Ask HN: I’ve got a well paying job, but I’m depressed, what should I do?
Backstory:
I’m young, I’ve got a great paying job, enough to sustain my family on my income alone - but I’ve become incredibly depressed. The commute to my job is 2 hours each way, I end up working 12-14 hours a day, the office I’m in, the other employees segment me, they don’t talk to me, and they’re constantly rude to me. I’m marginally younger than the rest.
I’m depressed because it feels like I’m living a nightmare going into work, it’s torture to walk into there and know everyone hates me, and the worst part is I don’t know why. I’ve confronted said people, and they won’t even explain, nor acknowledge my existence.
What would you do if you were in my shoes?
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12 comments
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Ask if you can go part time remote. Like two days. That made things so much better. I also was able to commute a large segment by train, and that helped. Eventually I went full remote, and miss my time in the office (bit really like my 30 second commute!).
Strive to get 360 reviews in place. It allows for anonymous feedback on stengths and areas where you can grow. You might get back some places where you can get better professionally and with interpersonal stuff and you might learn what people value about you.
Talk with your manager about your concerns. Y'all should be having regular one on ones.
Leverage the commute. Audiobooks for entertainment or something you want to learn more about. If you can do public transportation, work on something fun.
Realize life requires balance. Have fun. Do things. Be around and interact with people. Work on yourself, take up an exercise regiment involving lifting weights.
Know that a job is a job. Prioritize you and your family.
In your case, your commute is way too long but there are some ways to spend away the time such as sleep, read books, listen to podcasts, or even call to check on people. In workplace, if you enjoy your job, just ignore other employees and focus on your job. That would be best. Take their presence as a pinch of salt. Only communicate with them if needed. In the end not many co-workers will become your friend, and haters gonna hate.
If you are new to this job, try to cope with this for like a year or two, just to save up some money. For me, after quitting my job, I realized there ain't many companies that are willing to pay good money and also offer so many benefits as my previous employer.
However, if you feel like this workplace situation is killing you, get out asap. In the end having a lot of money is nice but it's not everything in life.
Good luck mate.
What you describe is a clean and well lighted highway to burnout even if its a good workplace. And it's not.
Calculate how much your time is worth, taking a job closer to home may very well be worth a pay cut.
Figure at least $50 an hour, that is $200 a day in commute, $1000 a week.
There are enough suggestions already as to how you might make progress.
A few months of searching, I interviewed at my current employer. Took the job on the basis that I'd talked to old university friends and former colleagues who were working for them too, and nobody had anything negative to say. My former line manager a few jobs back was well-known and wrote me a glowing reference (I didn't want to ask my current employer and give away that I was looking).
I got an offer and I took it. It's been like night and day, and I keep having to tell myself "yes, you're being paid for this, no you're not dreaming". My partner told me the other night "I've never seen you so happy."
So my point is, if you really don't like the job (and from reading your post it sounds like that's the case), look elsewhere. Maybe it's not you, maybe you're just not a good fit for the current job's culture and environment. Different people are good at different things.
Polish off your CV. Put some feelers out. Make what you're doing work for long enough that you can find something else on a reasonable timescale. Book a few half-days off and set up some interviews. At the very least, you'll get a better idea what openings are out there.
Once you have a signed offer, politely walk into your boss's office and say "Thank you for the opportunity, sir, but I feel like I need to move on with my career". Never burn bridges unless you have no other option. If you have an exit interview, all you need to say is "I just think it's time for a change of scenery and I had an offer I'd be silly to refuse". Keep it short and polite. In 90% of cases they just want to tick the "did the exit interview" box.
Someone downthread said "if everyone hates you, chances are it's caused by something you do or who you are". Go down the "how can I improve?" line with your line manager in a private 1-to-1, but if you don't get anywhere.. it could well be "who you are", in the sense of "not a good fit for the company". Basically, you won't get on with everyone you meet -- and you can't make people like you because that's their choice. And if it's not working out... sometimes the best thing to do is say "this is not fixable in this way" and move on.