I've had a couple ruts. I don't presume my life lessons are worth reapplying, but a few thoughts... 1) Immediately after both my undergrad and grad experience

I've had a couple ruts. I don't presume my life lessons are worth reapplying, but a few thoughts... 1) Immediately after both my undergrad and grad experiences, my ego was WAY too high. I was too full of myself, and not completely lacking humility. It took setbacks and tough times to ground me. Nobody likes to work with a big ego. 2) Once your spirit is broken, it's time to go. Don't quit before you have a new job, but start searching. 3) You mentioned "Big companies" twice. Early in your career the brand of the company matters very little. Optimize completely on "Will I respect my boss?" and "Will they give me time?" Everything else (learning, long term wealth, happiness at work) follows from that. 4) Sometimes it takes a while to appreciate the lessons that you're learning. But you're not paid to learn. That's a benefit that comes from what you're actually paid to do. Good luck. You have good skills in a good economy, and in the long run you'll be fine.