What do you do if you're in a career that's highly desirable and pays well but you find yourself increasingly bored at work and look for excuses to leave early?

A century ago, it was expected that you would pursue a career chosen when you were a kid, and pursue it for life. Often it was about taking over the family business. If dad was a butcher, you eventually inherited the butcher shop even if your interest was centred upon self-expressive ethnic-based dance. However, scanning the want ads, there are very few high-paying jobs for self-expressive ethnic-based dancers. You became a butcher. Today, many people have many careers. In some cases, there is no choice when a product or technology vanishes. Examine your dreams. What would you do if you were independently self-sufficient? With a master's, you know how to learn. With a job, you have some security. Let your fantasy roam freely, then decide upon a direction that really turns you on. Use search to understand the choice. What skills and knowledge do you need? Use your off-hours to work on them. Use your off hours to network, or your on-hours if it merges with your current career. Spend as many years as necessary visualizing yourself in your perfect job, then building a strategy for achieving it. The more capital you have, the easier it is. In the world of multimedia content creation, project work rules. As a programmer, games development might well be incredibly satisfying. The same may be true working for production houses. Do the special effects for a given movie and move on. In time it becomes a matter of choosing whatever project will challenge you the most, assuming that you do the necessary self-promotion along the way. Me at the moment. I have always pushed the tools I use to the limit. I am not shy about displaying my work. Now, I have access to the programming team of one of the most ancient computer 3D modeling and rendering applications, reaching back into the mid-1980s. They respect my work, and provide any feature I need in the next stable build. Needless to say, I did not hide my work away. I made sure they saw it.

It sounds like you aren’t getting challenged and therefore aren’t growing. That feels a bit like dying and probably why you feel a bit sick. School was something you enjoyed probably because you kept learning and your progress was measured in a way that gave a deeper sense of progress. You want a sense of purpose, growth, contribution.Here are 6 suggestions: All of which I have applied at different times - Seek out more challenging assignments at work. If you are able to, have a conversation with your boss and other influencers at work to see how you can learn more. Something that is measurable might help you feel a sense of progress. Hire a coach or find another guided approach to finding something that is the right fit. Here is one option: https://happentoyourcareer.leadpages.co/figureitout-v1/?affiliate=48 Start pursuing an interest on the side that provides you with more excitement and might turn to a permanent gig (freelance / entrepreneur) -if you are not sure what you should do then consider the above course or think about what people ask you for help with and/or what you enjoy spending your time doing. Consider how to get paid for it. Find a way to incorporate skills that you enjoy into your current job. This is a method I call fusing. For example, I enjoy process improvement and developing my team and this has led me to taking on more tasks that fit that criteria. Then, I have an aspect of the job that I enjoy more which makes the full job more enjoyable even if there are aspects that aren’t so much fun. Good news is that I’ve had a lot of success in those areas (because I really enjoy them and contribute more), and therefore more of my role expands to look like that as my company benefits from that success. You can read more on that in the free 40 page guide here - http://thevelocitylabs.com - Perhaps you have been stuck in your position and feel unchallenged. A career without growth feels a bit like death. Consider gamifying your career advancement. Perhaps you are bored because you are not growing and need to hit that next level. I’d also recommend the guide above as that’s it’s core message is advancing your career. Consider moving into a career in non-profit or something where you feel your contributions matter. There is a chance that doing what you do in a non-profit would cause you to feel more successful. Many people are in jobs where they feel a bit like a COG and don’t actually see the outcome or smiling faces of those whom they impact. A job that allows you that might be better. If you haven’t noticed there is a theme here: GROWTH AND CONTRIBUTIONTo address your notes about your friends “might think you are crazy” - it is probably because success for them equals the bottom 3 levels of the triangle below (for now) while you are trying to reach higher into esteem and self-actualization. Eventually they may be in the same boat. Good Luck!

You sound like a young professional who is suffering from what I believe is very common but little talked about because of the negative stigma and connotation ‘being at work’ implies.You done really well in school and thus I think you probably do enjoy software and there are so many opportunities in software for you to explore. And it’s only the beginning of careers in project management, people management, product management, design among other things.What I think we miss out on when we answer the question of boredom in the workplace is how we as Millennials value some things differently. I have done a small original research into the topic and discovered that the two things that really increase employee engagement and lower employee boredom for Millines are learning and freedom. Do you have both of those at your job? Maybe you will enjoy working at a startup more? Or maybe more research?Check out my article here for more insights:http://theghazstation.com/millennials-think-work-engaging