Ask HN: Would you stay in an easy but unfulfilling job? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would you stay in an easy but unfulfilling job?

3 pointsazdle9 comments

Lets say you've got a job that's super easy, pays well enough, but isn't interesting anymore, would you stay?

That's where I'm at right now. This is my first real job, so I don't have any much experience with all this. I've been here for 5 years, 2 of which were part-time before graduating. Right now I'm worried that I'm I'm caught in the loop of getting the same 1 year of experience over and over again.

The only thing that's stopping me is that it's dead easy. No one checks up on me. I've probably done about 1 month's worth of work in the past 4 months. There are days where I don't do a single productive thing. For some reason they're paying me a bit over $60K/year for that.

Just in case anyone thinks that's me gloating, it's actually killing me. I've always had a problem with getting myself to be productive in the moment, but an even bigger problem with getting depressed after that about the fact that I'm wasting my life.

I've been applying for jobs hoping to find somewhere I'm more enthusiastic about working towards something and I have a few interviews lined up, but now I'm getting cold feet and wondering why I'd give this cushy situation up.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Which path did you take and how did you feel about that decision after?

First of all your assessment that you are getting the same 1 year of experience over and over is almost certainly correct. How could it be otherwise when the work is so easy relative to your skills and capacity that you say that you are actually doing productive work only about 1/4 the time? If that doesn't change then your job will not be a significant source of fulfillment and growth in your life.

If you were like my oldest daughter that would be fine because she works an entry level day job as a QA tester and documentation writer for a small engineering department but her real passion is writing fiction. She writes every evening and on weekends and has complete drafts of 2 full length novels and half a dozen more in the various stages of completion (and she just turned 23 - can you tell I am a proud dad?). But my point is if your passion after work is intellectually challenging then a day job that doesn't really challenge you intellectually is probably fine. Do good enough work that you are perceived within that context as someone who is competent and productive - even if you are bored. And, reserve your intellectual energy for the side project or creative outlet of your choosing.

However, if your day job represents your intended focus and the place you want to achieve then you absolutely must do something about the situation.

You can more actively pursue challenges at work and spend time self-training in skills that will help expand your scope of responsibility at work and prepare you for any changes that might come your way. Alternatively, you can look for a different place to work, which you have already started doing. The one caution I have is be careful or you could easily end up in a situation that is just as bad but on a whole different dimension. You could easily be facing the other scenario where there is way more on the wish list of things to get done than there are persons to get them done. You could join a team and find yourself working 70 hour weeks and barely having time for lunch or breaks.

I would definitely say to look for another job. Maybe you will go out of your comfort zone for some time but at the end I think this will be for good. The life is too short to just stay and do nothing in my opinion.

I have been also in such situation but have been working for the company only for a few months. When I started to get the feeling that I am stuck and I am not doing anything and not improving I change my job and I was extremely happy I made that choice back then.

I hope that you will find your path and make the right decision for you! Good luck!

>I've probably done about 1 month's worth of work in the past 4 months.

It sounds like you definitely want to move jobs, so I'm not advising you to stay. But if you're in a "work ethic" culture (e.g. USA), then bear in mind that everyone is really doing far less work than they're pretending to. People who actually work every hour they're paid for are pretty rare.

I mean, yes, I think I want to, but I also know that the "the grass is greener" thing is real, I just don't know how to figure out where the real green grass is.

And yes, I'm in the US, in a smaller metropolitan area in the middle.

If you are young, I would say, you need to change your job every year for at least next 3-4 years. You simply don't know what is out there and only way to know is to see it for yourself.

If you are developer, simplest way is to do contracting, not to get a full-time job. You might like this so much that you might not get a job in a long time, but again, I would advise you to explore more.

An easy job isn't something you should necessarily walk away from, what about starting a side project to help you learn and grow from that?

Find ways to make your job more interesting! Take time to learn more stuff (cf. coursera.org etc).

I would love to be able to, but the slowly dying on the inside always catches up

One of my ex-coworkers who just recently left told me the reason he left was that he'd been here long enough to see all the cracks. Is that really something that's impossible to escape?

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