I found I lost interest in vapid work. Programming is still fun, but it's a big challenge to find a job that is fulfilling.
When I was younger, I'd work on whatever. Then everything started sounding like yet another get rich quick company, and is that what I was giving up my life for? Just to move little green pieces of paper around?
The most appealing thing I'd seen recently was a company that wrote software to help maximize farm yields. At least there was some real, effective benefit for a great many people.
It's like the goal of the company gradually became more important than the tech or money. And altruistic companies are very rare.
But I always really wanted to teach, so that's what I do now. Pays about 40% of what I'd make in industry, but I get to geek out all day and do work that benefits the world.
> The most appealing thing I'd seen recently was a company that wrote software to help maximize farm yields. At least there was some real, effective benefit for a great many people.
After my graduate work I am the opppsite. I realized that meaningfulness is not a sufficient condotion for enjoying my work. The tasks I work on and my coworkers make a much larger impact on my happiness. Whether I work on something "stupid" or "vapid" matters much less.
I worked on some really vapid projects that were technically very challenging and got to work on them with extremely talented cross functional teams and still felt like crap doing them. It's fun when you're in the thick of it but I feel no joy or satisfaction looking back on any of it. Working on meaningful projects is the only thing that does it for me now.
Coworkers who are pleasant to work with make all the difference to me as well. Smooth communication, trust, and a bit of comradery can make meaningless work go by quickly. Politics, micromanagement, and rivalry can make even logging in a chore.
Another option - if you can manage arranging it - is working part-time (whether half-time or four-days-a-week rather than five), and spending the rest of the time working on the software which you think _really_ needs to get written. With some luck and effort, these two branches of your work can even relate (but then you need to be careful about the IP clauses in your contract).
I agree, programming is still fun. Problem is my job has changed due to my age and experience and has migrated into something I don't want to do or can't do that well, managing others and the project as a whole. I get to do less of what I do and what I do well.
What do you teach? Like computer science at a college? Or something else? How did you make the switch? Was thinking about somehow doing some casual teaching as a step back from a corporate programing career for a bit
Computer science. (I have a BS and MS.) I taught at a boot camp for a few years, and now teach full time at a state university.
I kinda fell into it. I wrote some guides that were popular, and the head of the program at this boot camp was copying my examples for content (I had placed the code examples in the public domain, so he was acting ethically, don't worry), and he stopped and thought, "I should call this guy." They were a startup and needed folks to teach. I had just left the company I cofounded and was drifting for a bit, so it was good timing.
The university is in the small town I live in (about 100k population) and I organized a tech meetup here, and met the head of the CS department that way. That ultimately led to me being hired recently.
For casual teaching, be a part timer. There are lots of night courses that need teaching.
Private boot camps should pay around $90/hr. Adjunct positions at universities probably pay about $1000/class/month. It's really not good money, but it's good experience. I taught a couple quarters as an adjunct at the university and the positive student reviews I gathered contributed to me getting the job, for sure.
Lol I just noticed the user name. I've used what you've written in the past.
That's cool though, 90/hr a works out to a little more then my base rate at my last job so not bad. I don't have a bs let alone a master so I'd guess a university wouldn't want me to teach hah. Thanks!
Not this thread's OP but I can answer - I studied CS at uni, graduated in 2006. Worked for 12 months or so, no more than that, in a couple of smaller companies, and it didn't really click (at the time, I found the work uninteresting and couldn't see what progression in said companies would look like). Went into teaching secondary school (UK, ages 11-18) and am still doing just that. As mentioned above, I get to find out about and discuss geeky things with young people with whom I have shared interests (mostly!); on top of this, I get to run extra-curricular activities with them and do things like chess, golf and board games - it is very rewarding, although not really in a financial sense!
When I was younger, I'd work on whatever. Then everything started sounding like yet another get rich quick company, and is that what I was giving up my life for? Just to move little green pieces of paper around?
The most appealing thing I'd seen recently was a company that wrote software to help maximize farm yields. At least there was some real, effective benefit for a great many people.
It's like the goal of the company gradually became more important than the tech or money. And altruistic companies are very rare.
But I always really wanted to teach, so that's what I do now. Pays about 40% of what I'd make in industry, but I get to geek out all day and do work that benefits the world.