One thing I think it's always correct is that to think about what you can do for others, for your employers, for your colleagues, for your users.
People, especially men, tend to be so self-centric, that they cannot make decisions objectively.
For example if there's jobs opportunities you'd like to pursue, think about what they need and build your skills. Just give people a proper reason to hire you, to promote you, to use your product. This is actually harder than it sounds. You may find that your own expectations does not align with others.
I wish I knew this when I was fresh out of collage. Maybe you are just better in this than me. I was more of a dumb stubborn type of young man lmao.
The one thing that always gets me, is a lot of companies want this or that many years of experience with x or y. What exactly can be construed as experience, if you have not yet worked for a company doing x or y? Could you count anything you do in college for that experience on your resume?
> But it's made a HUGE difference in quality of life for me and I wouldn't choose to work fully remote even if I could
I feel the same. A normal 9-5 workers will be yelling about remote but once they started a remote work they will know it's not heaven at all. Especially if you try to organize anything
> For me this is muay thai (kickboxing), bicycling, hiking, camping, kayaking, board games, singing, and trivia.
This is what I'm missing right now. I started picking up my guitar again but there are no way to make new friends to play together.
And I also started programming since I was a child. I still remember writing my first game ( a horse gamble one lmao) and sharing it with friends. It will be a cherished memory always, not because of the code. But the time spent with my classmates.
The one who "gambling horses" with me now lives in the Bay area chasing his American dream. Last time I visit him he showed up with his expesensive car. I don't even recognize his car model (I'm not a car person). And a friend of mine waved at me when we hanged out. He seemed jealous. It's clear that money does not solve his loneliness.
> they buy solutions. If you can't succinctly identify your customer's problem, then they won't believe you have the solution. Period.
Just started learning this the hard way.
> I've been happiest in product development. Your software is part of a solution being sold to a client. A lot of engineering-oriented companies provide those kinds of opportunities and tend to have an engineering culture.
I fount that the so called "engineering culture" toxic to some extend. People arguing merely for their own resume looking more advanced instead of helping people.
And I'm also interested in your story. Feel free to share
I'm sorry, I meant actual engineers, not software engineers! :)
A company run by software engineers is one of the most toxic places you can work! There's way too much intellectual navel gazing for my taste. Like you say, they tend to be more concerned with building their CV than building a product and there are all kinds of pointless "discussions" arguing over minutia that doesn't even matter to the end product.
> These do bring a certain happiness, but it's temporary, usually brief, and looking back it tends to sound silly and pointless
This is something that bugs me. I still enjoy coding and making but I know that I'd eventually be leaving what I'm currently working on or selling them. It happened and it will happen again. what is "long term satisfaction" and how to find it?
> what is "long term satisfaction" and how to find it?
The problem with that question is that it usually requires time travelling ;) You need to first experience things and then look back and see if they felt fulfilling or satisfactory to know for sure.
There's an approximation you can have. You can now look back at you currently accumulated history of various things you have tried already. Find ones which you remember liking (like as in being satisfactory) then and still like now. Try to sketch patterns out of those experiences. (You can do the same with stuff you don't like, obviously) From that, extrapolate and "guesstimate" what activities you find meaningful and fulfilling. Try pursuing those and seeing how it goes. Rinse and repeat in a few years and correct your assumptions.
I started vipassana meditation which is similar to a religional practice. "which is an idea that was hunting me since teen years." things like this unveils during the practice.
And I'm also kinda on a "retirement" to explore both the inner world and something I'm interested in.
I've wondered that if you wan WFH 3 days per week, picking a offline part time job that you can relate to is an option? This is what I've always wanted
This is really important. You will spend your whole life aligning stake holders. If you can't stand that and started searching for meaning of life then eventually you end up quitting.
People, especially men, tend to be so self-centric, that they cannot make decisions objectively.
For example if there's jobs opportunities you'd like to pursue, think about what they need and build your skills. Just give people a proper reason to hire you, to promote you, to use your product. This is actually harder than it sounds. You may find that your own expectations does not align with others.
I wish I knew this when I was fresh out of collage. Maybe you are just better in this than me. I was more of a dumb stubborn type of young man lmao.
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