I think it's just the reality of working for someone else, and the longer you do it the higher the chance of
> I feel like a cog in a machine
becomes. There's a lot that comes with getting older, such as hindsight. Lots of things felt different when I was first experiencing them, vs after 40 (we'll say) years of it. You see things differently, because you know more through direct experience that can't be taught.
Delegation is the cornerstone of civilization. <https://sandstorm.io/news/2015-05-05-delegation-is-the-corne...>
Have you considered exploiting work-from-home by outsourcing your job (not necessarily overseas, but to another eager body that you're able to vet face-to-face)? If you're replaceable to your company and you can find a replacement more easily and competently than your employer can—something that has to be true if the truisms that most of HN accepts are actually sound—why not replace yourself and benefit from it at the same time by skimming off the top?
I think that’s a major contributor. Anecdotally, I think burn out is another factor. Many of my co workers left, not because they would have left in 2020 anyway, but because stress and workload increased significantly. Even when the overall workload didn’t increase, many of my coworkers (including myself) were glued to our screens - working non stop into the evening, with no sense of boundaries. And for many of us, work life balance was already whack. COVID WFH just pushed it off a cliff.
I’m highly paid and enjoy the nature of my work, but every couple weeks I think about resigning. Honestly, I’m tired. I am highly paid, privileged, and have a wonderful boss, but sometimes I feel like a cog in a machine. My boss cares about me but my company just sees me as a replaceable resource. And that’s not to disparage my employer. It’s just the reality of working in corporate America.