Need career advice for a friend who is demotivated and feels stuck in his career
Context can be found below:
I am a 32-year-old engineer with 7 years of experience. For the past 5 years, I've been working at a startup that is around 10-12 years old and recently went public, serving as a mid-level backend engineer.
Despite my time at the company, I haven't seen much career growth. I received my first promotion after a year and a half, but nothing significant has happened since then. I'm feeling lost and unsure about my next steps. The work is unmotivating, and I feel like I'm not learning or growing. I'm constantly occupied with production issues, and my manager frequently cancels 1:1 meetings. Even though I receive positive feedback, I know I'm not fully utilizing my potential, which is troubling as my years of experience increase without meaningful progress.
Currently, I'm extremely demotivated and struggle to find the drive to work each day. I wake up feeling stuck and unhappy with my job. Although I get my monthly salary and perform my duties, I'm no longer passionate about my work. I have the knowledge and skills, but I just don't feel like contributing to this company anymore.
Can you help? I'm not happy with my current situation. I used to be a curious person, staying up all night coding and learning new things. However, for the past two years, I've been merely going through the motions at work. I want to regain my curiosity and sense of empowerment, so that when I go to bed each night, I feel excited about what I can achieve the next day.
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(2 comments)- 2
4 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroHoly hell, your friend's company is severely under-valuing him. He gave 5 years of his life to a startup, seeing it through IPO, and his reward is being a mid-level engineer in his 30s? This might be the worst outcome I've seen from an engineer meaningfully going through an IPO (i.e. they joined the company well before IPO instead of just 1-2 years before).
He needs to change jobs. But in the meantime, I think he should take a meaningful career break (at least 1 month, ideally 3+). Hopefully the IPO gave him a meaningful amount of cash to be able to take that break. Being undervalued for so long really hurts your mindset and self-esteem.
When he comes back to the job search, share this with him: [Course] Ace Your Tech Interview And Get A Job As A Software Engineer
I wish him the best of luck. Careers are long, so he has many more years ahead of him. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a late bloomer - What matters is that you're able to pick yourself up after hardship, learn from your mistakes, and keep pushing yourself to be better.
- 14 months agoEng @ Taro
Can you help? I'm not happy with my current situation. I used to be a curious person, staying up all night coding and learning new things. However, for the past two years, I've been merely going through the motions at work. I want to regain my curiosity and sense of empowerment, so that when I go to bed each night, I feel excited about what I can achieve the next day.
I empathize with your friend. I'm sure they've developed a feeling of helplessness and a loss of agency right now, which is probably leading to some depressive symptoms.
How do they feel about the company overall? In their mind, is it worth it to try to salvage their situation by switching projects or switching teams? It will help with the immediate issue of dealing with uninspiring work. But, they may find that there's just another set of uninspiring work.
The issue here is that it will delay a promotion because they'll be on a new team and have to prove themselves again. So, at that point, if promotion (and a feeling of upward trajectory) is the issue, your friend may as well leave the company and join a company at a senior position.
Have they tried to voice their promotion woes with their manager? Your friend probably has a lot of built up resentment from the cancelled meetings and delayed promos. It's worth it to at least let their manager know even if they feel like they are out of the door, so your friend can let off some of their frustration and the manager can improve their management skills. Your friend can send a quick message to the manager like, "hey, is there any way you can find time for a meeting at the end of the day? I've been feeling frustrated lately and wanted to chat.".
Even if their manager says that they'll help them out with a promotion, nothing is guaranteed, and it might just be worth it to join another company instead of waiting for the next promotion cycle for only a "chance."
