Don't quit your job without finding another one. Finding another job is tough as it is - and your bargaining position, perceived 'employability' etc are greatly diminished when you're applying without a current job.

This is what everyone keeps telling me :)

You have an idea of what makes a great job. Go look for it. Believe that it exists - and when you really believe it exists, you will feel energized about the prospect of landing the job.

So the sad thing is that every day I spend at this job, I get the overwhelming feeling that this is essentially how stuff works everywhere.

A lot of job seekers don't ask enough questions before taking up the job. The interviewee asking many questions is always a good sign for any sane interviewer. Make sure you know and like what you get into next.

Hah. I wish I had done more of this. Interviews especially at startups take an approach of dazzling young sheep with pretty bells (beer, $$$ etc) and I fell for it.

After you've put your resume out there, sent emails to companies and are waiting to hear back, do two other things to make the immediate future better.

1 - Do what you can to make life at your job more interesting. Seek out changes and improvements to your job and for your company even if it takes convincing someone else to 'allow' you to do it.

Yeah. This is the part that worries me. When I interned at my previous company, I used to be so engrossed with my work that I used to spend weekends hacking away at stuff. Now, I can't wait to get to my hobby projects (sadly frozen right now so that I can brush up on graphs, trees and other fun stuff)