| In order of easiest to hardest... For your health: 1. Get a standing desk and foam pad (the foam pad is for your feet, because they'll get sore without it. I think the term for them is "anti-fatigue mat"). Alternatively get a chair with proper lumbar support. When you stand, notice how your spine curves inwards. When people sit their spines often curve outwards (slouching). A chair with lumbar support properly pushes and supports the spine so that it curves inwards. 2. Google articles on proper ergonomics and adjust your keyboard and mouse accordingly. 3. Exercise in the morning before work. That will make you feel a lot more refreshed. Exercising after work in the evenings is all well and good, but it feels a lot better to do it in the morning. 4. Get enough sleep. For work: 1. How good of a rapport do you have with your manager/boss? If you have a decent relationship, straight up sit down with your boss and tell him/her that you want to have a conversation about your career, you're looking for more of a client-facing role, leadership role, and/or product management role in the near future. Regardless of your relationship with your boss, ask him/her, "What will it take for me to move into X," X being "client-facing role," "product management," "being tech lead," ... take your pick. I think it is counter-productive to talk in negative terms - i.e. how much you're dissatisfied with work - and it is much more productive to talk in positive terms and in terms of the future and in terms of how you want to contribute at a "higher-level" in the future. 2. If your boss isn't receptive or if your boss tells you but you get nowhere, you might consider looking for another job. Make it clear to someone hiring you that you want a role in which you can grow. For your life (this is the hardest) 1. Try joining engineering-related or CS-related or tech-related meetups in your area. Where do you live? 2. Find a hobby? I don't know you so I can't help in this area. I'd imagine it would do with music/photography. 3. I don't know what kinds of friends you have right now in the area. But try to hang out more often with whatever friends you do have, and ask them to invite their friends so you can meet new people. 4. As someone who has only been working for a short time after leaving school, one thing I've observed about working life is how we all essentially leave our friendships up to chance. When you're in school you usually end up friends with people who happen to be in your classes, people who you happen live with, people who happen to be in clubs you're in, etc. Without something like school that puts you in constant contact with people, you yourself need to make an effort to befriend people you meet who you find interesting. If you meet someone interesting at a meetup or company-related function or a bar, etc., not only should you ask for their contact info (if you give someone your contact info there is a 50-50 chance they'll never contact you), you need to make the effort to set up lunch/dinner/drinks/coffee with that person. I don't claim to be successful in getting myself to do all of these all the time, but I always try to accomplish these goals and I think they're a helpful set of guidelines for you. |