Getting a degree in your 20s, then immediately doing something entirely different with your life

A while back I posted this on r/redscarepod, and then I turned it into the following post. I don't have much to add, other than the fact that I graduated a few years ago and did this, and it *Couldn't be better* - I'm literally earning almost double what I was earning at the time the post was written, and I didn't have to go into any debt to do it. I'm just curious if anyone else has done this, or knows of someone who has done this, as I find it very interesting. Anyways, here is the thread:<br><br>I am a software engineer. I graduated high school in 2019, and 5 years later I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Math. The entire time I was in school I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I always was very good at math and science, and I always knew that I was going to go down the STEM track.<br><br>I started working as a software engineer full time a year ago. I was very excited to do this - again, this was my dream career, so I was very happy that I got to do this. I was even luckier and managed to get a job with a big tech company, meaning that I got to do this job while earning a good amount of money in the process. I was ecstatic. <br><br>But now I'm a software engineer, and I hate my job. I'm not a very outgoing person, and I'm not often one to initiate a conversation about anything. I like to think of myself as more of a "lone wolf" type of person, not one to go out of my way to meet new people and make connections with them. One of the biggest reasons why I liked doing this job was that I knew that I was going to pretty much be left to my own devices, as long as I was able to deliver quality work. <br><br>That isn't the case though. I have to be on call every day to meet with various groups of people, and discuss how I'm doing with my projects, and then I talk with my manager about how I'm doing with my projects. The majority of my time spent at work is just having meetings, or taking notes so that I can have meetings to go over what I've done, or what I'm going to do, and what I have to do. <br><br>I'm also required to work with a team of other software engineers, which I found to be something that I am very bad at. Much of my job is just explaining what I've done, but I'm not good at talking to people in groups, and the people I work with are not very patient and they get annoyed with me if I don't explain myself correctly. I have been written up multiple times for poor communication, and my social skills have been brought up as something for me to work on. When I point out the fact that I'm an introvert, I'm asked "Well, why did you decide to become a software engineer? That's what the job is, and if you can't do the job the way that it's supposed to be done, then you're not cut out for it."<br><br>Aside from this, I have to work over sixty hours a week. I'm required to work fifty hours a week, but if I can't get all of my work done in that amount of time, then that's my problem. I was written up for this recently, when I told my manager what I was doing in my free time, and he pointed out that I could cut that time out and get more work done in my fifty hours a week, so I can stop getting written up for not finishing my work in the required amount of time.<br><br>I bring all of this up because I've come to realize that I don't like being a software engineer. I thought I was going to love doing this, but I was stupid and I didn't realize until now the fact that I'm an introvert who can't stand talking to people, and I'm required to do this at my job all the time. I thought I was going to be left alone but I've been thrown into a role where I have to interact with people constantly. I spend most of my free time feeling miserable, and not knowing what to do, because I went to school for five years to become a software engineer, and I hate being a software engineer.<br><br>I'm going to start looking for other jobs in the coming weeks, and I'm going to start looking into other fields of work that I might be interested in. I've started asking myself a lot of questions about what I want to do, but I don't have any answers. I've pretty much come to the realization that I'm going to have to start my career over from square one. I'm just not sure what I want to do, other than the fact that I don't want to be a software engineer.<br><br>Has anyone else done this? What did you do if you found yourself in a similar situation? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.<br><br>TLDR: I went to school for 5 years to become a software engineer, and I hate doing it because I'm an introvert. Now I have no idea what I want to do with my life.