurses, doctors, lawyers, soldiers, parents, psychiatrists, coaches,
volunteers, etc. If serving others is meaningful.

Science, humanities, academia. If knowledge is meaningful.

Environment if the planet is meaningful.

Religion, theism, pantheism. If God is meaningful.

