Dear HN'ers,<p>I have a humble request for advice. I have been pondering over this for quite a while and i thought i would ask the best online community i have known so far - for your advice.<p>I quit my job and have been pondering over my next move - but when i looked at it in the most elementary way - i felt, having a sense of direction is clearly important in desiging your career. But what if, you didn't have a clear sense of direction of what you wanted to become ?<p>There are millions of articles online which ask you to set goals, define what you want from your life etc. But there is something elementary about how you "feel" about things and this is different for each of us. What if you "feel" you are unsure of what you wanted ?<p>Letting go of the philosophical aspect, how do you plan your careers ? I have discussed this topic with a few people, and some seem to be floating in whichever direction the wind blows and some seem to be sailing in the direction they want to.<p>But just how ? Any leads / comments / book suggestions / advice / sharing of your personal journey is highly welcome.<p>I wish to have a healthy discussion on this topic as this has been bothering me for quite some time and i hope the discussion would be fruitful for all !<p>Thanking you all in advance.
You are unlikely to ever figure out an exact answer, though some people apparently do, but at the very least you can make every job search a little better.<p>A minimal bar: avoiding <i>bad</i> jobs. Crazy long hours, boring work, harassment... unfortunately jobs can get very bad, so it's worth spending the time to avoid places that will actively make you unhappy. (More here: <a href="https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/10/14/job-you-dont-hate/" rel="nofollow">https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/10/14/job-you-dont-hate/</a>)<p>Beyond that, you can figure out goals from what's worked for you in the past. Every job I get teaches me something new about my goals, based on how it works or doesn't work for me. And my goals change over time, too.<p>So one thing to do is to start with looking at the past: what parts of your past jobs were wonderful? What parts were bad? What did you feel you were missing?<p>My personal aims at this point are work that I find <i>useful</i> (applying a personal idiosyncratic definition of useful, and to have a sane workweek. I'm working on a book about how to get to a sane workweek, there's a out-of-date but somewhat accurate outline here: <a href="https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/16/sane-workweek/" rel="nofollow">https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/16/sane-workweek/</a>
What do you love to do?
Do you love coding?
Do you love design?
Would you love to open your own business?<p>Whatever you really like to do, learn more about that craft but also learn new skills.
We are in a world that is moving so fast and you want to try new things continuously.<p>It works also if you don't really love to do any particular thing right now. Trying new things will let you explore and find something that you would enjoy doing it for the next 5-10-15 years.<p>Don't be in a rush to set your goals in stones.
Stay patient and optimistic. Life is long.<p>This is just my opinion. How I would do it if I was in your position. You do you in the best way you can :)