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Wow, this is a coincidence. I've been languishing as a developer for 8 years, and languishing in the existential crisis of what to do with myself for many month

Wow, this is a coincidence. I've been languishing as a developer for 8 years, and languishing in the existential crisis of what to do with myself for many months. This is literally all I've been thinking about today, after recently having been rejected after 6 interviews. I don't know why I continued to pursue frontend/SWE as a career despite being terminated from every position I've held in the industry and repeated burnouts. The pay increases every time, and I dodge questions about my former positions as much as possible, but of the last decade I really only have about 3.5 years (generously) of experience. If I think about it, there's never really been any clear indication that I'd be good at the job, aside from being a capable programmer. It's really sad, and I don't really know how to pivot, because I don't really know why I'm not suited to it, or why I would be to something else. When I got my last job, I joked to my family that hopefully I'll be able to bank some of the salary before I get fired in 6 months. 6 months later, and now 8 months ago, I was. Now what? That's a tough question to answer, but maybe just letting go of being a software engineer would give me the clarity to find out.

rubatuga 6y ago
Not to be rude, but do you have any problems at work? Like communication or interpersonal? Surely there has to be some reason given when fired, or you can at least guess why.
khazhoux 6y ago
Would love to learn more. Are you struggling because of the frontend duties? FE is not for everyone, and the low barrier to entry can be deceptive. Or perhaps writing code, per se, isn't where you should focus. Have you thought about focusing on pipelines or infrastructure (databases, networking, storage, compute, GPUs, cloud, etc)? Or, as other commenter asks, is there more of a non-tech-related issue at play that you might be comfortable talking about?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
newsgourmet 6y ago
Have you been working on any side projects? If you can finish and launch a software project, then you are OK. The consensus seems to be that interviews are bad at identifying capable people. I think JK Rowling's Harry Potter books were rejected by 10 publishers, so fuck other people's judgement.
- brazzy 6y ago
  He's not just getting rejected at interviews, he's been fired several times. That really indicates that there's a deeper problem.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >If you can finish and launch a software project, then you are OK. In what way would he be OK? Tons of developers launch software projects, but most don't go anywhere... >The consensus seems to be that interviews are bad at identifying capable people. Perhaps, but self-selection is even worse... >I think JK Rowling's Harry Potter books were rejected by 10 publishers, so fuck other people's judgement. Well, the books of some authors were rejected by ALL publishers though, and the books of other authors were accepted by sold nothing, so there's that too...
  - edmundsauto 6y ago
    If they can launch, they can develop. Regardless of whether something comes off or, it’s a confidence booster and reinforces belief in their skill sets.
extras 6y ago
"despite being terminated from every position I've held" Holy shit what? I mean i don't hired on every interview myself as probably everyone does in their lives but i have never been terminated ever. That has to be some kind of a very clear red flag that you are doing something significanly wrong.
- spicybright 6y ago
  Same here. I don't think I even know any engineers personally that have been straight up fired instead of leaving to switch jobs or something. I wonder what it could be that consistently gets him fired, but didn't raise any red flags in his interviews.
- BeetleB 6y ago
  > I mean i don't hired on every interview myself as probably everyone does in their lives but i have never been terminated ever. It's worth getting terminated once to get a peek behind the scenes on how these things work :-) It likely depends on the company, but it's not that hard to get terminated. Just have a manager that is ruthlessly pursuing his career, and wants you to be a pawn in his quest. When he suggests something that is wrong/suboptimal, then disagree with him. Repeat about 10 times and he'll find ways for you to underperform and fire you.
  - brailsafe 6y ago
    I returned to this thread late, but I live this comment.

rubatuga 6y ago

Not to be rude, but do you have any problems at work? Like communication or interpersonal? Surely there has to be some reason given when fired, or you can at least guess why.

khazhoux 6y ago

Would love to learn more. Are you struggling because of the frontend duties? FE is not for everyone, and the low barrier to entry can be deceptive. Or perhaps writing code, per se, isn't where you should focus. Have you thought about focusing on pipelines or infrastructure (databases, networking, storage, compute, GPUs, cloud, etc)? Or, as other commenter asks, is there more of a non-tech-related issue at play that you might be comfortable talking about?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

newsgourmet 6y ago

Have you been working on any side projects? If you can finish and launch a software project, then you are OK. The consensus seems to be that interviews are bad at identifying capable people. I think JK Rowling's Harry Potter books were rejected by 10 publishers, so fuck other people's judgement.

brazzy 6y ago
He's not just getting rejected at interviews, he's been fired several times. That really indicates that there's a deeper problem.
coldtea 6y ago
>If you can finish and launch a software project, then you are OK. In what way would he be OK? Tons of developers launch software projects, but most don't go anywhere... >The consensus seems to be that interviews are bad at identifying capable people. Perhaps, but self-selection is even worse... >I think JK Rowling's Harry Potter books were rejected by 10 publishers, so fuck other people's judgement. Well, the books of some authors were rejected by ALL publishers though, and the books of other authors were accepted by sold nothing, so there's that too...
- edmundsauto 6y ago
  If they can launch, they can develop. Regardless of whether something comes off or, it’s a confidence booster and reinforces belief in their skill sets.

extras 6y ago

"despite being terminated from every position I've held" Holy shit what? I mean i don't hired on every interview myself as probably everyone does in their lives but i have never been terminated ever. That has to be some kind of a very clear red flag that you are doing something significanly wrong.

spicybright 6y ago
Same here. I don't think I even know any engineers personally that have been straight up fired instead of leaving to switch jobs or something. I wonder what it could be that consistently gets him fired, but didn't raise any red flags in his interviews.
BeetleB 6y ago
> I mean i don't hired on every interview myself as probably everyone does in their lives but i have never been terminated ever. It's worth getting terminated once to get a peek behind the scenes on how these things work :-) It likely depends on the company, but it's not that hard to get terminated. Just have a manager that is ruthlessly pursuing his career, and wants you to be a pawn in his quest. When he suggests something that is wrong/suboptimal, then disagree with him. Repeat about 10 times and he'll find ways for you to underperform and fire you.
- brailsafe 6y ago
  I returned to this thread late, but I live this comment.