I have been a software engineer of off highway farm equipment for most of my life. I have like 15 years of it. I have just lost the ability to care about it anymore.

I have explored all the things that interest me and now it seems like everything is just turning the crank to completion. A very boring/slow turning with deadline pressure. I am doing less development and more code reviews because I have become a more senor developer.

My position in the company is pretty good and I could probably ride it out until I die or the company picks up on the fact that my output has dropped due to the lack of caring. But that eats at my soul and it isn’t fair to my coworkers.

If money wasn’t an issue, I would jump to game development but I hear that doesn’t pay well or treat their employees well either. I suppose I could start my own company…

I have a wife and we plan to have one kid if that is possible for us.

Burnout is a possibility, but if that is what this is, I am not sure what to do about it.

So here is what I think my options are. I am open to other suggestions:

  1. Stay where I am.
  2. Pivot hard to management where I am.
  3. Try to find a new job within Embedded Systems
  4. Try to do Game Development.
  5. Drop everything, become a philosopher like Diogenes of Sinope

Thanks for your consideration.

  • bluGill@fedia.io
    6·
    12 hours ago

    Work your 40 hour weeks and then go home. No more, no less. While you don’t need to formally track your time, treat that as a rule.

    Get a Hobby. It doesn’t matter what. Get violin/trumpet/piano/… Take lessons, and commit you will practice 1 hour per day for a year. Buy a hand plane, chisel, and dovetail saw and build some wood boxes. Get a good cookbook and go through it making every single meal one day at a time. Get a tatting shuttle and make some lace. Get a pen and write a novel. It doesn’t matter what you do, just sometime. don’t spend too much money until you are sure that hobby is for you, but don’t buy junk tools for your hobby either (perhaps budget $1000 every 6 months for hobby things - even if you can afford to spend more)

    Don’t forget your wife in all this! This is last because you are mostly likely to remember what is last. Take her out dancing, or just dance in your living room. Have nice dinners together. Plan a board game night. If you budget for a hobby make sure she has a similar budget for whatever she her hobby is. There are times to do your own hobby and times to share a hobby. Keep your marriage alive - this takes effort, so make sure your wife is one of your hobbies.