khadgar25

I have had a bit of a non-standard career trajectory. I started out with an undergrad in engineering (aerospace), with a masters in applied physics, then a PhD in theoretical physics. Then not wanting to bounce between post-docs, I decided to try out industry and someone was kind enough to give me a chance at a full-stack role which was interesting but got a little boring after a year so I tried quantitative research at a bank for a couple years which ended up being mostly writing code and not much modeling. I craved more research so I looked elsewhere and found a role doing High Performance Computing for an Oil and Gas company's research center for a few years which was fun and I learned a lot but there wasn't much career growth in that role and due to some other family/financial constraints, I ended up leaving that to come back to NY to work at a bank as a quant developer.

At this point in my life, I really do enjoy being a developer (primarily C++ but I enjoy more theoretical/drier aspects as well and I often dabble in Haskell and functional programming and incorporate that in my work and personal projects). I have about 7 years of work experience after 6 years of grad school.

Lately, I have been battling with anxiety and depression and some of that has to do with me being not completely satisfied with my job. Although I enjoy programming, I was never the hacker teenager and didn't grow up with friends or family of coders. I have primarily seen myself as a problem solver throughout my life and I enjoy that. The main thing that I am lacking at this point and have missed throughout my life is a purpose. I would like to have a job where I can solve problems while making an impact of some kind, whether it be through writing code or something else. But I don't know how to go about finding what that might be. I am also feeling a little burnt out but I feel that it's a bit silly to be burnt out so early in my career.

Any advice is appreciated.