I drifted to a career in programming because I loved it. I used to do a lot of hacks and side-projects, but once in working life, I came to realize just how much legacy code bases I'm going to deal with. Nobody in general likes rewriting or fixing legacy code, but unlike others, I felt unable to enjoy the feeling of getting the legacy work done. As I worked more with legacy code, paying off the technical debt of others, I started having signs of burnout towards programming. I stopped doing side projects and even glimpsing code on the weekends felt bad.
Then I came across this career advice which suggested choosing a job which's struggles you love to solve. I realized that I loved the struggles of self-discipline to get the last 10% of a project done, the struggles of dealing with bad clients and the struggles of marketing and acquiring the first ones. I realized the programming required in professional software engineering was not the struggles I wanted to deal with.
Later on, I met a startup founder who had struggles with their company. The founder told that it seems like the end is near. Despite all the efforts throughout the years with many ups and downs, it seems like a single mistake took the venture down. It seems like the years were wasted on not becoming rich and successful, but then added that despite not becoming rich, she was happy with her life all the long way down. She told me that as long as I am comfortable with my life, I should not worry about the risks of running an unsuccessful company. Ultimately, a greater regret would be to push forward a life in which you don't find yourself happy in.
Then I came across this career advice which suggested choosing a job which's struggles you love to solve. I realized that I loved the struggles of self-discipline to get the last 10% of a project done, the struggles of dealing with bad clients and the struggles of marketing and acquiring the first ones. I realized the programming required in professional software engineering was not the struggles I wanted to deal with.
Later on, I met a startup founder who had struggles with their company. The founder told that it seems like the end is near. Despite all the efforts throughout the years with many ups and downs, it seems like a single mistake took the venture down. It seems like the years were wasted on not becoming rich and successful, but then added that despite not becoming rich, she was happy with her life all the long way down. She told me that as long as I am comfortable with my life, I should not worry about the risks of running an unsuccessful company. Ultimately, a greater regret would be to push forward a life in which you don't find yourself happy in.