Six months ago I landed a job as a software engineer at a top-tier tech company known as a dream employer. However, I feel very unmotivated and unproductive at work, and can't wait for 5:00 to roll around so I can go home and work on my own side projects.
Before starting here I was working on bootstrapping my own company, which I absolutely loved even though it made almost no money. I'd work 12-16 hour days and enjoyed every minute of it, even the taxes and paperwork. I loved the feeling of controlling my own destiny and the tight feedback loop between my effort and business outcomes, which is totally missing now.
I'm planning sticking around at least another 6 months to vest my stock options and avoid a black mark on my resume. I have two questions for people who may have felt this way before:
1) How can I find ways to enjoy my current work more and provide more value for my current employer? I don't want to feel like I'm defrauding them.
2) When choosing my next job, what job/career alternatives should I consider, assuming I don't have the resources to try to build another bootstrapped startup right now? I'm ok taking some risk if necessary but not "you might work for two years and end up with nothing" level of risk.
Before starting here I was working on bootstrapping my own company, which I absolutely loved even though it made almost no money. I'd work 12-16 hour days and enjoyed every minute of it, even the taxes and paperwork. I loved the feeling of controlling my own destiny and the tight feedback loop between my effort and business outcomes, which is totally missing now.
I'm planning sticking around at least another 6 months to vest my stock options and avoid a black mark on my resume. I have two questions for people who may have felt this way before:
1) How can I find ways to enjoy my current work more and provide more value for my current employer? I don't want to feel like I'm defrauding them.
2) When choosing my next job, what job/career alternatives should I consider, assuming I don't have the resources to try to build another bootstrapped startup right now? I'm ok taking some risk if necessary but not "you might work for two years and end up with nothing" level of risk.