Bored of working on React apps and very simple “problems”
I’ve made a career for myself as a full stack web dev. I love design and UI, and I love architecting back-end solutions. overall, I’m pretty good at my job.
However, lately it’s just been boring. It’s no longer very stimulating and/or challenging. Most of the “problems” being solved in my space could be solved by junior developers. I’ll be moving into a Lead Engineer role soon, but I’m not even sure if I want to stay for the promotion.
From my perspective, my current employer just doesn’t have the kind of work that I feel I would be happier doing. I really love having lower level control in languages like C++ or Rust. I’m constantly learning new things in my free time, and exercising my brain with personal projects.
Should I try to seek out more difficult challenges within my current employer? Or will I have greater success branching out and maybe working on some embedded systems?
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If you still want to work on system level stuff, there are only a few companies that do it but things move slowly as most of the teams are matured. It's not that you need a new storage system or caching system or container system for every product. Also these systems are huge and you'll be working on a tiny bit of it.
And in this case, could be quite relevant if you're making good TC and bored. While you've completed your tasks, you could pull a side hustle and take the time to build your skills and work on things you actually care about.
In my case, I have a TC of 325k, lead a team of engineers while doing some f/s work as well. We have a predictable schedule and we don't overdo our sprints because we need to make sure everything goes out well.
A couple of years ago, I was twiddling my thumbs and bored out of my mind (just like you), so I started prototyping a product and for the last year and half have been working on that on the side. I launched a Kickstarter campaign with a few buddies of mine and we're on track for getting our deliverable out on time in spring of next year.
Not everyone's trying to compare themselves to you, but sometimes knowing if you're making enough warrants what kind of answer you'll get.