I am new to being a SWE and to the corporate world. I feel unenthusiastic and don't want to work at all.
Some context:
At this moment, I have no good guidance/lead at work. And, my team usually WFH and I'm the only one who comes to office daily. This makes it so much harder to have a good relationship with the team members. School was so much better, we as team members used to talk, work together, have lunch, go out. None of that happens at work.
I finish the tasks assigned, but, I don't have any motivation to do them. I also feel large portion of the work which I do is monotonous on legacy systems. I feel like I'm not learning anything.
When I'm stuck at work, I'm stuck, as my lead hardly knows how to guide me. And, everything is tribal knowledge amongst team members. Zero documentation and bare minimum automated testing.
I don't know what I'm doing with my life and at work. I feel I should change companies. But, cannot as I'm waiting for my work visa.
Am I a bad fit for SWE career? Or is it just my team?
comments
@Grab. Yes, I do
Finding our own crowd makes complete sense.
My best suggestions, which are not great, are to keep an eye out for events and attend/intrude on as many as possible.
In my experience, people who play board games or have some beers are always happy to have more people. A good start to hang out is something like "do you do this regularly? If you need more people, message me / add me to the group"
2. Yes
3. Couldn’t you apply other places that would sponsor you? If not, use the next 6 months to keep studying. It’s hard esp when you are drained from an unpleasant day at work but it’s better to do it now than to start studying in October and realize you’re not passing any interviews. Trust this advice. At some point or another, you will have a job or team that you don’t like and you’re going to have to fight for what you want
In the meanwhile, prepare. Leetcode can motivate too. Gather the ammunition that you will need when you get to October. Read technology books, they are extremely enlightening. Preparation took months for me and I got offers from Google and Amazon.
The antithesis of the things you’re describing exists. You’ve got to take what you can out of your current situation, and better yourself on the side too. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CAREER.
It’s a startling statement, but also empowering and awesome if you act on it.
You’re not a bad fit for your career choice. You’re at a bad fit for this company and team. Those aren’t the same things at all.
Congrats on identifying a problem. Now devise a way to fix it and act. You can do this.
At first he was motivated by money, then achieving, but when that box was checked he behaved like the rest of us and stopped working at all.
I just don’t understand how he hid it. I’d be spending conspicuously and lavishly lol.
The tribal knowledge and lack of documentation is true in most places though
Really wish I had a good mentor/lead or a few team members whom I could talk to.
Almost everyone here suggested to move on and find another team/company. I'm guessing with Snap on your resume it should open some doors for you. Hopefully you'll find a better place! Good luck.
Talking about this definitely helps. I feel better knowing that the root cause is not me and I can change this situation.
I think more people should just get their suppressed feelings out. Blind has been such a great community and I wish I had such coworkers.
At this stage in your career, you should be doing a lot of job-related learning by yourself btw.
I think I can try to find a newer project and work with another teammate.
Outline what you want to do both in current job and career wise. Plan a 1:1 with your manager. Agree on outcomes that deem your contribution a success. Ask how your role contributes to your manager's success.
If your manager won't engage, keep looking for a new role. A good manager appreciates initiative and will be happy to talk current role and career path.
Good luck.
- I offer to help out other team in my spare time
-this helped me build my skills and get more visibility
- interesting projects started to come my way
- now I have good visibility and fun projects
- the key is to do more that what's asked out of you
- have lunch with a random person in the cafeteria
- you need to talk to ppl at work to feel alive
I'm still learning and very early in my career. So it makes it a bit harder for me to contribute to outside projects. But, I totally see how this can help!
Lunch and talking to people:
I think you are spot on here. I feel dead at work. Just lonely and doing my work. Talking to people is such a key thing, one of the biggest thing which I miss. At school, we always had folks during lunch/coffee.
Being on the introvert side it's hard for me to have lunch with a random person but I'll try to talk to random people more. Hopefully, I might make new friends.
Go to work with a positive attitude. Try to talk to your coworkers with a smile.
Happiness is contagious.
Be the light at the end of the tunnel.
I know. I sound like a silly self help book. But hey maybe go buy one of those and read.
Just find something positive or at least something you can improve because fixating on immutable structures will surely bring you dread.
Here's why:
1. I'm extremely exhausted trying to be positive with my team/work
2. I feel like my legacy projects aren't as interesting as FB/G/AMZN/Uber who are directly adding value to customers
3. My co workers hardly come to work as they WFH, have no one to talk to with a smile
I really appreciate your advice, but, I generally feel low and doing the above things are extremely hard.
Or is it just your team/org?