
Ask HN: Do you feel fulfilled with your work? - wu-ikkyu
Do you feel fulfilled with the work you do every day?<p>If yes, please explain what it is you do and why it is so fulfilling.<p>If no, please explain why not, and what type of work you think would be fulfilling?<p>I&#x27;m relatively new to the job market out of college, and it was a bit of a shock for me to see how many (in my opinion) bullshit jobs there are out there, to the point where I&#x27;ve had an extremely hard time finding work that could earn me a comfortable living (I don&#x27;t need 6 figures) and align with my moral&#x2F;ideological compass.
======
Apreche
No. I sit at a desk all day pushing buttons on a keyboard. I do it because our
society demands I have money to pay for food, shelter, etc.

What would be fulfilling? Tons of things. I have tons of hobbies, skills, and
interests that are very fulfilling. The problem is that nothing that is
fulfilling pays money. Definitely not the kind of money that pays NYC rent. So
here I sit.

~~~
jfabre
I'm sorry, but I have a hard time with comments like these. Society doesn't
require you to work to keep living on this planet, real world does. Society
got so good at winning at the game that people now think everything should be
free. People still have to work to earn a living and it's not western
society's fault.

~~~
sillysaurus3
Your view is at odds with the fact that many humans will be unemployable a
century from now, and probably sooner.

You'll either give them money or they'll take to the streets. There's no third
option -- the jobs won't materialize.

~~~
Aron
Don't assume that's true.

~~~
daxfohl
Can't be true. If they take to the streets then that creates a new societal
need. With new societal needs comes new opportunities. With new opportunities
comes new jobs.

They may not be jobs as we know them. The jobs may be based on barter, and may
be somewhat criminal, but people aren't just going to sit around doing nothing
while they starve.

Besides, if humans have no jobs, no organization, no motivation for anything,
then the AI that's replacing them has nothing to do, so why will it even
continue to exist?

~~~
sillysaurus3
Horses became unemployable. There are no tasks that a horse can perform better
than machines, except for nostalgic reasons. Their population peaked around
1900 and it's been nothing but down.

There's no law of nature that says "New technology makes new jobs for horses."
It sounds shockingly dumb to even say this out loud. But swap "horses" for
"humans" and everyone thinks it sounds about right.

~~~
daxfohl
Horses as a population can't seek out new opportunities or create new
industries for themselves. The horse industry was created by humans for
horses, not by horses for themselves. Our entire economy however was created
organically by humans responding to needs of humans. So as long as humans have
needs, and assets to trade to meet those needs, an economy will continue to
exist.

~~~
sillysaurus3
Where this breaks down is the massive difference in those humans, both
intellectually and economically.

A human without means to create any industry -- an ivy league pedigree (which
still matters, no matter how much we'd like to believe otherwise), a VC
connection, a rich uncle -- they're not going to create shit. At most, they're
going to invent a product for themselves to sell that will hopefully get them
out of their financial situation and into a better one. That's economics, but
it's also not responsible for the massive job growth associated with industry.

On the flipside, you have the unintelligent people that make up most of the
world. It's not too politically correct to point this out, but most people are
pretty dumb. I'm no exception, having acted in some dumb ways myself. But if
you're not capable of being smart when it counts, then you're again not going
to be creating very much. Not when it comes to job growth.

So what does that leave? Ah yes, the thing we've all been dancing around.
Classism. There are already three distinct castes of people: those that create
jobs, those that work, and those that have no jobs. That middle class is going
to dwindle as automation renders them useless. And it's naive to think that
the latter caste will become the former.

I think this idea meets with so much resistance because we'd all _like_ to
believe that everything will be ok. Everything will work out, right? It always
has.

Let's put it this way: Things will work out one way or another. But that
"other" route is not a pleasant one.

~~~
daxfohl
There are plenty of flaws in the argument here. I know plenty of reasonably
dumb yet successful entrepreneurs. Plus the situation is fluid over time (many
people only get motivated when the need arises). Also "three distinct castes",
well it's not that digital.

Still I can't disagree with the essence of it. It could certainly turn into
some form of feudalism, where the haves control everything and peasants work
hand-to-mouth, or worse. Though that's somewhat guaranteed at some level by
Malthusian logic anyway.

Though it does open the interesting paradox where if humans kill the economy
by automation, then there's nobody to buy anything anymore, so there's no need
to automate anything anymore, so does the economy then come right back?

~~~
daxfohl
I gave that last item a bit more thought, and I think that may be the
mitigating factor in all this. You can only automate so much / put so many
people out of work, until it becomes unprofitable to automate anything else
because the market will have fallen so far.

So rather than a single huge mass event where automation destroys our fabric
of life, we'll have swings back and forth from overautomation to
overemployment. Each swing will give us a chance to re-evaluate and rebalance
our priorities.

Essentially that's already happening and has already happened over the last
... couple centuries really. I guess there's a chance that the pendulum could
suddenly swing so far in one direction that it's irrecoverable, but at least I
don't think one can say it's inevitable.

~~~
sillysaurus3
It doesn't take very many people out of work to wreak havoc. Food shortage is
the main cause of revolt. There was an excellent paper on this that I can't
find, but it's well-studied in academia. Here's a paper I haven't studied:
[https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food2025/blogfiles/14415.pdf)

The great depression only had about 30% unemployment, for example. That
"overautomation" phase isn't something you'll want to linger in without a plan
to support these people.

EDIT: For a glimpse of the future,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRXr7zB5M2A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRXr7zB5M2A)
is worth listening to. It's the present, actually, but the struggles are only
going to increase.

~~~
daxfohl
Well, unless drug dealing is the next thing to get automated. :/

And even if there ever is a plan of how to deal with all this, I can't help
but think it parallels the old sci-fi short story "With Folded Hands".

semi-sequitur: From my liberal bubble, the liberal bubble light bulb buzzes
over my head thinking, perhaps that whole short story is exactly what strikes
conservatives to the core. It kind of makes sense. I kind of see what they
mean. Granted I have no clue what that has to do with gay rights. But for a
second I understood. Sympathized, even. Anyway, back to the bubble.

------
kosei
Maybe I am more old school in this regard, but I don't think it is a
requirement to find a fulfilling job just out of college. As you grow in your
career, so do your opportunities and your ability to choose the work that
suits your desires best. When initially entering the workforce, you have much
less leverage to pick and choose.

To answer your question, yes I do find my work fulfilling as it takes
advantage of my skill set and expertise, and is an industry in which I've
always wanted to work. But it took me over 10 years to get to this point, and
my first few years were frustrating.

Power through it. It gets better.

~~~
sotojuan
This. If anything, developers do way better in their mid 20s than almost any
other profession. If you ask older people about their early jobs, most will
tell you they sucked and paid very little.

------
zaque1213
I broker professional liability insurance for design professionals (architects
and engineers), which means I don't much fit in on HN, but I enjoy the content
anyway.

Most would call what I do boring, and some of it is. I do enjoy working with
our clients, most of whom are easy going, like to shoot the shit and talk
about the interesting designs and projects they are working on. Some of them
have worked on some incredibly large projects in Houston and Dallas. I also
enjoy digging into their contracts and offering non-legal advise to help them
mitigate their risk.

Is it fulfilling? A little bit, but I realized that if I allow work to be my
biggest defining factor, I'd probably be frustrated most of the time. I like
my team, and others in my office, and I get paid very well for my market. I'm
not overworked and have time to do other things that interest me. I spend a
ton of time with my wife, and have a great community of friends.

My life as a whole is fulfilled. My job contributes to that, but I count it a
small factor.

~~~
marcofloriano
"My life as a whole is fulfilled. My job contributes to that, but I count it a
small factor."

Best answer so far.

------
jordigh
I make certain demands from the jobs that I take. No porn jobs. No
advertising. No abusive industries. No distribution of non-free software.

So far, I have been able to get jobs that fulfill that. My last two jobs have
been somewhat important, medical imaging for one (make humans healthier), and
greenhouse gas assessments/environmental mapping for the other (make the
planet less sick). I sometimes am tempted by bigger salaries, but I do not
want to work at a company that produces bad or useless things. Sometimes when
I browse the monthly Who Is Hiring threads, I think wow, there's a lot of
money being poured into bullshit that ranges from useless to harmful for
society.

So, yes. We do exist, those of us mostly happy with our jobs, doing good
things. Keep looking and you won't have to sell your soul. :-)

~~~
gtirloni
Even when working for companies that matter (based on your values), it's easy
to feel unfilled if you are detached from the primary objective or working
with uninteresting tech (think an underpaid janitor working for
Greenpeace/WWF/etc). Just pointing out that choosing to work for one of the
"good guys" isn't a guarantee of being fulfilled, for some people.

~~~
jordigh
I am ok with that. Greenpeace needs janitors too and there's no shame in being
a janitor. I'm content being a microscopic cog in a non-catastrophic plan. As
long as I'm involved in good, honest work, I'm content.

~~~
gtirloni
I did not say there's anything wrong with being a janitor. My comment was made
in the HN context. If you spend your life learning programming languages and
systems for a good reason but you're unhappy with your current situation, then
just choosing to work for a company with a non-catastrophic plan might not be
a sure way to achieve happiness if at the same time you're not realizing your
full potential ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-
actualization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization)).

------
ashark
“You want to play house, you got to have a job. You want to play very nice
house, very sweet house, then you got to have a job you don't like. Great.
This is the way ninety-eight-point-nine per cent of the people work things
out, so believe me, buddy, you've got nothing to apologize for.”

— Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

Though mind that there's a bit more nuance to that scene, and the character
saying that mostly seems put out that the novel's lead character isn't
enlightened enough to realize he's complaining about/apologizing for choices
that _he made_ , his (the lead character's) fundamental struggle being with
choices having necessary trade-offs, _i.e._ you can't have everything, and
also with failing to _work towards_ or make the necessary sacrifices to
achieve the things he agonizes over not having/being. Basically he's talented
enough to _easily_ live a good, ordinary life, but is constantly frustrated
that he's not living the life of his dreams (while also being afraid to
actually try) and sees his current situation as both temporary and
contemptible.

------
lostcolony
Sometimes. Some days, the feeling of getting things done is enough. Other
days, it's argh all day, with the realization that fundamentally the business
is directing us in the wrong direction, so it'll never matter.

But, it really depends on what you're looking for. Even if a job is
'bullshit', if it means you get to be a positive influence in others' lives,
find others to be positive influences in your own, provide you with funds to
aid others and pursue other interests, grows your skills and knowledge, and in
general helps you move forward in life, that may just be enough, even if the
job isn't, in and of itself, making the world a better place.

Of course, you need to find a job you can stomach morally/ideologically. And
ideally, one that leaves you feeling like you accomplished something some
days. But your job will never, in and of itself, consistently provide you with
purpose, unless you're in charge (so you're not feeling frustrated by the
decisions of others), and it's a non-profit (so you feel like you're actually
making the world a better place, not just chasing profit).

------
cylinder
I think that's a shock everyone goes through. You either accept it as a fact
of life and take the paycheck to survive and feed your family, or you figure
out an alternative path.

Personally, I find offices pretty depressing usually, the only way I tolerate
it is with self-employment. Fulfillment isn't something I really think about,
I just want to make sure I'm maximizing my own potential.

If money doesn't matter as much, I don't see why you wouldn't learn a skilled
trade. These types of people are usually happier; if you are responsible,
reliable and not drugged out, and master a difficult skill that's in demand,
you will always have work. In addition, the path to self-employment is
obvious, clear, and potentially lucrative.

------
tcmb
No. I'm in product management, and I think that the root cause is that I do
not deeply care about the product that I manage. I'm looking for a similar
position, but at a company that builds something that I would use intensively
myself, in a domain that I consider myself an expert in (which is not the case
now, tbh).

Then again, I believe that no matter how much you love doing something, if
you're forced to do it 40 hours a week every week, everything becomes a drag
sooner or later. So I'd love to work less, maybe 4 full days a week. Sadly
this is not acceptable for my employer (an early growth stage startup).

------
sjg007
Here's a way to think about it. In Los Angeles every waiter/bartender is an
aspiring actor. After you get past the social taboo of asking what people do
for a living, you'll find that the answer is always: "I'm an actor". The job
is just the job.

People define themselves by a job instead of identifying with a career. Some
people say career, others say calling. On this path there are many jobs.

------
wedowhatwedo
What are examples of jobs that don't align with your moral/ideological
compass?

You probably shouldn't get all your fulfillment in life from a job. You need
to find fulfillment in things you control. Giving so much power to something
you can't control will cause you lots of pain in your life.

~~~
macns
May I add that, according to Epictetus[1]: _Some things are in our control and
others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and,
in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body,
property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own
actions._

If you agree with this, finding fullfillment in things you control is very
hard to achieve.

[1]
[http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html](http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html)

------
maneesh
I do. I'm fortunate to have started a company that 1)helps solve a problem in
my own life and 2) is able to help others. I invented Pavlok
([http://pavlok.com](http://pavlok.com)) to help me quit wasting time online,
and quickly found that electric shock had rapid and massive effects on helping
people quit smoking, nail biting, eating unhealthy, suffering negative
thoughts, and way more. It's been a long ride, but I'm incredibly grateful i
have the opportunity to help others.

I hope you find the same

------
thatswrong0
Yes.

I'm a programmer at a startup that's going very well. The founders have been
around the block before so there's no chaos, no struggling with funding, they
pay us well, and give us great benefits. There's a lot of care put into
organizing project teams (projects usually last 3-6 months) and we get to have
a lot of input about what we work on, so that no one person is stuck doing the
same thing forever. They don't care when I get to work or how much vacation I
take, just that I do the work I need to do.. I pretty get as much autonomy as
possible. There's very little expectation to work overtime, except for the
very rare crunch time for an important customer.

The projects I'm working on aren't insane technical challenges, but I do
basically feel like I'm solving a bunch of little puzzles for a living. There
are a lot of nice, capable senior programmers to learn from, so I never feel
like I'm stagnating or am in way too far over my head. We've put a lot of
thought into our application architectures and the business side is A-OK with
us taking time to refactor and tackle tech debt as it accrues.

I can't really think of much I'd improve. Sure, the company doesn't burn money
on a crazy nice office like Dropbox with top-tier chefs cooking us scallops
and whatnot, but for the stuff that truly matters and makes me feel fulfilled,
it's perfect.

------
palerdot
Partly yes. The fulfilling part there is a huge dependency on me and my
company counts on me to deliver critical things to run business. That
responsibility is fulfilling (to an extent).

The main thing which is not fulfilling in my full-time job is the fact that
I'm selling my time which makes difficult for me to spend my time for myself
whenever I want.

Also, I learned that if you are so unhappy with your current life, mostly you
will not be happy even if you get what you want. I changed my daily routine to
include lot of physical activity and reading, which has greatly improved my
mindset and is helping to be more active in my day-to-day life.

As an aside, like you I had a very early (around 21,22) quarter-life crisis
after my college (Now I'm 28). After working in a unfulfilling job, I just
quit without any plans. Looking back, it was the wonderful time of my life and
it reinforced my want to create my own business, so that I don't sell time
rather sell something based on my expertise. It was scary enough; case in
point, I'm currently in a full time job. But soon, I may take a leap to have
my own business and an independent life.

All the best.

------
daxfohl
Getting started is usually the roughest part. A bunch of crap that you don't
care about, suddenly you have to care about. It gets better once you start
gaining ownership of things. You can start to make a personal stamp on things,
enough to keep you going.

That's not to say the job itself doesn't matter. Some jobs just never become
fulfilling, for whatever reason. But it's not a black/white thing; there
aren't discrete classes of "fulfilling jobs" and "unfulfilling jobs". In my
experience I'd say any particular job will max out somewhere between 0% and
65% fulfilling, after you've been there a while. There's always work though,
even at the best jobs; otherwise it wouldn't be called "work".

------
ioddly
I feel fulfilled with my work as a freelance programmer.

I enjoy programming; I find it mentally stimulating. The market is such that I
can turn away work that I find ethically distasteful, work remotely (and thus
travel and/or live in a more low-COL peaceful area), and the pay is high
enough that I can take a significant amount of time off to code on projects
that are directly interesting to me. I feel this is a better situation than
the vast majority of people are in.

It took me a while to arrive at thinking about it like this, but I think most
of it was mental on my part rather than the job opportunities available to me.
I recently read So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport and I wish I'd
read it when I was in college.

------
justanother
No. I have to be an adult and deal with a lot of people, some of whose
personalities will get on my very last nerve, and do a lot of reactive (as
opposed to proactive) things. A lot of investigation and fixing as opposed to
greenfielding. Sometimes this isn't the case, but it never lasts.

But 'fulfilling' is a pretty tall order. Sometimes people just pay your price
and you shut up about it.

I haven't commuted in 14 years, not that I'd mind because the German luxury
car they gave me is amazing and comfortable, but I'd miss the extra time with
the wife and furry children. Eventually I'll retire on some island and crank
out vintage computer software between naps. That will be plenty fulfilling.

------
greybox
No. But I don't rely on my job to provide me with fulfilment.

Your job isn't there to fulfil you. It's there to make you money so you can do
all the things you find fulfilling.

Develop a good work / life balance. (This can be hard in the tech industry but
it can be done, just find a good company)

Work on your own stuff. Travel (If that's your thing! - not everybody has to
like it, but I think you should try it at least once).

Many companies allow you to work remotely. One of my colleagues for instance
bought a boat and sails round the med, he goes in to port on work days and
connects with a 4G dongle.

Most importantly - Create your own meaning in life, don't rely on others (E.G
employers) to provide it for you.

------
b_emery
Absolutely yes, my work is fulfilling. My experience is that this is not the
case for most people. For most people, it's like the TV show 'the Office'.

Dont settle until you find work that you find fulfilling. Note that it might
take a while. If something seems interesting, date it for a while, like it, or
not, and know that it may take time to fall in love with it (as true for work
as for other things). Things can get more interesting the more you get into
it, and the deeper your knowledge.

I work in science - I get paid to think about interesting problems and try to
figure out novel and (hopefully) clever ways to solve them. I also get a lot
pleasure out (hopefully) contributing to the advancement of knowledge, playing
a minor role in the greater understanding of the universe. So, there is that
in the big picture, but the day to day is really fun. It's play time - but for
adults - more than half the time, building interesting things, learning and
coding. There are stressful days, and some drudge work, but those are the
minority.

I've seen a lot of comments recently advocating the goal of having 25x annual
expenses in savings. This is such a great idea, for at least this reason:
Savings like that would give you security and freedom, insulation from a
boring job and a boring life. Freedom to pursue interests and careers, or
start a business, or improve the world with sustained action. I wish I had
that idea 20 yrs ago.

~~~
rajathagasthya
> For most people, it's like the TV show 'the Office'.

I'm sorry, but as a big fan of The Office, I'm really offended :)

~~~
b_emery
It's like The Office, but not as funny!

------
tluyben2
Yes. But I think this is different for different people. Since the first time
I touched a computer begin 80s when I was a kid (and before reading every
article and book my father brought home) I wanted to 'create stuff' on it. I
had the same with electronics but a computer seemed 'more efficient
electronics' for creating; no soldering, buying parts, no expensive failures
etc.

I have been programming since that time and it has not disappointed; I never
get enough of it. I remember the first time that I wrote something in Basic
(which was shortly after the above) and the amazement when it finally worked,
then the same feeling with ASM, Pascal, C and later others. I still have that
when I manage to get something I thought up in my head and see working after
pulling an all-nighter. I am 42 so I believe that constitutes as a good
longterm fullfilment level. Money is required but secondary; one should still
drive a hard bargain of course (some people seem to not do that, especially
when younger).

I also get fullfilment many other aspects of working with colleagues,
partners, but the drive to create new things from 'nothing' with code is the
main thread through all the years/companies. And keeps me absorbing new (for
me) things all the time which is another fullfilment (learning/reading I find
fullfilling); because of the current hypes I got back into NNs (last used in
the AI winter when I was at uni) and also blockchain (dev), and combined
(working on a trading bot in Tensorflow for fun).

------
bumbumbum
Rarely.

I studied computer science with dreams of saving the world. My two areas of
interests were 1) building medical systems/devices to help decrease overall
cost of medicine and 2) building robots to explore and colonize Mars.

My first job was at health care facility, but soon I learned our IT
departments goal was not to save money for patients but maximize what we can
bill them.

Since then I had multiple jobs in tech and non-tech industries, sometimes I
get to work on interesting projects but most of the time it is really about
building another flashy feature so user/customer stay on our site or app.

I know there are programmers working on world saving projects at NASA, SpaceX,
medical research labs, analyzing data to find good solutions to real problems.
But most programmers are simply helping other people sell junks to masses.

But this how I feel good about my work. By building technologies for selling
crap, we are lowering overall cost for everyone. This should indirectly help
non-profits, governments, universities by lowering their cost to use
technology.

------
jboggan
3 months ago doing AngularJS for Google - absolutely not.

Today doing legal paperwork for my new startup while an ML model trains in the
background - absolutely yes.

Personally I've figured out that the two biggest things for me are creative
freedom and the quality of the people I work with. I am finally getting to
build something cool with my best friend in the whole world, couldn't be
happier.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Today doing legal paperwork for my new startup while an ML model trains in
> the background - absolutely yes.

Would love to hear more about this if you're willing to share without
disclosing anything that might put you at a competitive disadvantage.

------
tomabe
Most of the time, yes. I'm working within a corporation, distributed teams,
just leveled up from dev to overseeing our team. Had to deal with a lot of
issues, both technical (no docs, crappy code, too much knowledge we don't have
and takes time to investigate, etc.) and managerial (our team is always
behind, always wrong, they're always right, etc.) but among those things I
find myself motivated to improve our environment. To help with investigation
and domain knowledge as much as I can, to reduce the burnout and 'manage'
team's frustration, to mentor the group of interns, to improve technical
stack, to became an independent and performance team, etc. I'm still in my
early days of this leadership experience and I'm very unsure of what, how and
if I'll succeed but at least every morning I'm rushing to work.

------
FridgeSeal
God no.

I work in an industry I otherwise despise (advertising) literally helping
perpetuate what I so dislike about the current industry (data science and ml
relentlessly invading everyone's privacy). It's a job I took because the
alternative was being unemployed, and one that I hope to get out of soon.

------
andreasgonewild
Lately, yes. I remember some of the same feelings from 20 years ago when I
dropped out of university to join my first startup. But it took leaving the
whole industry behind to get here, it's sick and getting worse every day.
These days I'm writing the software I want to write, the software that I feel
needs to be written; the way I feel it should be written; and giving away
everything for free ([https://github.com/andreas-gone-
wild/snackis](https://github.com/andreas-gone-wild/snackis)). And as an added
bonus I get a lot more quality time with my family then I ever could after
having life squeezed out of me to generate awesome profits. Money can't buy
that experience and comfortable is relative.

------
ConnorLeet
Yes.

The thing for me is that is fulfilling, is the talented and genuine people I
work with, and from doing the best work I can.

People always talk about how fulfillment coming from "Changing the world," and
helping people, but really if you mesh with the people - that's fulfilling
enough for me!

------
aboodman
Yes. I'm very fortunate that work that I love to do is valued by society right
now.

If I could choose to do whatever I want, I would be doing exactly what I'm
doing right now (but perhaps in another town -- SF weather sucks).

I wrote down my story here awhile back: [https://www.quora.com/How-did-you-
realize-that-programming-w...](https://www.quora.com/How-did-you-realize-that-
programming-was-your-passion/answer/Aaron-Boodman)

------
mcv
It's reasonably fulfilling. I build stuff, which is always good. I build stuff
that people see and use and hopefully need and like. I occasionally solve
interesting problems. And today I delivered my first pure Web Component after
years of Angular.

It's not perfect, of course. I'd love to build games instead of banking
websites. Or robots that do all the work so people don't have to work anymore.
But compared to what most people do, my work is pretty good.

------
Mz
I generally like what I do, I just don't make enough money. I am working on
that second piece.

I do freelance writing, resume editing and I blog. I generally get to pick
assignments I want to write for freelance writing. I enjoy doing resume
editing because it helps someone get a better job. And blogging allows me to
express myself while putting out useful information in problem spaces that I
am personally interested in.

------
soulchild37
Most part of my work is to implement tactic/dark patterns that increase
conversion rate for in-app purchase.

I found salvation in making my own app during weekends.

------
ensiferum
Like I've said before. At the end of the day only $$$ matters. Fulfilment
doesn't pay rent or buy food unfortunately.

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gigatexal
Nope. But I am making a lateral move from a position with no upward
progression to one where I can become more of a generalist.

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Sindrome
When I was young, yes. Now that I'm in my 30s... not as much.

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wenbin
Yes. Very simple formula: Do great work in your day job. Help people. Do small
side projects that you enjoy. Make everyday count.

~~~
cylinder
Have you always understood and executed this mindset, or did you have to train
yourself?

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mattbgates
As a web designer for the media, something for which if you asked me 5 or 10
years ago if I'd be doing this, I wouldn't have ever dreamed of it, but I love
do it, and I am grateful. I get along with nearly everyone at work and there
is rarely any backstabbing, though I sometimes have to deal with a boss that
occasionally feels he needs to micromanage every so often which can be
annoying, but a full-time micromanager is much worse.

I might not be saving the world with my job, but I do work in media,
marketing, and advertising developing landing pages. An example of my work is
something like this:

[http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7893651-ges-avatar-
di...](http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7893651-ges-avatar-discover-
pandora-exhibition-taiwan/)

[http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7847351-star-wars-
the...](http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7847351-star-wars-the-force-
awakens-vinyl/)

It is fulfilling because I get to design something new everyday that I go into
work. It is a new client, a new company, and a new design -- with a new set of
instructions. Sometimes I'll design something and the client will come back a
few months later and want that same exact design but with a different product
or message they are putting out. It's nice to know that the work is very well
liked. Very satisfying.

On our slower days, I might get 0-1 jobs but on busier days, I could get up to
2-3. I don't mind the downtime, but so long as I get 1-2 jobs a day, I'm happy
about that -- I know what its like to be sitting at a company not getting any
work... and that soon leads to problems.

Of course, there are those days, although more rare, in which I'll design
something, come in the next day, and it will be completely different, meaning
the client didn't care for it. It doesn't affect my pay or anything like that,
but it is upsetting to know that they didn't care for my vision. Usually, my
ideas come from scanning their website and getting the "concept of the theme"
and then turning that into a landing page.

To get to this point in my life, I freelanced quite a bit, although it is much
less now. I worked for a tyrant boss as a programmer (if you care to read
about that experience: [http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the-
opportunity/](http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the-opportunity/) ),
and then I worked for a solar panel company designing graphics for the kiosks
(the machines that sit in lobbies or the front of stores and display or input
information) in Flash, before the technology went obsolete and they just
preferred to lay off nearly everyone instead of updating their technology -- I
was the first to go, but I did get a nice 3-week severance package.

Anyways, you never know where you are going to end up... hell, I studied
psychology! I had no idea it would lead me into the field of web design. And
while I'm not making anywhere near 6 figures, I am quite comfortable to do
what I do. There is downtime so I tend to work on some side projects at work
and out of work that bring in a little extra income. Definitely aiming to get
those side projects to the point where it will make up for what I am lacking..
and help give me that push to a six figure salary, but I'm not there yet.

Experience, ambition, perseverance, patience, and friendliness (customer
support & service) are going to be your best friends in any field you decide
is for you.

