I took my job as a software engineer instead of going to grad school because I thought that working on a project that was so open-ended and full of researchy questions would teach me a lot too, while also easing me into the real world.
My project is still interesting, but I haven’t been taking it as far as I could. I haven’t, for example, been good about reading relevent theoretical stuff on the side. I had hoped that I would be interested enough that my job would feel more like a hobby. I wanted it to be something I cared enough about that I would enjoy thinking deeply about it even when not there.
Maybe I just needed some time to decompress after, well, a whole life of working hard at school and filling all my time with studying, but it’s been over a year now of working at this place, and I think it’s time to be a little more involved.
