Back in the beginning of 2022, I received a promotion and raise at work. I was a 26 year old software engineer and passed a huge milestone in my career: a $100k salary. I worked from home and made great money doing it, the perfect situation.
This was always a career goal of mine and reaching this accomplishment much sooner than anticipated filled me with joy. But this excitement didn’t last for long.
I enjoyed my job when I first started in 2021. I learned new technology, worked on interesting problems, and worked alongside coworkers who were smart, fun, and motivated. We completed work for our first client and delivered a product that actually improved the lives of others. It was a fulfilling role.
But after that first client, work slowed down significantly. We were constantly told that another client was coming, but it never seemed like we were getting closer to having that next contract signed…
Since then, there wasn’t much direction on what to do and things increasingly became more frustrating. I felt guilty for not having enough work to do, but whenever I came up with new ideas for things to work on, they were quickly shot down. I vocalized this to my manager and my team several times. These concerns were voiced up the chain, but nothing ever came of it.
I started to take more of a back seat approach to work. I only put in the bare effort to make me seem somewhat occupied during the day. I was upfront about this with my manager and decided to spend most of my day working on a side hustle business, exercising, doing chores, etc.
In mid-2023, I got in trouble for not doing enough work and not being ‘proactive’ enough. This piled onto the frustrations I previously had. When asking for more work, I wasn't given anything and when proposing things for me to do, I was denied the permission to do so. It felt like I was stuck.
I worked hard in college and during my first software job to become the type of employee a company would be proud to have. I used to be the person others looked up to and came to for help when they were stuck with a problem.
Now, it felt like I was an underutilized asset whose opinion didn't matter and was an annoyance to have more than anything.
In December 2023, I felt completely unseen. So I decided to do a test. I stopped working to see how long it took for anyone to notice. I didn't do any work, go to any meetings, or contribute anything to my company. I merely collected paychecks.
Some days I logged into my computer for a couple hours to look somewhat active, other days I didn't log in at all. To my surprise, the whole month of December went by without a single word.
I had what some people would call ‘the dream job’. But I hated it. I was a worse programmer than what I was before, a less motivated employee, and an overall lazier person.
It took two more months before I quit.
So I went and got a job as a door to door roof salesman - something completely different, uncomfortable to do, and a chance to learn something new that will make me grow as a person.
A lot of people will probably judge someone that quits a high paid, low stress job for something completely opposite that is much more uncertain.
But I felt stuck in life and I made a move that made me unstuck. I've seen so many people that are also stuck, but never make the move.
Things are still uncertain, but I'm much happier now.
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LinkedIn recruiters, if you're reading this, I'm not interested.