I should go around asking the elderly about their regrets too tbqh
Staying where you aren’t happy.
It is rare these days that loyalty and seniority are rewarded how it was depicted in popular media. These days the best way to make more money is to leave and find a new job.
Never let anyone make you work hard, work hard for you and for your goals.
In my 20s I didn’t realize how much more valuable my time was compared to the money I was being paid to give it up. The most valuable thing you have is the rest of your life, you’re being paid to give someone else your life for a time.
I’m happy that I switched from electrical engineering to software engineering. I feel like the prospects are better and still feel that way even though things are rough right now.
I regret being scared during my first 5 years as a software engineer. I’ve stayed in jobs too long. Going forward, once I get that feeling that I’ve outgrown a role I know its time to start looking for the next thing. No more lingering for that extra year. I’m in my mid 30s and so am feeling the age pressure to make my next couple big moves soon before I’m looked at as too old to be an “IC with a bright future” haha.
The experience you get in open source and being able to talk about it in interviews can really help once you get there, but it doesn’t help get the interview and you have to really apply yourself to get something valuable out of it. My GitHub CV is full of a bunch of bullshit I started and spent at most a month on before abandoning. Of course I’ve worked on a project for two years now and I wasn’t even allowed to include it because there’s no boss or company or address - just me and another guy from Europe I met online working on a passion project that probably neither of us have the drive to turn into a business.
I never worked in my chosen field and fell into software development instead.
I wish I could say it made me happy but it’s quite the opposite. I feel out of my depth every day and I’ve never been promoted or such, and I’ve been with the company for almost ten years.
I’d go do something else but I don’t really have any skills worth mentioning so I guess I’m stuck here until I get fired or am eligible for a pension (not gonna happen btw, there will not be any pensions for gen y and on.
So I just feel inept and stupid every day. At least it keeps a roof over my head.
Apply for govt positions. If you hate your job and are underpaid anyway, you can have an actual career, pension, and maybe help some folks along the way. I’d have to take a fifty percent pay cut to go into government work and I’m too old to reap the benefits, but sometimes I regret not taking that path. I’ve known a lot of happy people in government work. Not that it’s not frustrating as fuck in some ways, but it kinda sounds like that’s not really a downgrade for you.
I wish I could say it made me happy but it’s quite the opposite. I feel out of my depth every day and I’ve never been promoted or such, and I’ve been with the company for almost ten years.
I’ve learned recently to really ask for the promotions and recognition I feel like I deserve
