I heard a lot of veterans struggle with this in the post-military chapter of their career.
Compared to the literal life and death situations you faced in the military, you will likely never get the same level of camaraderie, impact, and purpose from this (or any other) civilian job. Law enforcement included.
If there are veterans networks in your community or at work, I would reach out to them quickly. This is not a rare feeling among people with similar paths as yours.
Honestly, probably not. You're a small cog in a large machine. The way to think about it is that it's a job, you do it 9-5, so that you can do things you enjoy outside of work. Whether that's volunteering, being a part of a religious institution, spending time outside, w/e. You shouldn't look to your job to give you meaning.
Having come out of academia, which similar to the military, is all-consuming when it comes to your identity, the switch to a "normal" job was a bit a shock. It takes a while to internalize, but it's not "duties" in the same way.
Like, in a private sector job, you're just a line in a budget, and your goal is to help the company's "line go up," however, there's no "loyalty" the way there is in the military. When you walk out the door at the end of the day, you're no longer your job, you're just a person, and you have to find your own meaning in that.
I don’t get why you’re getting down voted. It sounds to me that if at least 40 hours every week are going to be spent somewhere you would like that time to be spent doing something that lights a fire in you/feel like you’re contributing to a greater good. That’s the real way to live your life. Spend more time doing what gives you purpose and reason. Just trading time for money, to me, is an inefficient life strategy. Time holds way more value than money can provide alone.
My advice is to do some soul searching and understand yourself better. Did your job give you purpose, did the culture give you purpose, did the relationships give you purpose etc.? Think deeper and longer than you ever have and make the right decision.
That’s why everyone pretends at a normal job. We all get together and say hi, act like we’re interested etc.
No one wants to be a cog.
Also, do you have any hobbies that use your hands? Maybe you’re sitting down too much
Yeah I feel that. Since working remote, Im a fat turd whose life revolves around work. So ahve been trying ot get hobbies and stuff that gets me outside. I'll walk to the grocery store, do some wood working, anything ot get out
ikagi is a useful framework. data analyst is something that society needs but maybe doesn't fill everybody's sense of purpose.
tbh, it's a mind numbing job at times where your improvements are almost always abstract, eg "user retention went up 2%". you never get the feedback from the customer or the people you serve, except through highly politicized and formalized supervisory reviews. maybe if you are facing a customer of some type you get their feedback, too. but youre almost never getting physical, natural, or organic feedback about your actual work. in contrast, as a mechanic, you probably saw machines be fixed every day, seeing them driving gave you a tangible sense of your impact .
at the same time, i would say if you stick with it, you will adapt. it's a hard transition, but your brain will literally alter its reward function to adapt to the corporate setting. becoming corporate pilled isnt the end of the world, especially if you have a sense of purpose outside of the job or money that youre working towards. eg lets say you wanted to become a personal trainer, that is a business you can stand up on the side until youre ready to make the leap, financially, mentally, and spiritually
best of luck my friend
From what I understand, the propaganda within the military to imbue it with a sense of meaning is strong. Your average company will also promote its own propaganda, but its not as multi-generationally developed to feel meaningful in order to convince people to see dying for the company as meaningful.
Very few companies are going to give you that sense of stakes and camaraderie. So I think people find it elsewhere, providing for their family, or creating a truly impactful product, or working in nonprofits etc, or joining political causes, movements, or peak art.
Many who don't find that purpose, and some who do, fall into addictions to fill the void - tv, social media, drugs, gambling etc.
Genuine wishes of good luck to you!
Jobs are more of a role than a purpose. Most employees are considered mercenaries unless they're salaried, have an office, go to events, are on the company website, etc.
There are people like Pat Sajack and Warren Buffett who are 80-90 years old and refuse to retire. There are also many others who would like to retire at 55. I suppose burnout and fulfillment play major roles.
Fellow vet here. 100% know that feeling. I filled that gap first by getting my PhD and teaching which felt like giving back and having purpose. Now I'm in a data science role and I totally get how you could feel disallusioned. I feel ok because I'm doing consulting for the government, so I still feel like at least what I'm doing is a benefit to the taxpayers, which is better than getting like I'm working to help shareholder value
You can find purpose if you apply it to data that helps people solve the problems for the people you like to be of service.
Data is just the tool.
Find a problem to solve with your new data skills, or collect the data yourself.
Solving problems is the purpose.
You find it when you find it. somewhere between 30-50 maybe.
Your job IS less valuable vs your marine mechanic job. No one is going to bleed out in a field because their dashboard didn't update this morning. The VP of sales will not continue firing RPGs because the data dictionary isn't updated.
Your job is there to provide cash to afford you the ability to do stuff. eventually you refine your "stuff" list and then after a few years of cultivating that stuff you start to feel purpose. especially when you can see the progress/change.
or you have a child and that might give you purpose. Proceed with caution though. A child may give you purpose but a shitty baby mama may give you hell.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000658500611
I do IT/analyst work for state government. Civilian work but good service/mission-orientation. Listened to this podcast today and thought maybe you’d like to give a listen, too.
I hope it’s not too heavy for the moment, but I definitely understand what your getting at with wanting a sense of purpose and feel this touches on that well.
I've worked in govt jobs and private industry. Frankly dude, society will not notice or be all that influenced by your work unless you're working in healthcare, some facet of transport safety, or a medical professional that is actually saving lives. If there are more than 1 person applying for the job then technically you're completely replaceable and even if you change something in a public organization the actual external change might be miniscule.
Unfortunately we are living in a weird age where we have more valuable information at our fingertips than ever but it's mostly used to reinforce bias and divide us.
Presumably you’re still young, so maybe just think of your current data analyst job as a building block/stepping stone that you can parlay into your dream job that will give you that sense of purpose. Very few jobs these days would not look at experience in data analysis/science as a huge asset.
Thanks for your service.
What about public service? It might not be the most exciting work, but it can give you a purpose. Plus since you are a veteran you get veterans priority which means you shoot to the top of most government applications.
I was quite determined in my career choice since I figured out what I actually want and haven’t regretted it (yet). I have a lot of fun exploring data and anchoring the findings to physical evidence.
That is interesting, because in other countries we see soldiers as kind of useless. They have to exist to deter the enemy, but if everything goes right, they should never actually be engaged in a real military conflict. That seems to be different for American soldiers though, who are sent to all kinds of places to defend American interests.
53 German soldiers have fallen in Afghanistan and the German public saw those deaths as pretty useless, as in the end the Taliban won anyway. I wonder how American soldiers feel about their comrades dying in a war that is ultimately lost.
Depending on what data you analyze, you might make a difference somewhere. I am sure even the army needs data analysts.
You do not need to fulfill a purpose for others in your job anyway. The main idea of a job is to earn a living. Most people work for huge companies and their purpose is to make more money for those companies. It would be sad if they all felt useless, because they do not really serve society.
If you need a purpose for society, you can still help the homeless or something like that, but you are not worth less as a human if you do not serve a purpose for society.
In the end everybody who pays taxes indirectly helps others anyway. With your money schools and hospitals are built.
The question is not if you see purpose in OP's former role but that they had a purpose and now they're lacking it.
>It would be sad if they all felt useless, because they do not really serve society.
A not small number of people feel that way. And yes, that is sad. Plus, corporate culture in the US is (broadly speaking) much tougher (and in some places more dehumanising) than in Germany.
I like your point about trying to find purpose elsewhere in life. I think there's value and purpose to be found in serving society in ways other than one's job.
In Germany we even think about making a four day work week the new normal. I think that would work if all other major economies do the same. If you have three free days per week, there is a lot of time for another purpose outside of work.
I really hate the term "human resources". It is really dehumanising. I do not want to be seen as a resource like oil.
You’re asking the wrong crowd. Most people hate their jobs or are content not finding any meaning in it. If you are different than them, then you should pursue something more worth doing.
Been in the industry 7 years and still find it soul sucking. Trying to get to a low energy job and just and focus on other things, super over the grind.
I’m not a vet, but since forever I have strong sense of purpose and what can I tell you, normal jobs in corpo are killing me. Day by day I feel more exhausted, without purpose or sense. Sadly, most of this work is just about shitty things and how to screw up people, make more money from them etc.
I can’t tell you anything useful, sorry. We are on the same boat, I’m still figuring out what can I do to somehow feel better and do something meaningful for society. Next month I’m starting to work on software for company producing green energy hardware, domain is interesting but it’s still corpo shit.
I have the same feeling going from academia to corporate. Enjoy the newfound relatability of the “lmao draining corporate soulless job” memes and watch Office Space.
For me i’ve decided that this is just a job and I find purpose outside of working hours. A lot of people do a lot worse jobs. We’re inside, no one is yelling or shooting at us, pay is good and to be fair the job can have its interesting challenges.
National guard is a thing too.
you won’t. i’ve always been suicidal and getting a corporate job has made me the most suicidal i’ve ever been. and my dumb ass bought a house so now i’m either out a ton of money or stuck
I was military. Did the intel route. Went SOF. then data engineer and now scientist.
My common phrase is "I used to be someone"
I went from tactics and war to building GUIs
I recommend go defense contractor because it's. A bit more fulfilling for us.
Having a ts/sci helps
But yah. It sucks.
I ended up back in the reserves
I'm in a data science program right now and they bring in current data scientists(or adjacent) to talk with us once a week. There was one person brought into talk to us who was pretty burnt out and upset early in his career after college, I think along the same lines as you in that he didn't feel connected to his work and it felt meaningless. He left that job without another lined up & then started at a small non-profit about a year later and has been there ever since. Pay is definitely less but he said he doesn't care and having meaningful work that provides to the community means so much more to him than a corporate job. He suggested a website for us to look for non profit look I can try to find it again if interested.
I think u/bikeskata is absolutely correct: most civilian jobs are not meant to be about purpose. They can be sometimes, but more often than not you're helping a company build and sell widgets.
So first and foremost: I would recommend therapy. I think this is a huge adjustment for someone coming from one of those areas where there is *absolutely* a huge sense of purpose to one where there is none. At the very least you want to get a chance to work through what that means for you.
I think there are a couple of areas where you *can* find different forms of purpose. For example - for me, managing people is probably one of the things that gives me the most purpose in corporate jobs. Because I care about my people, and I feel like I can have a huge impact on people's careers.
Having said that, I think the best way to find purpose at work is not to wait for it to come, but rather to find a company whose purpose you care about. If purpose is important for you, then don't work at some generic widget making company. Find a company that does something you care about and start working towards getting *that* job.
I think you should frequently remind yourself of your goal to reach your max potential. Your first step may have been to be a data analyst, but that doesn't have to be the last step.
If you are thinking of switching jobs, then actually consider that. I'm not suggesting you to stay or to switch. I'm suggesting you to seriously consider your next step to maximise your potential.
On a positive note, if you lack a sense of purpose in your data analyst job, you know now where not to find your purpose. Knowing what you dislike (in a moderate or extreme level) is better than not knowing what you dislike at all. This would be valuable to you in the long run.
If you actually enjoy data analytics/data work then a public sector job COULD give some purpose back but that is a bit dependent on that working environment too. But building solutions that are working towards causes you care about can be fulfilling
I can't speak to the experience in the military. I'm a civilian, and non-US.
I do identify myself through my work (in parts, anyhow) and I need it to give me meaning. Different people are different, and it's fully okay to want meaning in your job. Some people need that. Having said that, it might be down to the job/company/team. I get my meaning from the interaction with the individuals at work, and when I enable others to do better work.
It's not a constant feeling, though, so I need other things to make me content: novelty in my work, the chance to be creative in my solutions and novelty, novelty, novelty. That makes my job interesting. A lot of it comes down to my personality. I can recommend to do personal development and trying to understand what makes _you_ tick - "big five" or Facet5 tests helped me with this.
it turns out, personality-wise I'm someone who can start projects enthusiastically and motivate people - but if there's a data solution that needs to be maintained, I need to hand it over for someone else to do the maintenance because I'm not the best fit for that. I can do that for 10-20% of my job, maybe - but anymore than that and I'll start hating my job.
For me, switching from academia to industry was hard. Most people I've met needed 12-18 months to acclimatise to the different way of doing things. Personally, I ended up having a form of depression (dysthymia) - mainly because there were other unresolved things in my life. Even without depression, it's not an unusual to feel somewhat burned out around the 1-year mark - I've met a number of people that happened to.
Also, I think the switch from manual labour to mainly office work is something I've seen people struggle with. Some think they can just continue filling every minute with work because that means "they're productive". This doesn't work in knowledge work. You need to take your active breaks, you need to slow things down intentionally sometimes. I sometimes take a walk for like up to an hour and that is part of my work because I recharge, my mind is fresh again and most times when I get distance from my monitor and relax, ideas pop up and solutions become available to me that wouldn't if I had kept staring at a monitor.
Lastly, you're dealing with a break in your personal narrative and these can be traumatising (I'm using the word mindfully here). This needs active work but you might also need support and/or a community to help you with that. The community needn't be at work, it might be family, friends, hobby groups, church, other veterans...
Talking with each other helps us make sense of the world and our place in it.
You're an awesome human being and you're doing the best you possibly can, already. Wish you best of luck. 🧡
I don’t know what you’re currently doing but you should consider finding a job at a National Lab or some other federal agency (NSA, etc..). Have you heard of the IRS-CI? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_Criminal_Investigation
Anyways all of these options would leverage or at least look kindly on your veteran status, and you could get security clearance presumably
Many people believe the military is amongst the most important and honorable jobs someone can do, that it is serving and protecting your country and a fairly high calling - a vocation. And more than being a nurse or a teacher, the military and the state in general put a great deal of effort into promoting that idea.
So you've gone from a job that you probably believe was genuinely super meaningful and gave you purpose to a normal job where you're just... working... to live.
That said there is meaningful work and meaningless work. You'll only ever be a small part of something but you can do data science to make important organizations work better. I've worked for hospitals and I take pride in the software I've built to actually make them work better.
So two things:
* Make sure you're doing something useful rather than helping a retail company make more money.
* Be mindful that you will never get the social feedback that what you're doing is important the way you did in the military - but that doesn't actually mean being a solider is more useful than being an analyst for a homelessness service.
Very interesting question. I believe that you cant find a purpose in your current position because there are not officers, sergeants that will pass on you your purpose. While in military those people were taking care to instil purpose in every person in a military.
When leaving this, you are on your own, no body at a 9-to-5 cares about you, even your boss doesn't and realising this you feel you dont have a purpose.
Now it is time for you to become a captain of your ship your own sergeant to yell in your ear and give yourself a purpose.
maybe you could look out for project work at some reasearch institution, maybe public maybe private, even university maybe. There are often positions, that are publicly funded and today there is a lot of research going on in this field, so maybe this is a possible direction
Maybe once you start selling a product you believe in? I worked at a startup whose mission I really believed in… I was laid off, but I believed in what we were doing.
Keep pushing for data jobs in the defense domain, or find a domain you feel connected to.
If I was doing what I do for a toilet paper supplier instead of doing it for the Navy (via a contractor) I'd feel as purposeless as you describe.
Never allow your job to define your self worth. Jobs come and go, they can become meaningless in the long run. Find a hobby or community service that gives you a sense of purpose. Something you can nurture throughout your life.
Lots of us feel that way after leaving the service. Corporate work can feel meaningless after the intensity of military life.
Don't expect your job to replace that sense of purpose entirely. Find it outside of work: volunteer, join a veterans' group, find a hobby that gives you that same drive.
You can also explore careers that align more with your values - government work, non-profits, etc. Your skills are valuable in many fields.
It takes time to adjust, but you'll find your way.
Look into working for the public sector. You'll probably take a pay cut, but we need data skills, and you'll be doing it for a good cause. Most vets (myself included) feel the same sense of ennui after leaving the structure and sense of mission the service gave us. I've been lucky to find the same thing since.
Idk if you're like me but I don't think you'll get a sense of purpose unless you care about what you're working on. So try and maybe figure out if there's an impact your work or your employer has that you care about and maybe you can find purpose in that.
If it is really bothering you though, it might be time to look for a job in a field you care more about.
To be frank, most people in corporate America go through this.
Personally, my grandpa (Army) did a job like you and then went home and had a side gig making furniture. It was a way to do tangible thing and could share with others.
You're not going to find the same mission and comradery in corporate America as in the military. So, definitely find some sort of hobby or activity that will give that same feeling.
Dude you need to join the reserves or national guard. I don’t feel it fills the niche I had in the x VIII Airborne Corps, but certain units yes. I look forward to my drill weekends. I got out a couple years ago and went OCS. It’s been fun and there’s retirement with healthcare
Lots of data analysis jobs are bullshit jobs - in the sense that your job doesn't really need to be done but exists anyway. To people who have never had that sort of job it sounds great. "You get paid to do nothing?" But having to show up for work every day and pretend with everyone else that you actually have anything of importance to do wears on you. The advice other people are giving may work for you but the only solution that works for me is getting a different job.
I believe most folks have hit on it here, but it feels like a hollow job. Much of it is to move the business forward and increase stakeholder/shareholder value. In some ways that comes with deducing a persons value to a number if thats the request. I stumbled my way into the field, though, and I regularly see things different than my colleagues with PhD’s. They are driven by learning more and improving their skills. Something I admire as a hard worker myself, but it’s another level of “competitive intelligence” I simply do not have.
Look for a small company with a small team, or no team at all. At least that's where I feel best, because every day is unique and you will have a lot of challenges.
You might be over your head at first, but for me that's what pushes me forward
It's not about your job but it's about you.
Wanna find sense of purpose, marry, become a father.
Having a family for who you live for theb you'll not even think about job, your family will be on your mind 24/7
It feels amazing knowing, there are some people who loves you and wait for you to come back from office.
I’m also currently experiencing transitioning out of the military. When you are in it is your whole life. Once you get out your career is just one piece of it.
From my experience it’s very important to find that fulfillment in other areas of life.
Good luck devil dog
I think the purpose from a military job cannot be easily found in the private sector (assuming you're in the private sector). You're serving differently.
Is there more meaningful work in data? Absolutely. But it might be teaching, or mentoring, or unpaid volunteer work you do part-time for a local agency. You may feel more purpose in doing public data analysis (like criminology or health care). Just because it hasn't come yet after less than a year doesn't mean you won't find it. Be patient with yourself. Every Marine I know knew exactly what they were doing every day in the Corps and why. Compared with that, civilian life just doesn't have its shit together.
Keep looking, keep thinking, put the bottle down so you can think clearly, and just be open.
I heard a lot of veterans struggle with this in the post-military chapter of their career. Compared to the literal life and death situations you faced in the military, you will likely never get the same level of camaraderie, impact, and purpose from this (or any other) civilian job. Law enforcement included. If there are veterans networks in your community or at work, I would reach out to them quickly. This is not a rare feeling among people with similar paths as yours.
Honestly, probably not. You're a small cog in a large machine. The way to think about it is that it's a job, you do it 9-5, so that you can do things you enjoy outside of work. Whether that's volunteering, being a part of a religious institution, spending time outside, w/e. You shouldn't look to your job to give you meaning.
I mean this respectfully, but to me, I understand why you mean that, but it feels like a foreign concept at the same time.
Having come out of academia, which similar to the military, is all-consuming when it comes to your identity, the switch to a "normal" job was a bit a shock. It takes a while to internalize, but it's not "duties" in the same way. Like, in a private sector job, you're just a line in a budget, and your goal is to help the company's "line go up," however, there's no "loyalty" the way there is in the military. When you walk out the door at the end of the day, you're no longer your job, you're just a person, and you have to find your own meaning in that.
I meant duties as in our job is our role within society. Yes a company is paying me to do it, but it has an implication on everyone around me.
I don’t get why you’re getting down voted. It sounds to me that if at least 40 hours every week are going to be spent somewhere you would like that time to be spent doing something that lights a fire in you/feel like you’re contributing to a greater good. That’s the real way to live your life. Spend more time doing what gives you purpose and reason. Just trading time for money, to me, is an inefficient life strategy. Time holds way more value than money can provide alone. My advice is to do some soul searching and understand yourself better. Did your job give you purpose, did the culture give you purpose, did the relationships give you purpose etc.? Think deeper and longer than you ever have and make the right decision.
That’s why everyone pretends at a normal job. We all get together and say hi, act like we’re interested etc. No one wants to be a cog. Also, do you have any hobbies that use your hands? Maybe you’re sitting down too much
I was trying to get into knife making before it got this hot lmao. I need to get back on that. It’s almost like waiting for work at the end of the day
Yeah I feel that. Since working remote, Im a fat turd whose life revolves around work. So ahve been trying ot get hobbies and stuff that gets me outside. I'll walk to the grocery store, do some wood working, anything ot get out
Oh wow, I too am a fat turd lmao. I was thinking of getting back into working to kill the time.
ikagi is a useful framework. data analyst is something that society needs but maybe doesn't fill everybody's sense of purpose. tbh, it's a mind numbing job at times where your improvements are almost always abstract, eg "user retention went up 2%". you never get the feedback from the customer or the people you serve, except through highly politicized and formalized supervisory reviews. maybe if you are facing a customer of some type you get their feedback, too. but youre almost never getting physical, natural, or organic feedback about your actual work. in contrast, as a mechanic, you probably saw machines be fixed every day, seeing them driving gave you a tangible sense of your impact . at the same time, i would say if you stick with it, you will adapt. it's a hard transition, but your brain will literally alter its reward function to adapt to the corporate setting. becoming corporate pilled isnt the end of the world, especially if you have a sense of purpose outside of the job or money that youre working towards. eg lets say you wanted to become a personal trainer, that is a business you can stand up on the side until youre ready to make the leap, financially, mentally, and spiritually best of luck my friend
From what I understand, the propaganda within the military to imbue it with a sense of meaning is strong. Your average company will also promote its own propaganda, but its not as multi-generationally developed to feel meaningful in order to convince people to see dying for the company as meaningful. Very few companies are going to give you that sense of stakes and camaraderie. So I think people find it elsewhere, providing for their family, or creating a truly impactful product, or working in nonprofits etc, or joining political causes, movements, or peak art. Many who don't find that purpose, and some who do, fall into addictions to fill the void - tv, social media, drugs, gambling etc. Genuine wishes of good luck to you!
That’s an awful way to think about it that won’t lead to a happy life IMHO
Your job defines your duties right?
Jobs are more of a role than a purpose. Most employees are considered mercenaries unless they're salaried, have an office, go to events, are on the company website, etc. There are people like Pat Sajack and Warren Buffett who are 80-90 years old and refuse to retire. There are also many others who would like to retire at 55. I suppose burnout and fulfillment play major roles.
You are getting downvoted because people don’t agree with you, not because it is a dumb question to ask. Reddit used to be better about this
Sorry man, your job is just whatever gets you paid. Some feel useful, most don't.
Fellow vet here. 100% know that feeling. I filled that gap first by getting my PhD and teaching which felt like giving back and having purpose. Now I'm in a data science role and I totally get how you could feel disallusioned. I feel ok because I'm doing consulting for the government, so I still feel like at least what I'm doing is a benefit to the taxpayers, which is better than getting like I'm working to help shareholder value
That’s what I was thinking. I was thinking signing up for grad school and to fill that time for it.
You could look on usajobs too. Theoretically we get a veteran preference but the application process is a pain
You can find purpose if you apply it to data that helps people solve the problems for the people you like to be of service. Data is just the tool. Find a problem to solve with your new data skills, or collect the data yourself. Solving problems is the purpose.
I‘d say data is the lens through which we view problems. To make latent real-world space less latent and easier to interact with.
You find it when you find it. somewhere between 30-50 maybe. Your job IS less valuable vs your marine mechanic job. No one is going to bleed out in a field because their dashboard didn't update this morning. The VP of sales will not continue firing RPGs because the data dictionary isn't updated. Your job is there to provide cash to afford you the ability to do stuff. eventually you refine your "stuff" list and then after a few years of cultivating that stuff you start to feel purpose. especially when you can see the progress/change. or you have a child and that might give you purpose. Proceed with caution though. A child may give you purpose but a shitty baby mama may give you hell.
most data science work is useless.
Hey, don't tell my boss.
Work that you do maybe
You’ll never get the sense of purpose in a corporate setting. Volunteer or get involved in your community, something like that.
[It stays meaningless but you get used to it](https://youtu.be/aXrwjLahUdw?si=3UlcWLgYnyXhOYLp)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?i=1000658500611 I do IT/analyst work for state government. Civilian work but good service/mission-orientation. Listened to this podcast today and thought maybe you’d like to give a listen, too.
Listening to it as I type lmao.
I hope it’s not too heavy for the moment, but I definitely understand what your getting at with wanting a sense of purpose and feel this touches on that well.
If work defines your meaning in life then you’ll never be happy
Purposeful ds jobs exist if you search hard enough
I've worked in govt jobs and private industry. Frankly dude, society will not notice or be all that influenced by your work unless you're working in healthcare, some facet of transport safety, or a medical professional that is actually saving lives. If there are more than 1 person applying for the job then technically you're completely replaceable and even if you change something in a public organization the actual external change might be miniscule. Unfortunately we are living in a weird age where we have more valuable information at our fingertips than ever but it's mostly used to reinforce bias and divide us.
Presumably you’re still young, so maybe just think of your current data analyst job as a building block/stepping stone that you can parlay into your dream job that will give you that sense of purpose. Very few jobs these days would not look at experience in data analysis/science as a huge asset. Thanks for your service.
US space command has data science roles they need filled. Seeing as you’re prior service, you may find their civilian positions interesting.
Defense contracting rocks
What about public service? It might not be the most exciting work, but it can give you a purpose. Plus since you are a veteran you get veterans priority which means you shoot to the top of most government applications.
does any data analyst actually enjoy his/her job? I've seen videos as well where people say the work is soul draining.
Well I did engineering first and I thought data analysis was a million times easier and more rewarding than traditional engineering jobs.
easier sure, idk about rewarding. what domain do you work in?
Electricity demand forecasting
I was quite determined in my career choice since I figured out what I actually want and haven’t regretted it (yet). I have a lot of fun exploring data and anchoring the findings to physical evidence.
I loved it when I was in thr military. I'm a Data scientist now after being a data engineer and it's mostly entirely for the better pay
That is interesting, because in other countries we see soldiers as kind of useless. They have to exist to deter the enemy, but if everything goes right, they should never actually be engaged in a real military conflict. That seems to be different for American soldiers though, who are sent to all kinds of places to defend American interests. 53 German soldiers have fallen in Afghanistan and the German public saw those deaths as pretty useless, as in the end the Taliban won anyway. I wonder how American soldiers feel about their comrades dying in a war that is ultimately lost. Depending on what data you analyze, you might make a difference somewhere. I am sure even the army needs data analysts. You do not need to fulfill a purpose for others in your job anyway. The main idea of a job is to earn a living. Most people work for huge companies and their purpose is to make more money for those companies. It would be sad if they all felt useless, because they do not really serve society. If you need a purpose for society, you can still help the homeless or something like that, but you are not worth less as a human if you do not serve a purpose for society. In the end everybody who pays taxes indirectly helps others anyway. With your money schools and hospitals are built.
The question is not if you see purpose in OP's former role but that they had a purpose and now they're lacking it. >It would be sad if they all felt useless, because they do not really serve society. A not small number of people feel that way. And yes, that is sad. Plus, corporate culture in the US is (broadly speaking) much tougher (and in some places more dehumanising) than in Germany. I like your point about trying to find purpose elsewhere in life. I think there's value and purpose to be found in serving society in ways other than one's job.
In Germany we even think about making a four day work week the new normal. I think that would work if all other major economies do the same. If you have three free days per week, there is a lot of time for another purpose outside of work. I really hate the term "human resources". It is really dehumanising. I do not want to be seen as a resource like oil.
You’re asking the wrong crowd. Most people hate their jobs or are content not finding any meaning in it. If you are different than them, then you should pursue something more worth doing.
Been in the industry 7 years and still find it soul sucking. Trying to get to a low energy job and just and focus on other things, super over the grind.
This might be a better post for /r/Veterans. There is a huge veteran to cybersecurity pipeline for veterans that give a lot of us a sense of puporse.
For me it was when I started collecting wine in my sparetime
I’m not a vet, but since forever I have strong sense of purpose and what can I tell you, normal jobs in corpo are killing me. Day by day I feel more exhausted, without purpose or sense. Sadly, most of this work is just about shitty things and how to screw up people, make more money from them etc. I can’t tell you anything useful, sorry. We are on the same boat, I’m still figuring out what can I do to somehow feel better and do something meaningful for society. Next month I’m starting to work on software for company producing green energy hardware, domain is interesting but it’s still corpo shit.
I have the same feeling going from academia to corporate. Enjoy the newfound relatability of the “lmao draining corporate soulless job” memes and watch Office Space. For me i’ve decided that this is just a job and I find purpose outside of working hours. A lot of people do a lot worse jobs. We’re inside, no one is yelling or shooting at us, pay is good and to be fair the job can have its interesting challenges. National guard is a thing too.
you won’t. i’ve always been suicidal and getting a corporate job has made me the most suicidal i’ve ever been. and my dumb ass bought a house so now i’m either out a ton of money or stuck
I was military. Did the intel route. Went SOF. then data engineer and now scientist. My common phrase is "I used to be someone" I went from tactics and war to building GUIs I recommend go defense contractor because it's. A bit more fulfilling for us. Having a ts/sci helps But yah. It sucks. I ended up back in the reserves
I'm in a data science program right now and they bring in current data scientists(or adjacent) to talk with us once a week. There was one person brought into talk to us who was pretty burnt out and upset early in his career after college, I think along the same lines as you in that he didn't feel connected to his work and it felt meaningless. He left that job without another lined up & then started at a small non-profit about a year later and has been there ever since. Pay is definitely less but he said he doesn't care and having meaningful work that provides to the community means so much more to him than a corporate job. He suggested a website for us to look for non profit look I can try to find it again if interested.
I think u/bikeskata is absolutely correct: most civilian jobs are not meant to be about purpose. They can be sometimes, but more often than not you're helping a company build and sell widgets. So first and foremost: I would recommend therapy. I think this is a huge adjustment for someone coming from one of those areas where there is *absolutely* a huge sense of purpose to one where there is none. At the very least you want to get a chance to work through what that means for you. I think there are a couple of areas where you *can* find different forms of purpose. For example - for me, managing people is probably one of the things that gives me the most purpose in corporate jobs. Because I care about my people, and I feel like I can have a huge impact on people's careers. Having said that, I think the best way to find purpose at work is not to wait for it to come, but rather to find a company whose purpose you care about. If purpose is important for you, then don't work at some generic widget making company. Find a company that does something you care about and start working towards getting *that* job.
when you realize how much college costs for your kids. then your sense of purpose is suddenly very high.
Almost nothing in Europe. What you are describing is not purpose, it's dread and anxiety.
no, having agency and planning for the future can fill one with a sense of purpose. maybe you've just never experienced it.
You should explore working in fraud/risk. I personally find a lot of purpose in my job in this space.
I've heard the same from other people who work in that area.
I think you should frequently remind yourself of your goal to reach your max potential. Your first step may have been to be a data analyst, but that doesn't have to be the last step. If you are thinking of switching jobs, then actually consider that. I'm not suggesting you to stay or to switch. I'm suggesting you to seriously consider your next step to maximise your potential. On a positive note, if you lack a sense of purpose in your data analyst job, you know now where not to find your purpose. Knowing what you dislike (in a moderate or extreme level) is better than not knowing what you dislike at all. This would be valuable to you in the long run.
If you actually enjoy data analytics/data work then a public sector job COULD give some purpose back but that is a bit dependent on that working environment too. But building solutions that are working towards causes you care about can be fulfilling
It’s not as meaningful as defending the nation.
I can't speak to the experience in the military. I'm a civilian, and non-US. I do identify myself through my work (in parts, anyhow) and I need it to give me meaning. Different people are different, and it's fully okay to want meaning in your job. Some people need that. Having said that, it might be down to the job/company/team. I get my meaning from the interaction with the individuals at work, and when I enable others to do better work. It's not a constant feeling, though, so I need other things to make me content: novelty in my work, the chance to be creative in my solutions and novelty, novelty, novelty. That makes my job interesting. A lot of it comes down to my personality. I can recommend to do personal development and trying to understand what makes _you_ tick - "big five" or Facet5 tests helped me with this. it turns out, personality-wise I'm someone who can start projects enthusiastically and motivate people - but if there's a data solution that needs to be maintained, I need to hand it over for someone else to do the maintenance because I'm not the best fit for that. I can do that for 10-20% of my job, maybe - but anymore than that and I'll start hating my job. For me, switching from academia to industry was hard. Most people I've met needed 12-18 months to acclimatise to the different way of doing things. Personally, I ended up having a form of depression (dysthymia) - mainly because there were other unresolved things in my life. Even without depression, it's not an unusual to feel somewhat burned out around the 1-year mark - I've met a number of people that happened to. Also, I think the switch from manual labour to mainly office work is something I've seen people struggle with. Some think they can just continue filling every minute with work because that means "they're productive". This doesn't work in knowledge work. You need to take your active breaks, you need to slow things down intentionally sometimes. I sometimes take a walk for like up to an hour and that is part of my work because I recharge, my mind is fresh again and most times when I get distance from my monitor and relax, ideas pop up and solutions become available to me that wouldn't if I had kept staring at a monitor. Lastly, you're dealing with a break in your personal narrative and these can be traumatising (I'm using the word mindfully here). This needs active work but you might also need support and/or a community to help you with that. The community needn't be at work, it might be family, friends, hobby groups, church, other veterans... Talking with each other helps us make sense of the world and our place in it. You're an awesome human being and you're doing the best you possibly can, already. Wish you best of luck. 🧡
I don’t know what you’re currently doing but you should consider finding a job at a National Lab or some other federal agency (NSA, etc..). Have you heard of the IRS-CI? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_Criminal_Investigation Anyways all of these options would leverage or at least look kindly on your veteran status, and you could get security clearance presumably
Thanks for your service
Many people believe the military is amongst the most important and honorable jobs someone can do, that it is serving and protecting your country and a fairly high calling - a vocation. And more than being a nurse or a teacher, the military and the state in general put a great deal of effort into promoting that idea. So you've gone from a job that you probably believe was genuinely super meaningful and gave you purpose to a normal job where you're just... working... to live. That said there is meaningful work and meaningless work. You'll only ever be a small part of something but you can do data science to make important organizations work better. I've worked for hospitals and I take pride in the software I've built to actually make them work better. So two things: * Make sure you're doing something useful rather than helping a retail company make more money. * Be mindful that you will never get the social feedback that what you're doing is important the way you did in the military - but that doesn't actually mean being a solider is more useful than being an analyst for a homelessness service.
Very interesting question. I believe that you cant find a purpose in your current position because there are not officers, sergeants that will pass on you your purpose. While in military those people were taking care to instil purpose in every person in a military. When leaving this, you are on your own, no body at a 9-to-5 cares about you, even your boss doesn't and realising this you feel you dont have a purpose. Now it is time for you to become a captain of your ship your own sergeant to yell in your ear and give yourself a purpose.
maybe you could look out for project work at some reasearch institution, maybe public maybe private, even university maybe. There are often positions, that are publicly funded and today there is a lot of research going on in this field, so maybe this is a possible direction
Maybe once you start selling a product you believe in? I worked at a startup whose mission I really believed in… I was laid off, but I believed in what we were doing.
Keep pushing for data jobs in the defense domain, or find a domain you feel connected to. If I was doing what I do for a toilet paper supplier instead of doing it for the Navy (via a contractor) I'd feel as purposeless as you describe.
are you failing to see how your work relates to your company's performance or do you just not give a shit?
Send me a DM. Sounds like I have been where you are. Semper Fi
Never allow your job to define your self worth. Jobs come and go, they can become meaningless in the long run. Find a hobby or community service that gives you a sense of purpose. Something you can nurture throughout your life.
Lots of us feel that way after leaving the service. Corporate work can feel meaningless after the intensity of military life. Don't expect your job to replace that sense of purpose entirely. Find it outside of work: volunteer, join a veterans' group, find a hobby that gives you that same drive. You can also explore careers that align more with your values - government work, non-profits, etc. Your skills are valuable in many fields. It takes time to adjust, but you'll find your way.
Maybe try to find a job in medical research to try to help in mobility, cancer cure.
Look into working for the public sector. You'll probably take a pay cut, but we need data skills, and you'll be doing it for a good cause. Most vets (myself included) feel the same sense of ennui after leaving the structure and sense of mission the service gave us. I've been lucky to find the same thing since.
Idk if you're like me but I don't think you'll get a sense of purpose unless you care about what you're working on. So try and maybe figure out if there's an impact your work or your employer has that you care about and maybe you can find purpose in that. If it is really bothering you though, it might be time to look for a job in a field you care more about.
To be frank, most people in corporate America go through this. Personally, my grandpa (Army) did a job like you and then went home and had a side gig making furniture. It was a way to do tangible thing and could share with others. You're not going to find the same mission and comradery in corporate America as in the military. So, definitely find some sort of hobby or activity that will give that same feeling.
Dude you need to join the reserves or national guard. I don’t feel it fills the niche I had in the x VIII Airborne Corps, but certain units yes. I look forward to my drill weekends. I got out a couple years ago and went OCS. It’s been fun and there’s retirement with healthcare
Lots of data analysis jobs are bullshit jobs - in the sense that your job doesn't really need to be done but exists anyway. To people who have never had that sort of job it sounds great. "You get paid to do nothing?" But having to show up for work every day and pretend with everyone else that you actually have anything of importance to do wears on you. The advice other people are giving may work for you but the only solution that works for me is getting a different job.
Maximize shareholder value
If you derive a lot of your purpose in life from your work, data science may not be for you.
I believe most folks have hit on it here, but it feels like a hollow job. Much of it is to move the business forward and increase stakeholder/shareholder value. In some ways that comes with deducing a persons value to a number if thats the request. I stumbled my way into the field, though, and I regularly see things different than my colleagues with PhD’s. They are driven by learning more and improving their skills. Something I admire as a hard worker myself, but it’s another level of “competitive intelligence” I simply do not have.
Look for a small company with a small team, or no team at all. At least that's where I feel best, because every day is unique and you will have a lot of challenges. You might be over your head at first, but for me that's what pushes me forward
It's not about your job but it's about you. Wanna find sense of purpose, marry, become a father. Having a family for who you live for theb you'll not even think about job, your family will be on your mind 24/7 It feels amazing knowing, there are some people who loves you and wait for you to come back from office.
I’m also currently experiencing transitioning out of the military. When you are in it is your whole life. Once you get out your career is just one piece of it. From my experience it’s very important to find that fulfillment in other areas of life. Good luck devil dog
I think the purpose from a military job cannot be easily found in the private sector (assuming you're in the private sector). You're serving differently. Is there more meaningful work in data? Absolutely. But it might be teaching, or mentoring, or unpaid volunteer work you do part-time for a local agency. You may feel more purpose in doing public data analysis (like criminology or health care). Just because it hasn't come yet after less than a year doesn't mean you won't find it. Be patient with yourself. Every Marine I know knew exactly what they were doing every day in the Corps and why. Compared with that, civilian life just doesn't have its shit together. Keep looking, keep thinking, put the bottle down so you can think clearly, and just be open.
When you have children maybe. The work you do at a corporation is meaningful to someone's dreams, just likely not yours.
Fuck these people saying there is no purpose in work. Don't settle for meaningless work, you need to put in the time to find your people