Most people I interact with work in tech, and the majority of these individuals are unhappy with their jobs. For someone with tech experience, it’s not hard to understand why. There’s pressure to deliver code despite endless headwinds: years of tech debt, lack of documentation, unclear requirements, flow-interrupting meetings, knowledge gaps in an increasingly complex profession, on-call rotations outside of working hours that prevent recharging, and low motivation stemming from apathy toward the work. Deliver the features in these conditions or lose your job.

The sad truth is that most people who have gone into tech actually enjoy coding or have in the past, but when a person’s agency is removed, cranking out code becomes a chore. A painter who decides to create art by painting a red fire engine is inspired. However, a painter who has committed to painting a red fire engine in a set number of story points, is required to give public status updates, and discovers that someone has mixed blue paint into the red would likely feel uninspired.

Are most people in tech doomed to be in soul-sucking jobs for decades? Twitter influencers urge starting a business, insisting that relying on a company for employment is naive, especially in the age of AI and outsourcing. That’s not realistic for most people who are already exhausted from their jobs and family responsibilities. What about just randomly changing jobs? That’s not always easy, and maybe the next one will be better. Maybe it won’t.

What about the few tech professionals I interact with who seem to be happy? Some of them are young and so far shielded from career hurt, but this is a temporary state. The others have been very intentional and proactive. Like master chess players, they are always one move ahead as they manage their careers. Everything they do increases the likelihood of success: acquiring new skills, taking on strategic projects, and forming professional relationships. When the current situation no longer provides enough present or future success, they move on to keep flourishing. They never settle for too long. If there’s a setback outside of their control, they are resilient because they’ve established all of the foundations for success.

I wasn’t proactive with my career, and my lack of resilience gave me significant anxiety. Now that I’m distanced from the situation, I feel sad for those who live the same way. Life is short. The good news is that it’s never too late to be proactive in a career. Just considering the possibility of losing a job can motivate a person to acquire new skills, gain strategic experiences, and build professional relationships, all of which lead to greater resilience and a stronger sense of agency. Start today and take back some of your life.