How do I go about finding what I want? I've been here 3.5 years and my passion/motivation has dwindled. Not to say that I had a major love to begin with, but now I feel I'm stagnating. It's been about just trying to do what I need to do instead of getting a good feel internally about my work. Things aren't intuitively clicking, not always at least, and I'm not sure if it's entirely the field or lack of some other form of motivation. I might say I don't have the right direction. My background is in EE but I'm not enthused by the field alone to get up and get going 100%, unless maybe I have some other motivation. Not very happy with the relationship with my manager too, with whom it's difficult to communicate sometimes, esp with respect to career. How do I change course? How can I figure out what role may suit me? I've been in the same role. It sometimes feels like it's too late, pushing 30 this year and I'm a G6 engineer, having started in G5.
Sounds like you should change internally or switch companies and see how you feel. You may find out you like your new manager better!
Do some DOT assignments at Intel in areas you are completely new to. Then you can use that experience to switch to something full time internally. Use that experience again to look outside if needed.
Thanks! Have you done any DOT assignment before? I suppose it would also depend on your manager agreeing to let you work on something else?
I think you should invest greatly into maximizing your physical health. Imagine everything you can do to be more healthy. Also, practice breathing techniques (maybe Wim Hof may help) and keep up morning routines and meditation. I know it’s easy to skip on this kind of stuff but I really don’t believe questions like this can be answered without a firm grounding in great health. after you have done all of that, I would recommend that you start keeping a journal. In this journal, list 5 things a day that resonated with you. These can be very minor things, that’s okay. This practice is all about strengthening your ability to listen to that inner calling, you also will get to see patterns as time goes on. When you reflect, try to be open minded and feel free to express anything here that spoke to you. If you have time, volunteering in the community is also a good way to figure things out. Volunteer work for me has always brought totally unexpected realizations about what I like to do. The job will entail a lot of work you don’t typically do and you can’t really predict how you’re going to react to the experience of volunteering somewhere. Luckily for you, software impacts so many fields and there are many different roles to fill that you can probably find a way to work in your passions.
Problem is OP implied he is in HW, not SW. HW is a lot more niche, with less opportunities. OP, I would recommend moving into SW if you have any programming experience. At least start interviewing outside at different HW companies, maybe more consumer oriented like Apple. Intel has a way of beating the drive and ambition out of people when they emphasize learning Intel survival skills over learning actual skills.
I’m feeling the same. Following this post
It’s all same in the end.
If this is the only job you’ve had in the field, change teams and or companies first. There will be enough difference to see if it was just the situation or something bigger. Changing different aspects and trying something new can be a lot more helpful than just trying to think up the perfect path. By getting out there and trying something new you’ll learn a bit more and have a chance of finding something fun. If you haven’t don’t any reflecting, try writing down all the things you like/love doing. Then review the list and prioritize doing more of that in this role or another.
I think I can resonate with your situation. I recently switched from Intel after spending 3.5 years as well and promotions from G5. Just about the time I left, I was working on something I worked on about 2 years in. I think you should perhaps keep a look out for external opportunities which would be in your area and make you feel generally challenged, I feel like you will be able to land the best jobs when you are not desperate for a new job. Good luck!
Thanks! One of the things I find is that I don't know enough about what's out there. I have a general grasp of tech and the industry but not enough specific knowledge. What is a good way to go about expanding that? Resources? I don't know if I'm being biased/unfair, but feel Intel culture does not enable us to easily learn about the industry. Not being in the Bay area or a bubbling tech locale may also have a role in that. Is this true? Also, how does one go about changing career paths? What would be an adequate amount of initial knowledge going into a field? What are the important tools and qualities needed to ascend and do well in a new field? Also also, if wanting to move, which cities are recommended? In the tech sector/hardware, I'd assume Bay area ranks #1. Is it a great place to live though? If not what are other choices? Lots of qns I know. Address whichever you prefer. 😏 Thanks!
Bay Area is not a great place to live unless you are hitting 350k+ in TC. Even then it may not be enough if you are the lone breadwinner in the house and you have kids. If you are on an Intel salary in Santa Clara, unless you are G9 or above, it sucks. Look at what 2M gets you in terms of housing in Cupertino or Santa Clara. You will laugh in disbelief. Bay Area is mostly about SW kids getting paid fat stacks now. HW doesn't pay nearly as well, especially semiconductor companies. Nvidia would probably be the best semiconductor company to work for, but mostly because their success is tied to the growth of AI/ML applications (and that short crypto boom). Apple would be even better and pays better if you can work on their Ax chips. I know many EEs or other physics PhDs who pivoted to SW, especially machine learning/data science by doing kaggle and study on the side. Semiconductors is a commoditized industry where the ROI on a career in this space is falling off a cliff. Intel and Qualcomm know that, hence most of their workforce is made up of fungible H1Bs.
“I’m a G6 engineer” https://youtu.be/w4s6H4ku6ZY
Wow. Thanks.