Last year I self-taught my way into software, and published a fun music app that made a buzz right here on HN. I felt validated that I had something special to offer, and this gave me the confidence to interview. A month later, I had multiple offers in hand, and signed my first job as a SWE.
I am approaching a year at this job (full stack web, e-commerce) and worry I may have made the wrong choice. I am surrounded by talented, smart, even pleasant co-workers, and I am learning from them. But I feel like I'm spending precious time on a narrow path, learning this business's proprietary knowledge, processes, and challenges.
I fell in love with programming: engineering solutions to interesting problems by writing code. My music app was an example of this. Now, 90% of my work is convincing other engineers that we should refactor a flakey test suite or align on implementation details of form state management.
I thought I would be able to continue building fun, creative projects in my spare time, but I am totally burnt after the workday.
Friends tell me to look for another job, but they also tell me the current job sounds great compared to what they’ve experienced. I feel a bit lost and thought I should reach out to the community that helped me get my start.
Any advice?