[165iq]

> The reality is most “work” is fundamentally unchallenging, and with the exception of some smaller, early stage companies, the day-to-day will generally feel closer to high school than college in terms of complexity

About that. I want a job where I am challenged, can work in interesting problems, and appreciated for my effort. I would die of boredom in an unchallenging environment. My current goal is to get a PhD from a good uni. Research will be challenging, and as CS is a great field where you can get immediate feedback by just building things, even outside of your curriculum/task.

The courses or their complexity in college didn't hurt me- it's the bureaucracy- doing everything on their timelines, their ways. I aced in some courses, but overall grade was low. I simply avoided mandatory courses that I didn't find interesting.

I am not really fit for a common workplace. So, if I have to give up on very high achievements, I will settle for a job with job safety and lot of free time. Like working for the government. So that I have decent amount of free time for family, playing music, games, making Quantum Computing videos on YouTube, reading, and contributing to open source, and writing blogs.

Until I give up, I am going to push through for some more years (5-6) to get what I want in my life.

(I don't know if my thinking is right. :|)

[icedchai]

I think we all want jobs where we are challenged, work on interesting problems, are are appreciated! However, the fact is, that just doesn't happen all the time. You'll be challenged with interesting stuff sometimes, just much less frequently than you hope. This gets back to needing to lower your expectations. If you do ask about this in an interview, you won't get a valid answer. The answer will be from their context, not yours. "Of course it is challenging and super exciting place!@" Right.

If you want something challenging and exciting, look for an early stage company where you can wear lots of hats. That's where I've had the best luck. But still, it's not 100% solution. You'll still have plenty of dull days.

If the working world was built only for smart people with genius IQ's, there wouldn't be enough workers. It's built for the other ~95%. Don't get me wrong though, because when that other 95% needs you, they really need you. There are things you'll be able to figure out that nobody else can. But most of the time, those problems aren't happening. You'll see stories on here about someone going through some incredibly difficult leetcode interview, only to discover that after they take the job, it's all simple CRUD API or HTML form work.

[165iq]

I agree with everything you say.

But I want to try for 5-6 more years before embracing the duality that many live with comfortably- work for paying bills, health insurance, vacation, etc., and free time for things that they find truly interesting and their calling. (Most people don't have callings but just do partying, vacation, etc. in free time. No judgement from my side.)

But I know people on the other side, too- those who have embraced the duality. I had a teacher in HS who is a true scholar in cultural history and literature. He has books published from tier-1 publishers. Yet he teaches High School. It leaves him with a lot of free time and he conducts field-visits during vacations and Sundays. So people do it.

But before I give up hope, I will try my hardest. FAANG means a lot of money after 5-10 years, academia means freedom to think for my own and publish research. As the field is CS, it is pretty easy to turn an idea to a prototype and to a paper after 1-5/6 months of work. That really attracts me.