Ask HN: Am I just burnt out or should I find a new career?
Hey HN,<p>Since I was a little kid I was fascinated by computers and loved tinkering with them. I always saw them as a hobby and always thought it was kind of cool that I could make them do things. I went to college and got myself a liberal arts degree.<p>After graduating I found a job for a small IT consulting firm. The firm was in desperate need of IT talent, and I could scrabble together some code to make things happen so I became a technical resource.<p>Since then I have gotten a tremendous amount of mentorship and support, and I feel like I have the respect of some of the more senior developers. The company is still strapped for technical resources, and I feel like I&#x27;m being pushed to work 10 hours days to fill the gaps. The challenges of writing software that I used to find exciting and pleasurable are consuming my life.<p>Should I be looking for a job in another industry and keep programming as a hobby? Should I be looking for a role in a product company, where my value add to my company isn&#x27;t the billable hours that I put on my timesheet? Is it feasible to find a decent job without going backwards since I don&#x27;t have a CS degree?