ganashaw

I'm looking for ways to put my talent/skills to good use, and the most obvious route for that (short of switching companies and joining a non-profit) that I can think of is to get involved/"give back" in my local community. I'd love to hear if anyone in the HN community has anecdotes or ideas from which I might draw inspiration.

I'm trying to think about where I see myself in the future, and am struggling to decide between the management track vs. staying an individual contributor. I feel I have the skills to realistically pursue either, and I enjoy aspects of both, but am having trouble figuring out which I'd personally prefer. Any insights greatly appreciated!

I recently graduated and started a full time job as a software developer. By and large, I love my job. I usually spend my days solving interesting problems which is what I love doing.

That said, after working 8 hours a day (I usually do 7-4 with a 1 hour lunch break) I find myself exhausted afterwards. I sometimes find myself going to bed not long after dinner. I don't have time for any of the hobbies I had in college like gamedev or video games despite having a similar if not greater workload in college.

It seems like the main difference is that the work was broken up by classes in college which spread the work out more and made it less exhausting.

To be clear, I'm not talking about "burn out", at least not in the sense that it's normally talked about. I still love my job (I just started!) and the work it entails.

I take vitamins, and I get a reasonable amount of sleep each night (7-8 hours). I tried working out but that just seemed to make me more tired.

As I look at my future, I hope to one day have kids and get married, and I'd be a pretty poor parent if I came home with this level of energy every day.

So how do you do it? Do you have any tricks to keeping your energy level up throughout the day?