How do I stop hating my job?

"Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes." — Notorious d.e.b

The key for me in that situation is to identify what it is that I am most unhappy about. Is it a particular individual who makes your life hell? Is it that they enforce their own policies unfairly? Or do you feel like you are wasting your life at tasks you do not enjoy?

The answers will inform your decision about a course of action.

Stop caring, and do the job you want to have as much as you can.

I'm assuming you have things in mind for the job you want. Do the bare minimum for what you're assigned, then volunteer to do the parts you actually want to do. Even if they're going to get thrown out or not implemented, at least you get to work on something you like and get a new resume bullet.

By feeling like you're getting some form of professional advancement, you might hate every day a little less.

Compartmentalize it. It is a method to earn a living. outside of that, free yourself from it. If it is burning you out, slow down what you can and pace yourself. No one does good work stressed out. Then you need to focus on things outside of the job. go for a walk, play a video game. Spend time doing stuff your SO or pets like. Be there for others outside of work. Read a book. but if you have burnout, that needs to be addressed first.

>"I'm the programmer equivalent of a Yugo (car)" <-- your profile

might start with self-esteem... if you think you're not worthy you'll end up in the same place/job/situation again

I think it's the opposite of what Tolstoy wrote:

"Every unhappy software developer is unhappy in the same way, every happy software developer is happy in a different way."

That is, it is a lot of work to find a situation you are happy in or (conversely) figure out how to be happy in the situation you are in.

Take a look at this classic book

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3650010-have-fun-at-work

A lot of people here are suggesting switching jobs, but I'd recommend just leaving before you do that. If you don't, there's a high likelihood that you'll go to far into burnout and it'll take years to want to be near your discipline again. Just fucking leave, it's the only answer.

Jobs are like anything else, if you start hating it, it's best to leave, because it won't change. Yes I've been in this situation. Yes I should have left.

Me is the same in feeling towards my current position. I really like the combination, that I won't find like that outside. For sure.

My problem is that none of my colleagues can do anything and I can do everything. With my qualification it would be easy to find outside. And that's year for year with changing colleagues - and I don't get a raise, not in these crazy times right now. Nor before. Stupit.

But, I have some benefits, like stand up in the morning and write a Whatsapp message if everyone is ok with me taking day off, or, the hierarchy is very flat with every one working on their own .

So I try to see the good side of the job. Don't you have good times, too? Some days are really productive, some sucks. In the end of the day, I think about what have I done and what needs to be done "tomorrow.." (procrastinated). On the next day, I'm happy with finishing all that, and, again..what need to be done tomorrow..

So it's stress. But a "good" one. Do you sometimes have that moment of feeling good after some difficult situation, too?

I think the weights are towards the negative with you. Not the usual hokus pokus esotericus - but, buy that Lapislazuli and put it 3 times a day near your stomach!

No, joke. Try to see the positive aspects in what you do. Don't care about the others. You have to assume that the others are lazy and stupid, but also you do have to realize that in the eyes of other's you're lazy and stupid, too. By that it's easier to understand the fault's, errors, decisions - after all it's human. Some are really crazy.. and a friend of mine once told me he thinks I'm strange. I don't see that in my self observations :)

That will the beginning..

don't be toxic. See no toxic. Don't become toxic. (Chuck Norris)

My advice is typically just to join a tech-based startup. They won't (shouldn't) care about anything but whether you can deliver results. Coding is hardly a cost center. Breaking its own policies? There aren't any policies to speak of (yet). This is a bit of overstatement but close to the truth.

Is your day to day bad or is it just your feeling toward the job?

If your day to day is bad or the pay is not enough, change job. If you hate something else about your job which is not about yourself (people don't value engineers, unfair things happen), you may benefit from stop worrying about things that don't concern you. You can even joke about how bad things are. Some of the funniest times in my career were in failing startups I had no shares in.

Once you mastered that and you're nice and calm, you can even try to manage upwards, point out the problems and solve them - but you should be detached from the problem, as if it were an algorithm you're writing to solve a gnarly problem. No need to get upset.

There's nothing you can do. You can try to be in the moment, or try to not be in the moment. But your brain will know that you are trying to fool it, and it won't allow you to fool it. So you need to go all in, and really, really hate your job.

Based on reading your responses my summary would be ...

You've already tried to improve your current position, and it seems like that hasn't gone well and is leading to you losing interest and focus.

Get a new job.

In particular, I'd suggest getting a job at a software company rather than as a company where IT is a cost center. While this isn't a magic bullet, I think you're more likely to have a better experience at a company where software dev (and associated roles like QA, build engineering, Devops, etc.) are at the core of what the company does.

If I'm not growing then I quit. To me, personal growth is more important than anything. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Don’t double bind yourself if you want to be happy! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind

Gratitude Journalling might help. Noticing and noting down things to be grateful for, at the end of each work week, might help you see the flowers growing out of the field of muck.

> I'm looking to switch but not finding anything better.

What is your skill set? Finding a new job can be hard, with a bit more information we might be able to provide some advice on this front.

> the company repeatedly ignoring/breaking it's own policies.

Learn to ignore "policies", and only pay attention to what people actually do, what works, and what gets rewarded.

Look for a new job, if that is an option. But remember, most jobs suck. But it is still a win, if your new job sucks less than your current job.

Try setting artificial goals, just to make your tasks interesting. Like, doing it super fast. Or automating as much as possible.

If you’re working from home, try learning something new on company time. Before you downvote me for suggesting something unethical, remember a lot of people browse Facebook at work. Even browsing HN at work can be considered unethical too!

Unless your company is working on something noble (like a cancer vaccine or something like that), it is probably just another commercial place to make a handful of people rich at the expense of many. So don’t get attached to your job, it is just a way to put food on the table.

Lower your expectations

Take on more responsibility.

Work less.

I hate working for someone irrespective of what I do. Starting and running a successful business is not easy. Working in the current paradigm for a living is a curse. I have never once felt any fulfillment from work in my more than a decade of working. I’ve always been paid really well and the workload has mostly never been too bad. In my opinion some people are just built this way and I will probably never be happy as long as I’m working. On the flip side, I’ve taken a few years off here and there and I’ve literally never been happier or bored during any of those periods.