Ask HN: Finding My Purpose as a Programmer? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Finding My Purpose as a Programmer?

3 pointsbosch_mind5 comments

I’m 28 and did traditional BS/MS in comp sci route, grinded leetcode and did several (and current) stints at big tech companies as a senior engineer.

I’ve always wanted to be a master of the craft, but have become more of a well paid hamster. The downside is I’m constantly studying CS things to find something to focus on that would allow me to repurpose my career, but not getting very far. I’ve considered grad school, but that’s a big move as well.

How did you guys repurpose meaning in your career?

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I'm probably an outlier. But I never made career progression a consideration. Instead I focused on different application domains and then applied my ever expanding IT skills to those domains. I accomplished lots of completed projects as a contractor. Over the years I became very knowledgeable about insurance, superannuation, industrial control, fault-tolerant transaction processing, databases (DB2, Oralce), telecoms and network engineering.

I don't recommend grad school for career advancement purposes (I got a PhD in SE after 20+ years in industry). IMO grad school is only valuable if you have an interest that you want to deep dive into and don't mind the cost. Academic jobs are hard to come by and you run the risk of being seen as over-qualified after you complete, assuming you do complete - many drop out.

I believe that purpose is outside of work. i.e. work to live, not live to work.

Not sure what you mean by "repurpose meaning" in your career but if you are asking how do you get ahead / promoted then I think the answer is probably not going to happen at your current company. You probably have to interview for the position you really want at other companies. Its easier to start at a manager / senior level at a new company. Grad school is probably not going to get you the promotion

You need to be able to interview really well. That's really it. I am an ok engineer. Not a rockstar by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I really don't like tech at all. I just like the pay. One thing that I can do is interview really well. I have had probably 25 - 30 interviews over my career and I have gotten an offer in every one. Its relatively straight forward to do (not easy). Make sure you look presentable which means getting in physical shape. Dress well. Speak with confidence. Act like you belong there and that you are who they want. Act like you already earned the job. Be confident but not cocky. People want to work with someone they could see hanging out with. Make sure you ask a few questions but nothing crazy. Make sure you maintain that confidence once you get the job. Just look at the whole thing as a game.

I have never had a leet code style interview so your mileage may vary. The effort required to pass a skills based test is not worth it to me. I am currently a tech lead at a fortune 500 company making more money than I would have dreamed (I grew up very poor); probably not as much as I would make at a FAANG but again I have no interest in investing the effort required to prep for a whiteboard coding style interview. I'll probably shoot for a director position somewhere else in a couple years.

If you are asking how do you learn to love your job like the people on HN who eat, breath and sleep software? No idea, I don't like it. Its just a job. I use it to pay for things I am passionate about. Learn to love yourself first, everything else will follow. Get in shape if you aren't already. The answer is not in grad school.

Unless you have rockstar charisma, genius talent, or essential connections, it takes a long time to climb your way out of the hamster cage at any big company. There's a lot of boring work to do at big companies and they're designed around giving it to smart, high-achieving people because those are the people they fill their ranks with.

And if you had one of those assets that let you break through more quickly, you probably wouldn't be asking this question on Hacker News.

So you can either grind away for another decade or two, expecting that you'll eventually find yourself positioned with agency over something you find meaningful, which will probably happen eventually, or you can choose a path through (or independently with) smaller organizations that probably pay less but are more fulfilling and interesting in the near term.

> How did you guys repurpose meaning in your career?

what does this mean?

how do you go from coder-chasing-money/power/respect/glory to coder-chasing-some-kind-of-life-meaning-or-purpose?

Your purpose in life is to discover how much responsibility you can bear. Then, bear it …

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