Ask HN: How do you know a career in software is not for you?
I enjoy the problem solving aspect of working on software, but I'm finding that I'm barely utilizing my abilities and time here. This is certainly an issue that I'm trying to resolve.
However, I think what I'm having the most issue with is that I don't really feel like I'm serving anyone. I really like working with people to help solve issues, but I don't get that feeling here at all. The only problems I get to solve are the problems I feel like we make for ourselves (environment instability, lack of funding for maintenence, people not testing their changes, etc). I just feel like my job is to clean up a pile of trash that the business wants to put minimal time into. It feels so overwhelming to be paving a new sidewalk on a bridge that has supports falling apart.
I'm also considering the impact that the lack of social and physical activity has on my happiness. I spend time with people and exercise outside of work, but I don't want every day to just be excited to leave work.
How do I manage this? Am I just in the wrong company? Or the wrong career path?
Can anyone else relate and share how you've dealt with this? I'm not really sure where else to discuss this sort of thing.