Ask HN: I’ve burnt out at a megacorp and don’t know what to do next
I’ve been working for a megacorp for the past 3 years, with some time at other megacorps and a startup before that. I’ve had my own company on the side but recently sunsetted my products as they were not going to scale.
I’ve been working on a VERY prominent part of a VERY large product. In my short time at the company I’ve secured a niche position where I’m on point for a large component that is critical for the product. I think there was a misunderstanding about the complexity and relative size of the area when I was assigned the role. Over the past year I’ve really stepped up to own the area and contribute across my team in substantial ways which have directly led to the success of my product and team. I worked 100hr weeks for months on end, ensuring that we were able to deliver the right features. Obviously working this much was the wrong choice, but passion drove me to the “the right thing.”
But this role and this work, it has damaged my passion. I’ve become something of a machine—problems in and solutions out. I see where our product engineers created designs that were arrogant and inflexible. I replaced “caring” with raw engineering.
In the process of working 100hr weeks, I’ve optimized out the rest of “life.” I have roughly ten years of experience and while I am a junior engineer, I know that I am very rapidly approaching the senior level. I know how analyze the larger problem and look past the problem at hand. The role I’m in now has provided me the opportunity to debug very challenging problems not at just the program level but at the operating system level.
I’ve always dreamed of starting a company. I don’t have any plan and don’t know how to get there, but at the high level I believe that’s where I want to go. I’m not ready for that just yet, though.
What can I do next? I’m very much a “systems guy.”