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Harsh Shandilya
Harsh Shandilya

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How do I regain my sense of purpose after quitting my job

I recently quit a long time job, and honestly things have not been the same since.

I've occasionally discussed the reasons for leaving in the comments here at DEV, but to summarise - General lack of organisation and weak financials drove my decision.

I've been having a hard time coming to grips with the void that left in my life. I'm a 20 year old undergraduate student in India, and I had gotten quite comfortable in the fact that I was earning a decent bit of money for myself, helping the family with minor expenses, and saving up in a culture where employment alongside college is not really common or even looked up to, much less doing so remote.

I've been trying to get hired elsewhere to regain that stability I felt before and to fill the void left over by the reduced responsibilities, but it's been an uphill battle. My previous hire was a result of my contributions to the company's open source project substratum which I eventually took over as sole maintainer of. Job hunting and rejection is a new and demotivating experience for me and I can already feel the toll of it. My parents have been very supportive throughout the process, reassuring me that I don't need to be employed and they would happily support me until I finish college and am able to pursue a full-time job, like practically every parent in the country but I just can't bring myself to terms with what I essentially see as me slumping into defeat.

Has anybody else here ever gone through a similar experience? How did you deal with the defeatist feelings? Is there a secret to getting hired that I am not aware of or am I just unemployable and got lucky the first time around?

Top comments (3)

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msfjarvis profile image
Harsh Shandilya

Thank you so much for this! It's honestly so relieving to hear from someone who's gone through the same state of mind and worked his way out of it. I've definitely taken a lot home from your response and will start acting on it. Thanks again for taking the time out!!

P.S. My name is Harsh (a lot of puns have been made at my expense), and chandelier is probably the closest to how Shandilya is pronounced :p

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Sebastian Vargr • Edited

Depends on where you would like to go I suppose, just pick a direction and start taking baby steps.

I got fired once because I burned out and had lost my passion. I had worked there for 4 years and loved the place, and now it was gone.

I ended up going freelance for a few years as a sort of manic response, I had 1 month worth of expenses, and managed to barely scrape by initially.

I managed to scale up to contracting for banks, and now I hold a lead dev position where I chose the experience over the higher contractor pay check.

My point is this, that kick out the door was the best thing to happen to me. Because without it I would not have experienced as many things in the few years that have gone by.

You gave yourself that kick, now all you need to do is pick the next step. :)

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Harsh Shandilya

Thanks for sharing! Will definitely keep it in mind :D