I have a degree in EE and decided to switch into web dev because I was so amazed at how quickly ideas could turn into usable products that almost everyone could use, and the best part was it seemed like almost every company could not hire enough for SWE!
Back then I remember seeing things like ordering Philz coffee through an app that the company Square made and daydreaming about how much fun it would be to work on something, anything that provided someone somewhere value of any kind.
Fast forward to today after working in the industry for a few years, it seems like almost all of my interest has disappeared in the space. Now when I see someone order their coffee from an app on their phone, I imagine working late on a UX redesign because the order ready popup on the app doesn’t quite animate like the PM wants it to, sitting in the post mortem meeting after the backend went down for 5 minutes and 78 people were not able to order coffee via the app that morning gasp, etc…
I am having a much harder time getting excited about almost anything that people are working on here, there is so much hype and so little substance, and the cherry on top is having to LARP your way through the day acting like what you are working on is going to end world hunger. Oh ya, and don’t forget to grind leetcode for months so that you can actually pass the technical interview and be given the opportunity to work on the most exciting opportunities like a React wrapper over OpenAI.
I’m not sure if I’m just burned out, need a career change, or just frustrated with the circumstances but any advice would be appreciated.