You remind me of me. I'm 26. I'd much rather work on my own stuff than my company stuff. I have this plan after my current job to burn up some of my savings an

You remind me of me. I'm 26. I'd much rather work on my own stuff than my company stuff. I have this plan after my current job to burn up some of my savings and spend a couple of years to build something I'm excited by. I've been paying off student debt. I think I'm okay with working a 10.30-6.30 job. The pay-check is what will grant me my freedom. Every week I work, I save 3 weeks of expenses. I've already enough savings to pay off my student debt two times over. After another year I'll have enough savings to live as I do currently for 5 years. (Can double that if I don't take the train every day & eat out during office hours). The product is important. Does it help someone? Does it make their task easier? Are the bugs in it tolerable? At all three of my big boy jobs, I've been so far removed from the user that I have no clue if the product helped them or not. This hurts and it hurts a lot. You're writing test automation. Think of your users as your colleagues. You're not saving random people time. You're saving time of people you go out to lunch with. All you have to do is ask "Are my tests saving you time?" And that's something.