f2ender

I would highly recommend the book : "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. It's a great book about understanding depression and the steps you can take to fix it.

It helped me a lot, and still does, when I find myself spiraling down.

I have read Peopleware. I was thinking about getting The Pragmatic Programmer next. I somehow feel that just reading books without doing anything with the knowledge doesn't work.

The books I enjoyed the most were Richard Stevens' Network Programming and Unix Programming books. Those books teach you a ton of things while helping you implement something useful. They were very hands on. I haven't been able to find anything similar in a long while.

I have a CS degree so I have read the basic texts on Algorithms, Operating Systems, Compilers.

I recently got through the Design Patterns book. I was thinking of picking up either a new language (Go) or start the "Mastering Regular Expressions" book, not sure which.

Yes, I almost ended up accepting the other job offer. However, the management there (as I found out later) was worse than where I am currently.

Updated the description to answer some of the questions the community asked.

I didn't get a good vibe when I went in for the interviews. I didn't think I would fit it very well.

Well, I guess it's more of the delusion of my team at my current workplace that's causing a lot of mental pain. Too many people thinking they are the greatest developer ever and that their ideas are world-changing. The management apparently has similar delusions of grandeur.

After a day of seeing all this and good ideas being scoffed at, I feel so listless and drained that I don't feel like doing anything.

Well, I do understand that. However, if a job actively sucking your energy instead of giving you the occasional good-feeling of going somewhere, something is wrong.

If the job is not providing enough fodder for your mind to stay alert, it shouldn't actively drain you / make you feel listsless.

Thanks for the advice, guys. It has made things a lot more clear.

"don't stay too comfortable for too long" : very well said!

Thanks for the advice! It makes total sense. I can, at this time, afford to take chances. And you make a very good point: There's no better time to take chances except now. It'll only get worse with time.

That's the thing. The team I work for, we have a ton of resources but we're just being inefficient due to poor management. People with little experience are running the show while the more senior people have to follow along. And it gets frustrating after a while to the point where there isn't a flow of ideas anymore.