Comment by entech
5 days ago
It is sad to see so many smart, inquisitive and dedicated people who come to this site feel this way. I suspect a lot of it may be because of how dedicated and passionate people are about their work and their skill and it's getting harder to make a living with it or feel like they are being valued for it.
I strongly encourage everyone to try keeping a gratitude journal - just write three positive things that happened to you today.it can really change the way you look at your life.
A lot of the suicidal ideation has to do with lack of agency and control over your situation in life. I am a firm believer that you need to take a step back and look at the possibilities in your life. You are not just a SWE/whatever your job is - you are a problem solver, someone with curiosity, someone dedicated someone who is playing other roles in life than just an employee - a friend, a parent, neighbour, child etc
If you feel like you have no control over the path you are in - change the path, don't stop the walk. You can move to a different career, different country, different partner. Sure some of our circumstances cannot be changed - but don't make the arbitrary standard of life you set for yourself determine whether your life is worth living.
> You are not just a SWE/whatever your job is - you are a problem solver
You should know by now that many of us joined the profession because we like programming and not "problem solving". In 23 years of career I've never cared much about any business problem of the companies I was working for. I never cared about solving customers' problems, or the "impact" of my work, only about the technical beauty of it.
Yes of course - but I suspect you are still solving the technical problems within what you do? The beauty is the elegance of the solution,the optimisation,the way it works. All of these things are problems worth solving. This might be your favourite thing - but it's not the only thing you can solve? What about the second favourite thing?
There are always opportunities to explore an alternative - in a different area, in a different country. Many options to consider before concluding there are none.
> The beauty is the elegance of the solution,the optimisation,the way it works. All of these things are problems worth solving.
Yes, but LLMs, and especially their mandatory and exclusive use, make that impossible.
> This might be your favourite thing - but it's not the only thing you can solve? What about the second favourite thing?
There is no second favorite thing.
> There are always opportunities to explore an alternative - in a different area, in a different country. Many options to consider before concluding there are none.
I'm already in country number 9 since leaving Italy. We'll see.
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