Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

A big part of me wants to just quit and get a job where I can turn my brain off for 9 hours and then spend my free time dedicating my brain power to personal projects and actually build things. I've stopped all personal projects because after 9 hours at work, the last thing I want to do is sit in that chair for another second.

I, for one, wholeheartedly endorse this plan. I think it's a mistake to expect to derive significant joy / self-actualization / gratification / whatever from your "job". A "job" is just a means to pay the bills - put food on the table, buy gas, pay rent, pay electric bill, etc., to enable you to do the things that you actually enjoy doing. I mean, sure, if you happen to enjoy your job, then that's a nice bonus. My problem is with the idea that your job should the primary focus of your life.

Likewise, if by happenstance the "thing" you do outside of work happens to be very similar to what you do at the job (eg, "programming", just in a different domain) then so be it. That's fine. It's fine to say "I love coding for AI research I'm doing at home, but hate coding the same boring CRUD app at $BIGBANK for 9 hours a day." The big thing to watch for here is IP conflicts, especially if you intend to commercialize what you do at home (or think there's even a chance you might).

If anything, count yourself lucky for coming to this (apparently) fairly soon in your career. It took me a long time to figure that out.

> it's a mistake to expect to derive significant joy / self-actualization / gratification / whatever from your "job"

I couldn't agree more. Over the course of the last few years, I have put in the work to separate my work and my life. I now notice a difference in how I interact with my work. I am a solid "bare minimum" worker, and I've been able to get away with it. Does it have an effect on my earnings and reputation? Probably. I know I'm not going above and beyond and qualifying for some of the perks & programs that my coworkers do. I happen to not give a shit about that corporate reward atmosphere. I make $101k/yr and I'm comfortable and my work days are short and manageable.

Do I enjoy my work at this current moment? Not really, but it's easy and it pays my bills and I have capacity for other shit that I enjoy - hiking, photography, games, etc. Plus, I have had enough time to evaluate what I truly value in my work and want to do year over year (I am interviewing later this week for a better-fit job I know I have in the bag if I can ace this technical).

As I've been interviewing, I've gotten the question over and over: how much coding/programming do you do outside of work. My interview answer includes a spiel about a few side projects I've got on my roster. My honest answer is "almost none".

Don't forget this bit "I mean, sure, if you happen to enjoy your job, then that's a nice bonus."

It's great and important to be able to separate your day job and home life, now more than ever. At the same time, there's no requirement that you half-ass your job. To me, a job well done is always a more interesting way to pass time than with lack of care. It's 8 hours either way and can seem like less.

The only thing that makes the decision to quit difficult is there's no other job I could get that would pay me enough to even be comfortable.

All I see that I'd qualify for (aside from programming) would be at least a 50% pay cut, most around 60-70%. And I'm currently not even making 6 figures.

You may be able to find a programming job that's less mentally demanding, to the point that it allows you to reserve most of your mental / creative energy for your own projects. Might take a few tries, but there's probably something out there that would accommodate your interests (depending on where you live, etc).

Best of luck in either case. I can definitely relate to what you're talking about, so no, you're not "just crazy" FWIW.

Well good to hear it's not just me. Thanks for the input.

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