<story><title>Thank HN: Five months ago, I was feeling like a loser, now I am opposite</title><text>I posted this a few months ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=29709273&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=29709273&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I thought I hated programming and was ready to quit or even divorce my wife. I was not able to have a normal conversation with anyone. I was burned out but I thought I was having midlife crisis.&lt;p&gt;My wife wanted to buy a big house and I kept blaming her for the stress.&lt;p&gt;My job was easy and I had a lot of control over my time, work location, etc. I didn&amp;#x27;t think it could be the job that was causing me feel depressed.&lt;p&gt;What I didn&amp;#x27;t realize while my work gave me freedom on work schedule, it didn&amp;#x27;t give me any real freedom to make important decisions. We were checkmark driven company. I was forced to do a lot of compliance and security related tasks which added zero benefit to our service.&lt;p&gt;After my post, I decided that I either move into management at my last company or get a new job. I worked longer hours and spent all my free time doing LeetCode.&lt;p&gt;LeetCode was hard and pointless. But I was motivated and was able to solve most easy and medium question in 30 mins. However, that was not good enough for FAANGs.&lt;p&gt;I applied to some smaller companies and got a few offers. I picked one really great Series D startup. I believe in their mission and I have freedom to make real decisions here. I got a decent bump in my salary but not really FAANG TC.&lt;p&gt;However, more importantly, work is 1000 times more exciting. I feel alive again. Wife and I are not fighting anymore. I work longer hours but have more energy at the end of day.&lt;p&gt;I just want to thank everyone that responded to my post and tell everyone that if you find your work or life unfulfilling, change your job now!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>_carbyau_</author><text>Lines you won&amp;#x27;t see on a gravestone:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I wish I had worked more.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I wish I had a less meaningful relationship with my wife.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>sacrosancty</author><text>Just a suggestion, but if your relationship with your wife depends on your personal circumstances and mood, then it sounds not very strong. Might be worth taking advantage of this good period to do some relationship strengthening exercises while you can so that when the next downturn happens, you can both understand each other&amp;#x27;s and your own feelings better. I&amp;#x27;m not talking about random activities like going to the beach but finding a good self-help book or therapist and sitting down together working through it regularly. It&amp;#x27;s easy for problems to grow silently until they&amp;#x27;re too big to fix. Relationships are far more important than jobs, money or houses.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>theGeatZhopa</author><text>… I wish I was little bit taller&lt;p&gt;I wish I was a baller&lt;p&gt;I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her&lt;p&gt;I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat,
And a six four Impala</text></comment>
<story><title>Thank HN: Five months ago, I was feeling like a loser, now I am opposite</title><text>I posted this a few months ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=29709273&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=29709273&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I thought I hated programming and was ready to quit or even divorce my wife. I was not able to have a normal conversation with anyone. I was burned out but I thought I was having midlife crisis.&lt;p&gt;My wife wanted to buy a big house and I kept blaming her for the stress.&lt;p&gt;My job was easy and I had a lot of control over my time, work location, etc. I didn&amp;#x27;t think it could be the job that was causing me feel depressed.&lt;p&gt;What I didn&amp;#x27;t realize while my work gave me freedom on work schedule, it didn&amp;#x27;t give me any real freedom to make important decisions. We were checkmark driven company. I was forced to do a lot of compliance and security related tasks which added zero benefit to our service.&lt;p&gt;After my post, I decided that I either move into management at my last company or get a new job. I worked longer hours and spent all my free time doing LeetCode.&lt;p&gt;LeetCode was hard and pointless. But I was motivated and was able to solve most easy and medium question in 30 mins. However, that was not good enough for FAANGs.&lt;p&gt;I applied to some smaller companies and got a few offers. I picked one really great Series D startup. I believe in their mission and I have freedom to make real decisions here. I got a decent bump in my salary but not really FAANG TC.&lt;p&gt;However, more importantly, work is 1000 times more exciting. I feel alive again. Wife and I are not fighting anymore. I work longer hours but have more energy at the end of day.&lt;p&gt;I just want to thank everyone that responded to my post and tell everyone that if you find your work or life unfulfilling, change your job now!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>_carbyau_</author><text>Lines you won&amp;#x27;t see on a gravestone:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I wish I had worked more.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I wish I had a less meaningful relationship with my wife.&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>sacrosancty</author><text>Just a suggestion, but if your relationship with your wife depends on your personal circumstances and mood, then it sounds not very strong. Might be worth taking advantage of this good period to do some relationship strengthening exercises while you can so that when the next downturn happens, you can both understand each other&amp;#x27;s and your own feelings better. I&amp;#x27;m not talking about random activities like going to the beach but finding a good self-help book or therapist and sitting down together working through it regularly. It&amp;#x27;s easy for problems to grow silently until they&amp;#x27;re too big to fix. Relationships are far more important than jobs, money or houses.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ungamedplayer</author><text>Along with &amp;quot;npm install ...&amp;quot;</text></comment>