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There's a lot you didn't say so it's hard to even understand what you mean, much less provide a tactical advice. What is "tech company" and "tech work"? Are yo
by kjksf 7y ago
There's a lot you didn't say so it's hard to even understand what you mean, much less provide a tactical advice.
What is "tech company" and "tech work"? Are you a programmer writing code? A technician that sets up routers? A sysadmin setting up software for others? Were you setting up
What exactly were you doing? In what way that work was "passive" (and what does it even mean)?
And how do you determine what is "value-creating"?
Is "value" in this context "money" or some more philosophical "value to the world"?
If it's money, do you mean "your salary" or the monetary value of the thing you helped create? (you can be creating very valuable things for your employer but be paid little, and vice versa).
I assume it was paid internship. So someone was paying you to do what you did. Were they idiots (i.e. paying you for doing things that don't create value) or did you create value but it wasn't reflected in your paycheck?
Once we know all that, we can start to give advice.
Without this information: there are plenty of jobs that are meaningful, create value to the world and are well paid. Find one.
Get a job at Google and at the very least you'll be well compensated
- jimmyvalmer 7y agoA sufficiently non-specific question asked by a greenhorn 22yo does not warrant the rigor you imply. Any answer except "you'll figure it out over time" is handwaving.
- alpacaillama 7y agoSure. I can be more specific. I write code working on CRUD apps and microservices and some security focused roles. Value-creating would be something that provides utility to society at large so value to the world. I was being paid money and I was very well compensated but I did not find the work challenging or interesting, I felt like a cog in a well-oiled machine and easily replaceable which I think are the majority of jobs out there.
- kjksf 7y agoSo the issue seems to be the nature of the work ("I did not find the work challenging or interesting, I felt like a cog in a well-oiled machine and easily replaceable"). A simple solution: start your own small business. Write an app or a web service and sell it to people. The work will be as challenging and interesting as you want and you'll be the ultimate decider. A supreme leader of your own organization. Note: by "simple" I don't mean "easy". I'm doing exactly that, I'm working on a project that I hope will become an income generating business (https://presstige.io https://presstige.io, for full transparency) but it's risky and requires lots of work. Also consider than your ennui is more about how you look at things than objective reality. Many people would be deliriously happy with a stable, safe, well paying job writing code and I'm sure many people are quite happy doing exactly that.