alt Hacker NewsI envy your bubble, and I am not being snarky or vile here -- 100% honest.
My education and experience matter exactly squat. And have not ever mattered in my 24 years of career.
I know I've done a lot of things wrong but I can't spend the rest of my life beating myself over it. Trying to find a way to attack the problem from different angles. But it's impossible with a hugely demanding job and my fear of being let go and how generally terrible the market is for niche-ish languages (like Elixir that I work with; I am pretty good at Golang and Rust but have not actively worked with them professionally in years; really went all-in).
So currently I am trapped. We'll see if I can figure out an exit. So far it seems mathematically impossible. If I don't change the game, I am toast.
A few questions that may help your next steps:
1.) What do you have to be doing, daily, weekly, to be happy?
1a.) What do you have to NOT be doing, daily, weekly, to be happy?
2.) Do you prefer to remain an individual contributor, for one reason or another? Said another way: are you the right fit to seriously look at the path to management or consulting roles?
3.) You mentioned your bubble - a few times. Are you willing to move? Otherwise shake that bubble up?
PS my situation is not that enviable - the work I’m being offered is far from what I’d like to be doing - or enough to be comfortable financially.
But, I am finally sleeping well.
and that’s more important to me than anything.