I appreciate how you describe what I've struggled to explain to others. The experience is a bit harrowing, and it's easy for a person in that position to discou

I appreciate how you describe what I've struggled to explain to others. The experience is a bit harrowing, and it's easy for a person in that position to discount the "it gets better talk". But it does, and in retrospect obviously so. Combine your note with ChuckMcM's, and I think you'll come near where I've ended up: there are so many broken systems out there that need someone. In my case, I apply the little tricks I've learned to sidestep engineering problems. I was worried that I'd get stuck in some soul crushing drone job, and instead I found that even the simple systems are pathologically complicated. It's quite nice to know - deep down - that everything really is interesting if you look closely enough (my favorite misquote of Feynman). Perhaps an alternate worry is that as a person who constructs systems, you'd act as the proverbial person with a (sledge)hammer, foolishly whacking every problem regardless of whether it's a nail or not. But that's just a matter of delicacy: everything improves if it's better understood, but not everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch. I guess experience just tones that down. Or the mind just gets quieter; I occasionally fear that I've lost something in that transition, but I can't seem to support that idea. It's not like the ideas ever go away, they'll just take a different weight, be less horrifically important, blend into the background noise experience and life create. Perspective changes a lot that way. TL;DR: don't worry about losing your mind, you're neither crazy nor alone (is anyone alone and insane in a global network these days? I hope not!)