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460 points jxmorris12 | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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cocoa19 ◴[] No.44380792[source]
This echoes what I have thought about my career. What to work on.

I've been blessed to have a good paying career in software engineering, but I've never really felt passionate about the products I work on. At the end of the day, my job is a paycheck. I do feel joy solving problems for others, improve society, be able to answer colleagues questions when they "come to my office". My family is happy that I can provide and that I am a role model for them.

I sometimes think I should work on things that make me happier. Sometimes I think that my career path is a mistake, I should work on problems "closer to god", make more meaningful contributions, build the next Kubernetes/ChatGPT/Google/<insert revolutionary product>, advance AI, climate change. I end giving up, I'm not that ambitious or driven.

I'm important to my family and colleagues. That may be good enough.

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1. plausibilitious ◴[] No.44384946[source]
The most important jobs in the world - teaching, cleaning, caring - are extremely underrated. They are lowly paid, and people automatically assume that those doing these jobs are less than.

Sometimes the most important thing in the world is to be a good person to those around you. That can be in extremely short supply to some people.