[travelalberta]

Similar situation. I work for a provincial government and make €61k, my scope is actually relatively large for how long I’ve been with my team but the actual problems are simple enough that some decent code means I have 0 downtime. As a result if I don’t bug anyone I typically get left alone to manage a bunch of products that run without issue. This week I literally have no meetings on my calendar, just a small project with a generous due date where I’m the solo developer.

I’m lucky in that before I got the job I was in talks to do a PhD but negotiated saying I’d only do it remote.

Now I do whatever is required to keep my day job happy and then spend the rest of my time working on my PhD. My plan was to go to FAANG after I got my degree but who knows… a comfy, unionized tech job that gives me ample time to do side projects is also not something I’d give up too easily.

I’d say do whatever is necessary to keep your job and then devote any extra hours 9-5 to some project. If I wasn’t doing my PhD I’d be making an app or a game probably, or maybe still moonlighting as a researcher. I think most office/tech jobs don’t require your full 40 hours and I can tell you I have a bunch of friends who have even less work responsibilities than me but they just use that spare time to play video games. Just do something productive 9-5 and you will outpace 99% of people is what I’ve found.

[anal_reactor]

Honestly I do use that time to play video games because I don't see the point of working my ass off. Suppose I grind my ass off and manage to get a €200k on-site job with on-call. Is that actually a win? I don't think so.

[cool_man_bob]

I do the same, but mostly because when I have bothered to work my ass pff to try and get a cool job, I never get hired anyway because they only hire established domain experts and juniors via a university pipeline.