I'd genuinely like to know how other people have dealt with this because honestly I'm out of ideas
1. work the minimum possible, doing my best every single time (e.g., "Requirements are not well specified; instead of just coming up with something quick and dirty that I will have to redo later on, I get everyone that is relevant to talk about the requirements and come up with something decent. I do not waste time"). The incentive here is: spend less time doing useless stuff. I used to work 8h/day and I used to waste around half of that time chit chatting and procrastinating. Nowadays I work 3h-4h/day fully focused (my contract specifies 40h/week, but I take that just as a formality)
2. earn the maximum possible. So, if I make X at company A, but company B is offering me 1.5X for doing practically the same, well, good bye company A
3. when it comes to finding satisfaction in my career, my lemma is "do it yourself". Do I wanna know about K8s? I learn by myself in my free time (which is a lot of free time if I do point 1. as I have described). Or if I have enough voice within my company, then I'll propose a solid recommendation to adopt K8s
Motivation should come from yourself (and from your loved ones, if any). Never rely on third-party entities like governments, companies, organizations to find motivation and happiness... you'll get hurt and dissapointed.
I was in a comfortable but unfulfilling job, feeling unhappy without understanding why. I tried changing careers and seeking therapy, but nothing seemed to click. Frustrated, I applied for internal jobs and even lower-level positions out of boredom.
Eventually, I took an offer for a similar-paying role with more work but at a lower level. Initially, I regretted my decision with the new company and job politics. However, after a couple of months, my outlook improved and I began to enjoy my life again, even if my job wasn't necessarily better, I was happy to have made the change. And now I feel like I have control and can make a change for better when I want to.
I quit without a new job to switch to. I had sufficient savings that I wouldn't NEED a new job for close to a year, but it was still scary.
After about 2 weeks of decompressing and regaining sanity, I was in a good state of mind to apply for new jobs. I applied for about 20 jobs, got around 5 interviews, and got an offer that was pretty good and I took it. I've been with the same job since.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach to those who don't have savings to rely on. It's hard to know how long it'll take to get a new job. And the more savings you have, the longer you can hold out for better offers.
I had over 13 years software development experience in web tech and cloud computing, so I wasn't worried about whether or not my skills would be in demand. People with less experience might not be able to get a job as readily.
It worked out for me, but I only did it because my mental state was so poor. Looking back, I should have tried to take time off from work to both get better mentally, and start searching for a new job.
Did this happen from the first day or has it evolved to be so? Was it better "before"? When was that "before"? What has changed in the meantime? Can you recall a time when it was fulfilling and describe it? Have you experienced this at other organizations/teams/jobs? Are there any similarities?
Have you experienced fulfilling jobs/positions/orgs/teams? What were the similarities?
Is this something that happens periodically (once a year/quarter/month/week or a few days a week, or a few hours a day, or related to some kind of tasks or responsibilities or interactions or dynamics?). What do you like the most in your current and past positions?