About a decade ago, I had a QA job that I hated and that made me hate my life. Like you, I also didn't have any good ideas about what I could do instead. In fact, I felt kind of trapped, because I wasn't sure I was capable of doing anything else. It was a black-box QA job, and I'm not the sort of person who writes code in my free time, so the skills I'd acquired in college atrophied and I didn't feel like I had anything to offer employers anymore. I was depressed and scared about my future.
Around that time, my manager's manager bought a copy of a book called _Now, Discover Your Strengths_ for everyone on his team. That book changed my life forever. The current edition is called "StrengthsFinder 2.0": http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx
What taking the StrengthsFinder inventory did for me:
- It helped me understand my personal talents better than I had ever understood them before, and it encouraged me to develop them into strengths. Prior to reading the book, I had focused on being "well-rounded". This was very eye-opening for me and it completely changed my attitude about my career.
- It encouraged me to find ways to play to my strengths in the job I hated, with the goal of finding a way to enjoy it more.
- When that didn't pan out, it gave me the courage to start looking for roles that might suit me better.
To make a long story short, since then I obtained a graduate degree that would help me develop the talents the StrengthsFinder identified, and I've had two quite different roles that both played very well to my strengths, to the point where I would call them dream jobs. It's difficult to describe just how much happier I am now than I was ten years ago.
In short, if you are looking for ideas, consider the StrengthsFinder. It seriously pulled me out of a rut, and I've seen it do the same for others as well.
As for the question about whether you should quit... consider sticking with it until you figure out what else you want to do. I didn't stay in the QA job I hated, but I did stick with QA while I was working on my Masters because it paid the bills.
+1 on Strength's Finder. It is an amazing concept for finding out the words to describe what you already know: those things you love doing where you start something, then look up an 6 hours have passed by. My company has everyone do it and even sponsors a couples course to bring in the significant other of employees to take it. Does wonders for marriages too. good luck!
+1 to your +1. Strengths Finder was eye-opening for me. It clearly identified some areas to explore that well suit my intellectual curiosity, in a way I haven't thought of before. Mind you, I haven't done anything with this knowledge, but at least I know what I'm not doing now!
+1^3. I worked for Gallup for several years. There were regular discussions about your strengths and how you could be approaching tasks/coworkers using your strengths and theirs. These conversations were insightful and spot on, made working there a pleasure.
Around that time, my manager's manager bought a copy of a book called _Now, Discover Your Strengths_ for everyone on his team. That book changed my life forever. The current edition is called "StrengthsFinder 2.0": http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx
What taking the StrengthsFinder inventory did for me:
- It helped me understand my personal talents better than I had ever understood them before, and it encouraged me to develop them into strengths. Prior to reading the book, I had focused on being "well-rounded". This was very eye-opening for me and it completely changed my attitude about my career.
- It encouraged me to find ways to play to my strengths in the job I hated, with the goal of finding a way to enjoy it more.
- When that didn't pan out, it gave me the courage to start looking for roles that might suit me better.
To make a long story short, since then I obtained a graduate degree that would help me develop the talents the StrengthsFinder identified, and I've had two quite different roles that both played very well to my strengths, to the point where I would call them dream jobs. It's difficult to describe just how much happier I am now than I was ten years ago.
In short, if you are looking for ideas, consider the StrengthsFinder. It seriously pulled me out of a rut, and I've seen it do the same for others as well.
As for the question about whether you should quit... consider sticking with it until you figure out what else you want to do. I didn't stay in the QA job I hated, but I did stick with QA while I was working on my Masters because it paid the bills.