I have never had a good job. Most of my life has been miserable working in QA and not finding any value in anything I do or being able to find something better.
This currently leads me to where I am today, working at a huge corp in a pool of mediocrity. The people around me have absolutely no big ambitions to do anything meaningful in life and are very comfortable with their mediocre kids. These people are happy which is a whole other topic that blows my mind.
Because I am constantly around these people, they think of me as mean and condescending. No I am not, I just can't be happy producing shit work in a company that doesn't provide me with any value. When I go home, I am not going to have fun, I am going to work on a project that can help me get away from these people. I don't allow anyone to passively say "tgif" or "its monday" to me as if I agree with their mediocre sentiment.
Maybe I am mean and that is why I can't find work, but I rather be mean than mediocre.
Are you sure you are not projecting your own attitude on them? I know testers who like that job. Not like as "I want to become famous", but like as "I actually like doing that activity and like people on that job".
To address the personal attack in second paragraph: Some of those dudes might consider their families meaningful. It is goods for kids when their parents love them even as kids are average - most kids are average so it is good when parents are comfortable with them. There is nothing wrong nor shameful about men being comfortable with their own children. Fathers are as important for children as mothers.
"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part yourself. What isn't part ourselves doesn't disturb us." - Hermann Hesse, Demian
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." - Carl Jung
Playing high status at work could be a coping mechanism. Honestly, if you're unhappy just quit and go work someplace where people are smarter than you are. But if this feeling persists, its probably time to change yourself.
I spend my nights and weekends working on side projects in the hopes that I can find a job that I like. I have been applying to jobs nonstop since becoming an adult and will continue to do so until I find something that will make me happy.
I definitely do these things constantly in the hopes of finding something that will make me happy, but after almost 10 years and nothing really to show for it, it can cause someone to go insane.
The real question is, what have you done recently to improve your skillset? If you regularly improve your skills, you won't be in that situation for long.
This currently leads me to where I am today, working at a huge corp in a pool of mediocrity. The people around me have absolutely no big ambitions to do anything meaningful in life and are very comfortable with their mediocre kids. These people are happy which is a whole other topic that blows my mind.
Because I am constantly around these people, they think of me as mean and condescending. No I am not, I just can't be happy producing shit work in a company that doesn't provide me with any value. When I go home, I am not going to have fun, I am going to work on a project that can help me get away from these people. I don't allow anyone to passively say "tgif" or "its monday" to me as if I agree with their mediocre sentiment.
Maybe I am mean and that is why I can't find work, but I rather be mean than mediocre.