Enjoying your job in the IT industry
There is this constant theme about how this industry is overworked, poorly compensated and generally unhappy. This happens for a variety of reason but I tend to notice that some of the unhappiest also happen to be some of the smartest people I know. Or for that matter, possibly some of the smartest people on Earth right now. They also tend to be perfectionist and aren’t generally happy with even brilliant things they’ve done. Those statements obviously subjective. If you’ve ever heard “How could you possibly be happy with this industry?” or “I left programming/it/compsci for a better life in X” and thought to yourself why the fuck are all these people depressed? Part of it I suspect is the perfectionist thing, the other part is that some of these people simply shouldn’t have been in this industry in the first place. If you’re are the first, then you were unhappy because you simply were meant to be doing something else. For the latter; I used to be where you are, there were numerous times where I was close to selling all my shit, taking the next flight out to Barbados and going to live with one of my relatives. Summarily, taking up the occupation of beach bum. Rather than doing that, I ended up in the Army.
NOTE: I met many really good people in the US Army; some still in; a lot who are now beach bums due to the current administration. My current recommendation is to just read this and stay far away from the DOD as it exist now. That said, hello to my NIPR friends, I don’t mean that as an insult as you probably already know.
Suggestion #1: Figure out what’s making you unhappy
There will be people who tell you, “you are lucky if you like/love or enjoy your job. As few people actually enjoy what it is that they do”. First, stop listening to these people; If we were always happy with every single facet in our jobs it’d be an extremely boring experience. Secondly, everyone has to feed, shelter and at the very least (for some people; i tend to enjoy the idea of stark nakedness) clothe themselves. Past that everything else is extra. So, at the very core of this whole job thing is that fact. Thirdly, there are numerous things that would make one unhappy, maybe it’s the people? Maybe you just really actually hate the job? Maybe you hate having to run through some mundane routine? Whatever it is, identify the actual problem(s).
Suggestion #2: Change what is making you unhappy.
This is easier said than done for most people. As you are already probably saying. “If it was that easy I’d already be happy”. However, people tend to be completely averse to change even when it is required to make them whole again. You can’t change everything; if you could, well, you’d be a God. There is always something you can change though. The idea is to be as happy as possible. If it means having to mitigate the people you deal with, the projects you work on, changing jobs, or just swallowing an immune pill and letting your brain run around all day in an alternate reality. It’s a change that you have to make. Even at the expense of temporarily being even more miserable than you currently are. Do not be afraid of change, embrace it. Especially if you are good at what you do; someone, somewhere, will either hire you, fund you or support you in whatever it is you plan to do and this goes for everything really. Whether it be writing some code, creating art, building a spaceship, whatever. There are BILLIONS of people on earth. Someone, somewhere probably agrees with you and that should be enough to help the process along.
Suggestion #3: Believe in yourself, stay away from Stop Energy, look to those you respect for guidance
If you don’t believe in what it is you are doing then you obviously can’t be happy with it. This is especially true in your job! There will be many times where you doubt yourself but if you’ve been true to what it is you are doing then this should not be an issue.
Stop Energy is the death of any project or idea and it happens ALL. OF. THE. TIME. It is why a lot of businesses in this industry are doing the same exact thing. Everyone wants to be the next Google but no one wants to do what it takes to be different. So what happens when one of the competitions developers, admins, managers, janitor comes up with a brilliant idea? They write it off as too risky, throw it in a closet somewhere, starve it of resources or it becomes this Frankenstein looking abortion. Stay away from this at all cost in all of its forms. Again, if it means you have to change by walking out the front door; do it. Better yet, walk right into the arms of their competition or even better into an investor who is willing to fund your idea. Either way, you’ll enjoy watching them scramble to be “you” when you carve out a billion dollar industry; because that’s what they do. Remember when users were screaming for less ad’s and a more simple experience? Remember who did it first? Give the people what they want and be rewarded! Or even fail, a failure, is at the very least a lesson learned, but don’t let Stop Energy prevent it.
No one does anything on their own, stop thinking that you can. You will get to a point where you need guidance and help. Look to those whom you respect, their opinion on X, Y or Z will help you through the trees. Realize, you are only as strong as your weakest link. You didn’t wake up a brilliant coder, admin, ui designer, whatever. Someone, somewhere along the line decided to help you (and they are probably still smarter than you) or pointed you in the right direction. For me it was when my OS/2 Warp disk died and an IBM engineer put me onto Linux, or whoever the VAX machine guy at Hofstra University was giving my extra space to fuck around. Those were just the first of many who gave me a hand when they didn’t have to.
Suggestion #4: In the US work is approximately 33.3% of your day. Do something else with the other 66.6%
That other 33.01% is probably spent sleeping. Leaving you with a 1/3rd of the day to do something of your own liking. Use this time to do something completely unrelated to work. I’ve found that doing and learning completely unrelated things is a rewarding experience. Whatever it is you do, I would do my best to avoid the television for any long period of time. Personally, it makes me listless.
Suggestion #5: Be a good leader or be a good follower, never do any of the two blindly. Give credit where its due
The sign of a good leader, is usually that at some point they were a good follower and vice versa. You can’t be a leader all of the time and there will be times where you have to take pole position. When you know someone is better than you cede the situation, when you know you need to take control; step up. If it’s evident that the person in charge has lost control of the situation open your eyes and stop following and/or stop leading. Reassess where you are and what your own personal goals are, proceed based on that. Allow your team to shine, don’t pull a Steve Jobs. The more your competition fears your whole team the lower their morale, the less fight. It’s just good business anyway. Remember that you don’t get anywhere by yourself. Pass the torch onto your weakest link once you feel they’ve got this down.
That’s it, these things have helped me navigate my way through this industry and maintain my happiness. So far, so good. Maybe someday I’ll alter or add on but i’ve been happy nonetheless. Don’t get me wrong there are situations that tend to make me unhappy, but they don’t stay that way for long. Now.. i’m gonna go sulk that i’ve gotta spend about 600 dollars on two new tires.. Very very unhappy about that.