Re:A career ending mistake
by asdfman123 on Tuesday February 22, 2022 @12:37PM
(#30430827)
Well, the difference between someone who is mentally healthy and someone who is depressed is this (and friends, I've been both):
Someone who is mentally healthy realizes the world is imperfect and what they're doing is isn't working, but then takes that knowledge and builds upon it. Maybe they change careers, or maybe they lower their expectations for their job and focus on other meaningful things.
Someone who is depressed never gets out of the "this is awful" rut.
Again, nothing but sympathy for the depressed, but if you're unhappy you should try to find a way to redirect that energy if you have the strength to do so.
I agree. For me the solution was to stop thinking about my career as much more than a means to an end ($$$). The system is broken, sure, but fixing it isn't my job.
I'll work on problems I find interesting, and for all I care, the system can crash and burn. All the while, I'll clock out when I want and go home with a smile on my face.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,"
Some people are chalking this up to depression, which is possibly part of it, but honestly I think this is simply the reality of a former idealist coming to grips with the big picture. You can't help but recognize that passion will come & go and it's all castles made of sand in the end. Whatever is most interesting for us to work on, someone else is almost certainly doing it better than you or I could without our help, and everything short of this feels like garbage when you only look at the work for its own sake.
All I can say is that what really makes anything worthwhile comes down to your relationships with people. Working a job which involves putting up with a lot of broken shit isn't so bad when you truly appreciate your team-- and on the flipside, working with the coolest bleeding edge stuff in the world will still suck when you don't. Localizing your focus and reinforcing bonds with the folks you enjoy being around can help a lot in getting through it. My two cents.