[throwawaaarrgh]

This really resonates with me. I'm also passionate, and most corporate gigs I've had over 20 years kill my soul. I wish there was a place I could use my skills where they weren't wasted, where I could perform at the top of my game and really make incredible things happen. The reality is I spend 90% of my time trying to work around some stupid bureaucratic limitation, and it's not uncommon for my work to be literally thrown away after months or years of work.

[4RealFreedom]

I've been in this position a few times throughout my career. Try looking around and see what else is out there. Maybe consider a smaller company that doesn't have the level of politics that you've described. Wish you the best!

[Clubber]

I recommend smaller companies were you take an architect type role where you build the systems, or at least have a domain you control and are accountable for. I've been doing exclusively that since about 2005. It has it's own problems, mainly pressure to constantly get things done, which is fine, but it can be unrelenting sometimes.

The soul sucking large corporate entities, I couldn't agree more. Stay away from that if you can. You really only need one big company household name to spice up your resume and you probably have that already. I have mine and never went back.

[mxuribe]

> I recommend smaller companies...

Yep, this is the direction i wish to take next. ;-)

[mxuribe]

OMG, its like you're speaking right to me! :-)

I have a multi-decade career, and for like the first decade or decade and a half or so, i tried to stay as long as reasonably possible at whatever big compoany i worked for....being raised to think that loyalty, and working a long number of years at the same employer was a sort of weird badge of honor. I got hit by bureacratic BS/blocks on such a constant basis, and then got hit by my first layoff...then i thought: "oh man, its me, i'm the problem, maybe i'm not as good as i thought, etc." Then I got yet another corporate job....and then another layoff...which by the way both layoffs were to due to re-orgs, and impoacted many people, and not specific to my performance. But, you know, the ego and heart gets hit hard.

So, i tried 1 year (during the middle of the pandemic) to work for a non-profit...thinking that maybe i can use my passion and people and tech skills for some good causes...Nope, never again! The sample size is of course so small (I only worked for a single non-profit), but i encountered the same corporate blocks as in the for-profit world, but with a vastly reduced paycheck. I still love my peers in the non-profiut, and while i was there i actually made a difference in thousands of people's lives, as well as gaining accoloades from IRS for a model and taxpayer experidnc e that i developed foir some web potals that i lead the dev. for. And, i still very much believe in what the non-profit where i worked does...But wow was the org. crazy disfunctional! Anyway, over the last couple of years since then, i keep jumping from one big company to another....and after all these decades i feel i have more passion than ever before for the tech and the problem spaces! ...BUT...now i have less patience for corporate buracratic BS/blocks...so i jump more often nowadays; which i dont like doing. Maybe i will try small, for-profit firms and see how things go....but, man, corporations really do know how to hamper those among us who have the passion, drive, and technical chops to really make a difference. Passion and competency - at least at the big boys/girls where i worked - seem to count for nothing nowadays.

[pnutjam]

It's a marathon. When you don't enjoy it, start a new one. There will always be bureaucracy, just deal with it and disconnect at the end of the day so you can do the things you love with the people you love.

[mxuribe]

Yeah, i guess i wish that i could just join a single marathon (and stop keep starting new ones). I do unplug at the end of the day; that lesson i learned over the many years. But while I'm at my day job, i really want to give it my 100%...But, it seems so many firms can't get out of their own way to let the passionate (and highly competent) people contribute in meaningful ways. Its silly really, since these same firms have everything to gain - from revenue perspective, talent retention, yes good PR too, etc...Oh well. Towards new (smaller) marathons i'll head i guess. :-)