I've been in tech a little while, almost 10 years. Most recently working in DevOps. I got laid off this week. I was kind of relieved. I somewhat liked this job but I found that frequently before I was just getting so damn bored and burnt out after 3-6 months. I can't stand daily standup, planning, retroactive, politics and all these things.
I've had a side business that's been doing ok but it isn't scalable. I thought about taking 3-6 months off to work on getting SOMETHING off the ground, but I don't quite know what that is. My other business proved I could do sales and marketing reasonably well. I thought about doing web design or some technical blog post writing, but neither of those are really even pulling my interest. If I don't have a clear direction on what business I'm going to get to take off, it just seems really stupid to take the time off work.
I feel like I'm going to eventually apply for jobs again, targeting a start in the new year. I don't want to run into those issues I've had in the past though of getting bored quick + the others.
Have you been in this kind of situation before?
Become a master of something you know better about today than you did when you started out. Seek out a mentor and ask them what that one thing is they would tell themselves to do so you can anticipate being here again. I've tried restarting careers 3 times and every time you lose your job you have to reassess your interests as well as skills because they change without you realizing it. That's why there's supposed to be growth path for individuals to move from individual contributor, to team leader, to supervisor to manager etc. It also helps the workers knowing they have someone who did it themselves and has been there too.
Right there with you. Been unemployed/self-employed for 8 years. Circling the drain can't get a job because I was working towards being a manager who worked their way up but never got the title and without it and the connections that come with it and keep getting discarded when the company pivots. Everyone else my age and experience became a manager and/or started their own company/studio and is all about schmoozing and has no time for anyone who can't bring them business or is competition for their own.
I like working in production, but unless you are the programmer doing all the work, it's not sustainable without an aggressive growth path.
Here's a practice that helped me: Daily walks, talking out loud to myself. Start with an open mind and try to summon your curiosity. Let go of getting to any specific outcome and just see what happens. If you do this on a regular basis (ideally every day) you will surprise yourself with what insights come up. If you can do it in nature, even better.
Also, talk with your friends who are good listeners. Tell them you don't want advice. There's something about saying it out loud and in front of other people that can give you added perspective. I'm happy to chat if you want. You can find my email in my profile.
always trying to launch my own business, but i'm not so good at it.
whenever i'm not working a 9-to-5, i often feel a great amount of energy to do ALL THE THINGS, and I try many of them, and that part is great - it feels natural / normal / human.
as opposed to, how Adam Smith describes jobs in Wealth of Nations:
“The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations, of which the effects are perhaps always the same, or very nearly the same, has no occasion to exert his understanding or to exercise his invention in finding out expedients for removing difficulties which never occur. He naturally loses, therefore, the habit of such exertion, and generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. ”
the guy has one or two books too, i think. in one recent episode he said something along the lines of, "just start something, and other stuff may/will appear because.... that's just how the world works."
which sounds reasonable to me.
Since I got serious into computers in 2011, I haven't really had a long layoff, at most a week or two away from my computer. In July I finally got a chance to take an extended break. In August I did a 1 week meditation retreat thinking it would help reset things, and while it did help, I noticed when I got back to programming, my stress and anxiety wasn't completely gone, but it was at least more manageable.
Then in September, I stopped using my computer, and just traveled with my family for 2 months. Went to 4 different countries. Still kind of traveling but I'm now back to programming. Now that I've returned, I am noticing changes in the beliefs, interests, and pursuits I had just 3 months ago. One curious thing that happened was that I was strongly opposed to a certain programming platform, and a few weeks into my return from holiday, I'm enjoying picking it up. I believe this happened because my long continuous streak of programming never gave me a chance to "cleanse" some of the emotional triggers that would influence my decision making. If you don't take a break, the triggers keep reinforcing themselves.
In order to weaken the stress inducing triggers, you have to take a proper break; no more computers. Take a couple of months off, if your finances allow for it. Go have fun, but don't keep engaging with the thing that has caused you some much stress. I strongly believe you will come back to your computer refreshed and you will be able to interact with your machine in a much more neutral way. This in turn will allow you to make better decisions without any baggage influencing them.
Essentially, build something that creates residual income, you have the technology advantage.
I started to work for one and it makes a difference! Bo more bullshit meetings or middle management! They are still rare, but if you don‘t care which industry you are working in, you may find some!
And you think you need to do something about it?
Has anyone told you that for 99.9% of humans, work is something boring and oftentimes unpleasant? I'm sorry but how old are you?
I'd watch every bit.
But you might wanna to take breaks from tech to freshen up.
After that, I took a page from Sam Harris' "Moral Landscape" to think about my 'journey' topographically. I know that where I am standing now isn't good.. and thanks to Ikigai above I have some vague ideas of where I'd like to head next.. but I don't know how to get there. So I just start walking. I JUST DO SOMETHING. Basically I'm just trying to get a 'better view' of my destination. This first step might be wrong, but at least that should give me some new insight to course-correct. Repeat until it works. Its not a sexy answer, but its an effective one.
Boredom is something we all face, but the trick is to have some itch, then scratch it, then you'll never be bored.
As for burnout, it's been discussed here plenty of times, and I would recommend searching HN's Algolia search engine to help you out. There's plenty of tips on what to do about burnout and how to recover from it.