Not enjoying first job

Question

Looking for advice from people who had jobs they didn’t like. I graduated six months ago and I don’t really know what to do about it besides look for a different job. I work at a large healthcare firm in the US and despite asking to do SWE work like my internship I’m basically a project manager who also gets to do dev work as time allows. I feel I have too much responsibility and nobody has time to mentor me. My manager isn’t trained as a SWE and I don’t like the culture of my org (people working while on vacation, stress being in the office and in-person, tons of useless meetings). Any ideas for how I can deal with my problems or advice for how to move on with less than 1YOE?

gpt666 · Accepted Answer

Look for a new job, but don’t switch blindly because you might end up in a similar or even worse situation. Now that you know what you hate, try to assess the new work environment before you sign on. Once I was in a similar situation and I was giving my best to compensate for all the shortcomings of my job. I was working overtime- bad idea! The advice that I would wish someone gave me back then: it’s not your responsibility to fix everything that’s fucked up at your job. Just do the bare minimum and focus on your self. It’s just your first job. Otherwise you risk to burn out.

Sho · Answer

With limited information you provided, what you described may sound also as a problem a young human being (of whichever intelligence and whichever occupation) would inevitably feel in a depressing and uninspiring environment. If the above-stated hypothetical turns out to be your case, then what you feel is quite normal and a sign that all is good with you and that something is wrong with the "system" you are in.Life doesn't have to be like that ... no matter what some people say.You don't have to live a life like that ... no matter if those who do live like that tell you that's the only way to live and that they all "sucked it up" and went through it.If you look carefully, many of those who live in that system are not happy, but, rather, in a rat race and in pain. They are the ones who, perhaps, consciously or unconsciously, dream of a different life ... but almost never make it from sad reality to dream lands.Life is more than what you see in those boring meetings, stress being in the office and in-person, work during vacations, and so on. Unless you're saving the world, saving lives, dealing with something really important, something inspiring, fulfilling, that makes you tick, unless those factors are satisfied, work does not need to be prison for your mind and your free creative "spirit" and your physical being.At that work you might be (or are) a hound human being surrounded by adults chained in mortgages, perhaps failing marriages, adultery, envy, chasing that ever larger TV, fridge, car, house, "better neighbourhood", etc. You don't have to live like that if you don't like it. You can go somewhere else and do what makes you fulfilled.Also, please remember that most of your work in your company goes to create a profit for ... someone else. That someone else is a shareholder, plus management and executive structure and layers upon layers of deadwood.If you want to spend your life like that - fine, it's your life.But if you can realise that 14 billion years of cosmic evolution led to your one and only lifetime that can last approximately 80 years (of which some has been, and may be again, spent on you wetting your pants), if you can realise it's been (as far as we know now) about 15 billion years for everything to line up for you to be here (and for me to be reading your comment and deciding I should write and send this reply), if you can get that fundamental and profound philosophical truth,......then, my unknown fellow human, you will know what to do.For you, it may be to change the course of your life, to change the environment, to try somewhere else, something else,... It may be to travel for a while and broaden your true life experiences, to breathe life, to live life, to immerse yourself in life through life's many experiences.If you're in the USA, do yourself a favour and travel in and outside of the US; go see the world and meet its many inhabitants - each having their own life stories. If you're a native English speaker, you can sustain yourself through giving English language classes and/or freelancing. You can also do some physical work along the way, or help out in exchange for food and shelter. Imagine Thailand... Vietnam... Cambodia... China... Imagine India... Imagine all those thousands of years, generations and generations, of evolving cultures! Imagine those people, their food, streets, dirt roads, stories, happiness and sadness, things you may even help with...Imagine East Europe... Former socialism, elsewhere branded as communism, rich history, many cultures, histories, stories...Imagine Africa with all its beautiful nature and many cultures across the continent.Imagine Latin America... Che Guevara sat on a motorcycle and explored it when he was approximately your age. Even though from a well-off family and a doctor, the poverty and injustices that he saw during his explorations of the continent, left such a deep mark on him that he became a passionate and devoted revolutionary and fought for freedom and liberation of those he saw in chains of colonialism or modern-day economic slavery. His life experiences created moral.and intellectual convictions he stood by, lived by, and he gave his life for those convictions.You can read more about Che Guevarra and his travels in his book titled "The Motorcycle Diaries".Finally, there is a story I find interesting and perhaps you, too, might find it interesting and worth absorbing... There are several versions of it, the most succinct and on point being the Story of a Mexican Fisherman. It's a story about a business executive (a manager, or a CEO, or an MBA) and a Mexican fisherman from a a small coastal village. In reality, it's a wonderful story (a parable) about the meaning of life and about life. Read it and see how you go...Office drama and stress - that's not a fulfilling life. Imagine what you could do if you were not afraid to try.Good luck!Let us know how you go. Maybe write a book one day and mention this exchange we're having here. (And everyone else - please feel free to take this story as one of you leaves of inspiration and go explore and write your own book of life and publish your own book of love.)Good luck, unknown comrade and friend!

Nightly95 · Answer

I worked in a restaurant my first year out of school, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills. But if you're in a position to find another job, I would just start looking. The best time to job search is while you already have a job, so look for roles, try to get more dev experience under your belt (even if it's personal or side projects you don't actually do at work) and I'd say try to stick it out for at least a year just to also ensure you have some foundation of experience under your belt.

You're still likely to be placed in with other entry level folks, but the year of experience will put you at a higher advantage than new grads

bob123345678 · Answer

Yeah I’d say probably keep learning what you can from this role while you start searching for something else on the side. You can use any free time you have working on leetcode and all. When you interview at places you can ask about the team structure, whether they have dedicated PMs, how much time engineers spend managing, etc. Aside from that, and maybe first, you can try letting your manager know that you would like to spend more of your time engineering and less on project management, and that might result in what you’re looking for. I have definitely had that conversation before. At the end of the day they might rather keep you and make some small changes to your day to day then have you take another role somewhere else. Aside from this do you like the company? Are there others on the team who have the PM/SWE balance that you want? If not that’s maybe a sign that looking for something else is in order. If so then maybe ask them for advice?

IronMan314 · Answer

thats tough... but in this field its dog eat dog unfortunately. Learn what you can so that you can make the moves you need to. Take the transferable skills like certifications in agile or scrum, Still code on the side if you really want to get into SWE. Not many like the first job but you have to grind it out and get those YOE. The market is tough right now, remember you could be fighting for these limited jobs given the current layoffs. Make yourself undeniable so you can always bunch your own ticket fam

Not enjoying first job

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