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by icedchai
1018 days ago
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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. |
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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.