
Ask HN: How long did it take for you to get jaded in this industry? - askafriend
I&#x27;m convinced that everyone reaches this point, some sooner than later. Whether it be something career related, or something related to the industry in general, we all have frustrations that we never could have predicted that make us lose sense of hope. Of course, this could be simply temporary or terribly long lasting, depending on circumstance.<p>What&#x27;s your story and when did you reach that point?
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richliss
It can be cyclical (recession hits, cut staff, longer hours), and it can be
job specific (idiot colleagues, failing company).

I've had periods where the idea of working another day with arrogant dickhead
'know it all' ex-Physics students turned developers who can solve tough
problems with terrible to maintain code thus making themselves unsackable made
me think of jacking it all in and moving to a third world country and living
in a hut - even to the point of visiting the Vietnamese consulate for
information.

Likewise I've had times where a young CS background developer who is eager to
learn, very gracious, fun to be around and delivers makes me remember that it
can be a great industry.

I'd recommend getting out of your current job if you can if its making you
feel this way.

A few years ago I was working in finance, had experienced some workplace
bullying so I overworked to prove myself to stop it despite it being about an
Alpha boss picking a scapegoat, and I suffered from some mid strength burnout
and in the end I wasn't fit to work for probably 5 months afterwards. I ended
up going into a completely different industry (but still software) and managed
to reboot myself over about 3 months and started to enjoy work again.

Earlier in my career I met someone who had completely burned out. He'd not
worked in 18 months despite having lots of offers, had moved to the coast and
was just doing spiritual stuff all the time and was burning through his
savings. We asked him to come in for 1 day to interview others and after 2
hours he said he couldn't take it anymore and left, and that was it. It was
quite shocking to see someone who was that way and quite scary when I felt it
happening to me.

Don't wait until you completely burnout because it will damage more than just
your career - your health, waistline, relationships, friendships, bank
account, future employability etc.

~~~
muzani
I was born in a third world country and lived in a (concrete) hut.

It's most likely worse here tbh. Jerks are spread evenly across population.
It's infectious too. If ten people are jerks to you today, it's likely you
won't be as nice.

Generally, smart people are more likely to leave bad places. And because
they're more qualified, they have the option to.

And so the jerks are left behind and bully the remaining people into becoming
jerks. I think it's no coincidence there's so many jerks in places like China
and India.

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brent_noorda
30 Years. Too many cycles of one popular language/design/data-model/patterns
replacing another. Too many bubbles. Too many me-too products. Too many bugs
produced faster than they're squelched. Too many simple paradigms made too
complex, requiring creation of new simplicities that will only be overly
complexified again. Too many people making too much money with too high
opinions of their own genius accomplishing too little.

A year and a half ago I saw my wife studying a textbook on Anatomy &
Physiology. I started reading it. I thought "OMFG this stuff is amazing! And
it can't be learned in 3 days (unlike all these 'hard' problems we hackers
like to discuss)."

Now I'm going to school for a career in nursing.

~~~
coderKen
It's all the craze, activities, noise and what not that has moved computing
forward. If the industry was not constantly improving, we would have been
stuck with a 5MB hard drive this big ->
[http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/visualized-
ibms-1956-hdd-...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/visualized-
ibms-1956-hdd-packs-5mb-of-storage-requires-forkli/)

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tomcam
32 years so far, and I'm just as excited using web2py and Python as I was
writing 6502 assembly in the 80s and writing compilers in the 90s. Been in
jail, beaten up, fired from dream jobs, seen plenty of friends die. Get jaded?
I'm totally stoked to be above ground.

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muzani
1 year for me.

Ended up quitting and starting a cafe. Got seduced back into tech.

2 years into my career, I had built more apps solo than most agencies in my
country. Meaning that I've worked with a lot of companies, a lot of
visionaries, and none were imprrssive. A lot of them don't appreciate good
products. Most would happily MVP forever.

The latest request was to build a Tinder clone, on a $5000 budget. Sigh.

I'm still looking for a full time job that I can actually focus and enjoy
with. It's like being that guy who sleeps with a different girlfriend every
month, but it's such an unfulfilling way to live. Maybe I'm getting old, but
would really like to settle down with a company that respects their product.

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mmanulis
I feel like it happens every few years, just depends on the job. So far, I've
always bounced back, usually through change of scenery or taking a vacation.

Every time I get too far down the hole, I'm reminded of what Tony Robbins said
in his TED speech. Sad people get sad, happy people stay happy, angry people
get angry.

After too many burnouts, too many long weeks, too many days on the road, it's
all in your head and your ability to recognize what you're
feeling/experiencing and developing mental tools to handle that.

I've met people who swear by meditation, for others it's exercise. Find your
habit, the thing that let's your mind "unclench".

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jakejake
25 years and going strong without being jaded here.

I'd guess if you are jaded it's either that you need to find another company,
or perhaps you're in this business for the wrong reasons. Perhaps you were
lured by the idea of big salaries or huge IPO payouts that haven't happened?
Perhaps the exciting portrayal in movies like the Facebook, etc.

Whatever the case every career has its ups and downs, but getting jaded should
not just be accepted as an inevitable fact.

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tmaly
I never really reached that point. Sometimes I think what is the point of
counting beans, but then I switch from that view and try to find a better way
to count the beans. Reading a little bit of economic theory helps to
understand the concept of value.

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JoeAltmaier
I reached it in college. After HS (coding every spare minute for years) I just
stopped during college. Only coded for classes. Then when I got my first job
(OS Engineer) in a new language (and a new state with new friends) it got
exciting again.

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colund
It's good if everyone else get jaded as it eliminates some competition

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chrisbennet
Still waiting to reach that point. :-) (31 years so far.)

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brudgers
More than 36 years apparently.

