4 ms·

You're not fucked. Your "career path" is partly determined by past job titles, and partly by your ability to sell yourself. Neither one is going to be on a fi

by hapless 13y ago

You're not fucked. Your "career path" is partly determined by past job titles, and partly by your ability to sell yourself. Neither one is going to be on a fixed path at age 25. As human beings, we all spend a lot of time agonizing over the path not taken, and that's not limited to our career choices. I've slowly come to realize the paths not taken were usually no better than what I actually did, it was just easy to imagine the counterfactual as paradise. I used to think I hated computers. Then I thought I hated code. Now I know I just hate having a boss. If you find yourself changing job roles a lot, but remaining unhappy, maybe the specific subject matter isn't the problem. Maybe you need variety. Maybe you hate working in a hierarchical structure. Maybe you hate groups, or hate working alone. You're the only one who can figure this out.

vonmoltke 13y ago
I have gone through a similar progression. I started undergrad as a computer engineer because I was interested in computers and electronics (even though I only got my first computer at home a year before I started). After two years I thought I hated writing code, but I really liked hooking wires together (in the lab and my parents' house) so I switched to electrical engineering. Once I got to the real world I discovered I liked writing code, I just didn't like writing code for undergrad assignments. Thus, I tried to direct myself towards a hybrid EE/SwE role but ended up in pure software engineering. I have never been completely happy and always think its because I haven't got to do what I really wanted to. Towards the end of my first position at Raytheon I wanted to do digital hardware design and FPGA development. I have never been able to get there. Maybe that really is what I want to do. Maybe I do need variety. I'm not sure. I do know that I get much more excited reading about new sensors for accurate oilfield seismic surveys than I do reading about new algorithms for partitioning distributed graphs.

by hapless 13y ago

vonmoltke 13y ago

I have gone through a similar progression. I started undergrad as a computer engineer because I was interested in computers and electronics (even though I only got my first computer at home a year before I started). After two years I thought I hated writing code, but I really liked hooking wires together (in the lab and my parents' house) so I switched to electrical engineering. Once I got to the real world I discovered I liked writing code, I just didn't like writing code for undergrad assignments. Thus, I tried to direct myself towards a hybrid EE/SwE role but ended up in pure software engineering. I have never been completely happy and always think its because I haven't got to do what I really wanted to. Towards the end of my first position at Raytheon I wanted to do digital hardware design and FPGA development. I have never been able to get there. Maybe that really is what I want to do. Maybe I do need variety. I'm not sure. I do know that I get much more excited reading about new sensors for accurate oilfield seismic surveys than I do reading about new algorithms for partitioning distributed graphs.