I've done "meaningful" work at companies that treated my like a consumable resource, and less meaningful work at companies that treated me like a person. I prefer the latter. My suggestion is don't jump at the first interesting work, look more for culture and career opportunity. You can find both, those jobs are not quite as rare as unicorns.
Good luck in your search.
But we do the typical tech wankery bullshit, and the banality of it eats away at you. Maybe the goal is to get accustomed to this and accept that my job is better than 99% of the world, but christ if I'm going to spend the next 20-30 years of my life doing this and filling it with hobbies that also don't have meaningful impact, why even bother.
I understand those thoughts and feelings because I have them myself. That being said, why do you feel like your hobbies also have to be meaningless or have no impact? Volunteering can be a hobby. So can doing something like coaching a kids’ sports team (if you like kids) or mentoring someone or something else along those lines. For me, my job is a way to help my family and other people who are way less fortunate than I am.
Also, and I know this is a “typical” response around here: Have you considered the idea that you may be suffering from depression? Most of the time when the, “why does this shit even matter” feelings hit me it’s because I’m hitting the depression stage of manic depression/bipolar.
I do volunteer, I'm active in tutoring underprivileged kids for their SAT/ACT's, and otherwise help immigrants fill out their N-100 forms. I take Arabic classes in my spare time, and I fill my free time with various other hobbies (rock climbing, hiking, etc). And that's great that I have an impact on a local community, but in the end, why does it matter? Any bozo with two brain cells to rub together can have an impact on their local community. Aren't all these hobbies just escapism from the fact that my life is centered around this 40 hours a week that I spend debugging gevent or rewriting yet another RPC service?
To me, the acceptance of the reality of "it's extremely unlikely that I'll anything that has a meaningful impact on a large group of people" is the saddest thing of all.
Every little thing you do has some sort of meaning (even those hours spent debugging) if you choose to give it one.
On the other hand nothing really matters on a large enough scale not the things Bezos, Putin, Musk or any other human does.
Everything is ephemeral as Ecclesiastes already found out.
I think I'd be even more depressed were I put Ozymandias shoes.
Perhaps nothing matters, but I will carry on anyway because there is still a chance that something matters.
And really I just want to spite nihilism because it’s self-defeating.
For me, thinking smaller and looking at how I can have an impact on my family, friends, and local community is what I have found to be most fulfilling.
The only thing I found that worked for me in the end was what I call the "just work less" approach.
How?
Cut expenses to the bone, and then cut some more. Go contracting. Aim to work for money maybe three months a year.
I found the non-work portion of the year involved travel, reading, family, writing, and tech projects done for the hell of it. It worked, and my life felt much happier, and more in balance.
One of the biggest problems with the industry (aside from the generally meaningless nature of most of it) is the traditional 40 hour week. It just burns people out too fast.
I’m extremely fortunate as the job I hold right now is a decent balance. It’s not totally meaningless and I think we are helping people in a lot of ways but I don’t think we’re saving the world. However I do work with a great team and everyone treats each other with respect and the company leadership genuinely cares about retaining their employees and treating them well.
In my opinion, people care too much about work politics. Yes people suck, but sucky people will be everywhere. Learning to cope with difficult people is a skill that everybody absolutely needs to learn at some point in their lives.
I agree with that. And on the point of managers: I’ve had my fair share of shitty/toxic managers. So I guess I spent a decent amount of time being treated that way and eventually it wears thin and you start trying to look for a more humane workplace rather than chasing money or “impact”.
I'm going to add that if you want meaningful work, work on a side project. Even if it doesn't pan out, it's a great learning experience and could open doors and ignite conversations with people leading to much better and fascinating opportunities.
The people you work with matter most, above all else.