Ask HN: What to do about a boring job ?

What's good about it?

(I had to ask multiple times because we all know that the first couple of answers would be, "Nothing".)

Every job, no matter how boring, is loaded with "stuff" that you can use to contribute to your long term progress.

It may be access to a user who's an expert in their field and would love to share their expertise.

It may be a project that needs to be done, but no one else has time. And you can learn a lot of unexpected stuff from doing it.

It may be lots of interesting data on their hard drive that you can learn a lot from just by transversing and/or organizing.

Hell, it might even be proximity to a quiet coffee shop where no one would miss you.

It could be anything.

So if you're stuck, then it's your job to turn lemons into lemonade. (Practice turning lemons into lemonade is an invaluable skill on it's own; just ask any entrepreneur.)

Now close your browser and make a list of 10 things you can try to get some value out of this job while you're there. Then open your browser back up and let us know what they are.

I am with edw519 - make yourself extremely useful, to the point where you are a "superhero" build stuff that is going to make other people in the company's lives easier!

Agreed, frame of mind is important! If you are bored, then keep producing more value with that extra time; people will talk about you if you are creating things that are high quality, refined, and useful.

Since you're doing well in terms of workload, I'd suggest using the extra time to learn new things. Use emacs? Learn vim. Use vim? Learn emacs. Don't use either one? Learn both. Any skills you need that could be preventing you from getting your dream job? Learn them.

Seriously, this works as long as your job situation is only temporary. If you force yourself to use the new things you're learning you can also draw your projects out a little bit more so that you're not spending all day browsing HN (or whatever else you read) and you look busier (which is what's really important to PHBs).

I second this enthusiastically. If the workload is not taxing for you, instead of finding things to fill your spare time, just do the things you have to do as "inefficiently" as possible. One of the barriers to trying new things is the drop in efficiency (like switching to a new editor, as per the suggestion before). If you can take the productivity hit, this can be a great opportunity. Frustrated by a lack of feature in the editor? Rather than work around it, fix it and submit a patch. Keep using KDE (or whatever) but switch your locale to French. If you don't already and you are allowed to do so, switch your version control to git - that should mess with your mind for a good while :-)

Basically if you genuinely can't leave, just try and make it interesting for yourself and make a habit of stepping outside your comfort zone - otherwise your brain will rot.

The other issue is your actual project. If you have scope, overspec it. Only you will know, but that should give you back some pride in your work. If you are taking shortcuts, don't. If you are not commenting and documenting properly, do. If you can make the code faster, speed it up. If you can deliver knobs and whistles, go for it.

If you "cannot switch" (hard to believe) then I would suggest going above and beyond your job description to create value for your employer. This will help displace downtime and make your job more interesting. Being passive about your situation isn't going to do anything for you though.

"I would suggest going above and beyond your job description to create value for your employer."

Why in the world would one want to do that? It's not like you are going to get paid more or get more free time for going the extra mile.

That's quite a myopic view of things. Going above and beyond may not offer an immediate pay increase, promotion or more break time, but it will afford him an opportunity to learn new things, show that he is fit for more responsibility, and in the process he'll stand out to all those working around him. All this will increase his chances later down the road of getting where he wants to be. Most importantly, it will address his immediate problem of boredom!

His alternative: Do what his job description says, surf the internet, watch the paint dry... sounds like a real recipe for motivation, excitement, and success.

1. You may get paid more. Going above and beyond might be what makes you the next person promoted when an opening comes.

2. You may open up more opportunities down the road. Going beyond what is required may get you noticed by coworkers that may prove to be in important positions to help you many years down the road.

3. You almost certainly will learn that way. By going outside what what is required you will put yourself in new positions and face challenges you wouldn't otherwise. This can be one of the best ways to learn.

If nothing else, it can help you be less bored then just doing the minimum required for a boring job.

1. It is a very useful habit to be in.

2. It is a great way to establish good relationships that will help build your personal network for the future.

3. It may lead to unexpected good things happening with your current employer.

Change the reason that you can't switch. I can only think of two legitimate reasons.

1) Switching requires moving to an entirely new town where you have no friends and no family. I'd double check that this is actually true and start working on building up a social network in a different metropolitan area if this were the case.

2) Immigration reasons.

Anything else? Options are never a certain "win" (think about lack of an exit, reverse splits, stock taking a dive). Worried about what your resume will look like? Worry less about your resume, worry more about yourself. Worried about loss of income? Don't just quit the job, search passively. "Counted on" to ship a product? Announce your departure in advance (more than the usual two weeks), hand your responsibilities over to others. Starting bonuses you will have to pay back? Money isn't worth not having something to wake up for in the morning.

So, honestly, switch. However, before you make the switch, very carefully think what is that you will be looking for in your next position and how to verify that it provides that.

People claim that you should "work to live" not "live to work". I call bullshit. Your work consumes plurality of your day and majority of your own waking hours. When I feel underused, micro-managed or otherwise unhappy at work, it means I am not looking forward to waking up in the morning. Personal projects are important (and I try to have several even when I am absorbed in interesting work), but they happen at the end of the day when you've already given up your best hours.

Sure, apply to Airbnb: http://www.airbnb.com/jobs

Seriously though, stop making excuses for why you cannot switch jobs and start doing what makes you happy.

I believe your problem is that you cannot switch, not that the job is boring. I would try to solve that problem.

Is it possible the OP 'cannot' (or more specifically does not want to) switch because they're waiting for options to mature, or something similar?

That's one reason I've seen people stick out jobs for a few more months.

If you had a heart attack, came to in a hospital bed, would you rip out the IV, get dressed and go to work???

Didn't think so. So you CAN SWITCH, it's just that you've become attached to your present circumstances and are not prepared to break free. So stop killing yourself, quit and do whatever it is that you can contribute greatest value by.

That's a rather extreme point of view. There might be contractual obligations for him to stay (being sued isn't nice even if it won't kill you) or personal reasons (as stated in the edits), family, friends and loved ones. "Breaking free" from a family is not what most people want to do.

You say "boring", I am going to assume that is accurate. ("Overruled by idiots" isn't boring, it's frustating, and I'm assuming that while that may annoy you it is not the core problem.) Try to automate away the boring; its what software engineering is for. If you're writing the same code over and over again, that means it's ripe for refactoring.

If this doesn't apply to you, well, I'm sure somebody reading will find it helpful. If you're a "software engineer" and writing the same code every day, stop! Don't do that. It's bad engineering. Write better abstractions. You'll learn something.

Why can't you change jobs?

I am currently in the same situation. As my friends keep reminding me, STOP WHINING! You are employed in the middle of an economic recession. It could always be worse.

It can always get better! Spend an extra hour per night on your side project and turn a profit! Then quit :)

While I do dislike listening to whining, I also find a search for improvement in your situation to be quite understandable, no matter how good your situation may be.

No matter how good things are, you can always work to make things better.

One important point though is to be careful about the meaning of better you use. The obvious route is through seeking more money, more prestige, more etc. But another way may be focusing on your spiritual life. Another may be working to help others through volunteer or otherwork and finding fulfillment that way. And of course, there is nothing saying you can't pursue multiple goals and multiple ways of improving your life at the same time.

Find the overlaps between your side project and your day job. I've done that and it's really helped--each hour spent on the overlaps makes me look good at work (since I'm engaged) and also helps me move closer to accomplishing goals with my side-project.

from your submission history ( http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=f2ender ) it seems you've been in this position for a while. did you turn down the offer you mentioned a while ago? are you saying you "cannot switch" because no offer is available?

What do you do? (Details aren't 100% necessary, but just trying to get an idea of what you do so we could perhaps help you make it more interesting in some way or another--if leaving really isn't an option.)

Same job? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1227850

Yes, I almost ended up accepting the other job offer. However, the management there (as I found out later) was worse than where I am currently.

Welcome to my club. Like others are saying, use the time to develop.

After a lengthy period of me asking about what my duties were and if anything was written down and what various policies were, a senior coworker simply said "Read. Buy some books and read." I spend about one hour of the day on getting real work done, another hour or two on moving things through the idiocracy, and the rest of the day is spent on Pylons documentation. :D

I think some other points to reflect upon:

...but it's more because of their inexperience than anything else.

Is that really true? Do you know more about the business than they do? Can you manage a team better? Do you bring up challenges to them, or just scoff and think they're stupid. Hacking is not just manipulating code. Could you start your own company and out do the current company?

I was expecting progress, instead I find my judgement being overruled by less experienced people

Why are you being overruled? Is it emotions based? Title's based ("I'm SENIOR engineer..")? Where's the logic, analysis, and/or data to prove otherwise? Why can't you sell your idea to others?

I guess it's all about making lemonade out of lemons.

I understand your grievances all too well, but yes; sweet, sweet lemonade.

Final thing is that I think it's better to communicate how you feel about your situation to your supervisor-type. If the they don't feel like they need to make a change, and you don't want to be there, easy solution.

I would start looking at building systems that could be used internally. If you are being overruled, you might as well put some time into something useful. I don't know exactly what your company does, but you might want to look at building a: - CRM system - Specialized Bug Tracker - Continuous Integration Software - Build a Test Harness

I know these system exists, but if you have time it is good experience. Also, ideally, you should work on things that you can take with you when you leave. However, this is usually not possible. I have had friends who built open source projects at home. They then convinced their boss to use it and contribute to the project. If you keep your mind open, I am sure you can think of some creative ideas.

I was actually in this exact situation about ~8 months ago. One of the best inspirational videos that got me through that time was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhqZ0RU95d4 . Caution: Gary is a little loud and obnoxious but he makes good points.

Even if you have a 8-5 day job, work the 8pm-2am night shift and stop complaining. Take @edw519's advice and make a list of 10 things you can do to create value and start doing them. Even if you have to be somewhere for 8+ hours that sucks use that time to your advantage.

There is no excuse for not making it happen, use that free time you do have to make meaning and create value.

I've never tried them, and I'm not even sure how I feel about them, but you might want to try some of the 'Executricks' mentioned in this article:

http://blog.trailmeme.com/2010/04/four-hour-workweek-or-exec...

" “retire at work,” develop an under-the-radar personal brand, and achieve covert lifestyle design."

Based on your previous postings, your based in London?

If so, I'd suggest going to one of the several events aimed at startups in London (e.g. the Techcrunch Europe events). There are always lots of companies looking to hire people when I go and everyone seems to struggle to find good people.

If the workload isn't much, can you work on your side project during the day after you've gotten your work responsibilities taken care of (or while you're waiting)?

Since this would involve getting a signed letter from the company stating that the company does not own work you do for your side project while you're at work, it seems unlikely that this is an option.

Yeah that is a risk. But if they're unaware that he's lightly tasked, would they be likely to realize that he's working on a side project 6 hrs a day?

Updated the description to answer some of the questions the community asked.

Learn a new language. Or express a desire to become a manager.

Are you learning? Every job has grunt work, even the interesting jobs. If you're not learning from what you do, and if your boss doesn't have your advancement/education as a top priority, then learn. But if you have to put up with a couple months of boring work in order to get what you want, you should.

Minimize your expenses.

Get fired/laid off.

Live off unemployment.

Work on your project.

???.

Profit.