Should I quit software development?

I have noticed radical changes at my company in the past 5 years too.

They started outsourcing and layoffs - stuff they previously bragged about not doing in the job interview. They have restructured the roles so that some of them are combined but pay the lower salary (like team managers who are PMs and line managers but get paid like a PM). They also adjusted the grade structure so that it takes much longer to get to the same overall comp than it did under the old structure. The rate of technology changes went way up too. We are in a constant churn of upgrades, or switching from one vendor product to another, or having to deal with some new paperwork or test results requirement.

I hate my job and want to quit also. They might fire me someday anyways because I'm "slow". I need the insurance since kid and wife have major health issues.

How many different companies have you worked for? Were you only a manager at that one company?

It sounds like you should quit your job but not necessarily software dev as a whole.

Also, I enjoy programming but not Leetcoding / fancy algorithms. Software dev is a broad field, maybe you can find a different engineering job without abandoning your previous experience.

Generally speaking, I’d say run towards something, not away from something. And if you choose to leave, let your current thing fund your search for the next thing.

Firstly, life is too short. If you hate what you’re doing, definitely find something better to do then quit. Philosophically, if you could do anything what would want you do? What things in your life make you happy to be alive? It isn’t giving up if you’ve found something better to do with your life.

Management is really hard to do well and not for everyone, I realize that much more now than I did as a young person.

Side note: can anyone shed some light on how to differentiate between job burnout and career burnout? I thought I had the former but now being out of a real job for quite a while I'm beginning to think I have the latter.

There are plenty of dysfunctional companies out there.

I was lucky enough to find a company which did things right but after 5 happy years (of which a percentage as a manager) the investors basically replaced the leadership and killed the engineering culture. Everyone left and they started hiring cheap overseas contractors.

I haven't found a decent company since.

My "solution" was to contract for 6m - 1 year and then change before I burn out. Eventually I just transitioned to running a side business and topping up with contracting every once and then when some interesting project comes up.

A friend I have, who seems to enjoy management more than me, ended up being a vp of engineering setting the kind of culture that we enjoy but he had to try several times before finding the right place where that kind of culture could grow.

Best of luck

Honestly, it sounds like you need to leave your job.

I went through burnout, and quitting the job/career that was draining me, was enough to remove the weight off my shoulders and give me some clarity.

This all assumes you have financial means do to so (for me, it took 4 months), and if that is not the case, I suggest preparing yourself for it.

That just sounds like a toxic work environment. I recently moved from a toxic job to a non-toxic job, and despite working on similar tasks the difference in my overall happiness has been night and day. I don't think you have enough data yet to know whether the entire field is a bad fit for you.

Seems to me that you are in a toxic environment. So it's unclear whether it is your workplace that you dislike or the role of being programmer. Doing "leetcoding" most certainly isn't what software development is about.

Have you looked into changing jobs for a better company?

If you have the capacity to quit, in other words, enough savings to explore what you like for a couple of years. Do it and see what sticks.

There's this guy on Twitter who quit his job at Amazon while he was in a senior position because he was not motivated to work there anymore. He's in his early 30s too. Long story short, he's now doing well with his own projects and is happy with his current life.

Have a read on his post on Medium: https://dvassallo.medium.com/only-intrinsic-motivation-lasts...

One of the running jokes in our company is "let's just quit our jobs, start a farm and live off the land". We have very similar issues to the ones that you describe: team dysfunction, constant staffing changes, low velocity... Which of course leads to low morale, which feeds back on itself. I actually enjoy the work but we can't seem to actually ship anything. One solution is to just head for greener pastures but I'm not sure where that exists.

Your story is very similar to mine, except I am currently also working for my family business with no means to escape by just quitting and moving to another company.

Has completely extinguished my love for software/product development. Managing people/clients has made me start hating humanity :). But I don't know what else to do.

I am currently just moving forward, hoping that things become better in the future.

I don’t think the field has changed much in the last 5 years, technology is still technology just with some new fashionable solutions to offer, people are still people.

Sounds like you need a new role. We’re I in your shoes, I’d find something that at least appears to offer good work life balance then start looking into the next big thing. You might love your new job or you’re at least in a better position for a bigger career change.

You have to figure out if the job burns you out, or the career. Seems like the job, which you can change. Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.

Sounds like things you hate are tied to your current job. I wouldn't discount an entire industry because of that.

Because as others have mentioned your environment is toxic, when you raise these issues openly, be wary of empty promises and other games to maintain status quo. Since you are experienced, I'm sure there are many companies out there that will welcome you.

You have a shitty role

Go to another company

I had two of my friends take a manager role. They went back to development because of the politics having to deal with senior management and partners.

There is a reason why Business Administration and Computer Science courses are different. Not everyone can be Steve Jobs and handle it all.

Think you should try one or two different companies first before jacking it in. If you still don’t like it then fair enough.

I'm in literally the same conundrum.

Agree with the point about the team. An uncooperative team can make a managers job very unpleasant.