Yeah, pretty much everyone haha

I think there are a lot of people like you who end up running their own businesses. Some well (doing their stuff makes them focus well and they enjoy it), some badly (they still can't focus enough). You could give it a try. Easiest way is to get a trade.

I am not really a 9 to 5 guy and have run my own business for a couple of decades now. Success is getting enough of what you need from life and most of what you want. Status is harder to get in small business. Some make it big and get plenty of status but for every one of them there are just a lot of ordinary folk running small businesses. So long as you are Ok with that you can walk away from the "career" and make your own path with a few different income streams. You may be surprised how many corporate slaves are jealous of you. I am always reminding them that it looks good but I am the one responsible for everything and I don't have a salary.

One thing that you may well find when you step away from a directed path is that you actually have to become a lot more accommodating of others not less. I did anyway. While I was a teacher I had to reach my students' minds but that was all, so long as I arrived on time and marked the homework. When I was a gardener/ maintenance guy I just had to go to work and get cold and wet. I really had very little I had to do for others except my job. Once I got my own business (doing a trade) I suddenly had to take each customer as I found them, listen to them and meet their needs. I had to forge relationships with people who worked for me and with suppliers and to treat them well. It made me grow a lot as an individual. Some don't manage this and business then may not work out for them.

Shut the fuck up and get your six figures bro. Work is supposed to suck, it’s work. If you hate it that much just be a minimalist and retire young/jump to a different career when you’re a hundred percent sure you can sustain your lifestyle AND your career is ready to the point where you can jump seamlessly but DONT quit this job with nothing else lined up and become poor. I only say that because I’ve seen many men do just that

I feel the same way but I don't make much money at all. I have no hope of investing any potential savings to any meaningful amount for me to be able to ever retire on "time" and stop having to wage slave.

If I was making that kinda money, I would lower my expenses/liabilities, start investing into a globally diversified portfolio and other assets and try to retire by like 35-40, then move to some other place with lower cost of living and probably be a passport bro. I know people who did do that. Were making enough, started saving early enough and basically retired quite early by making smart long term investments. Not sure if that's particularly fulfilling, but at least it would solve having to 9-5...

But that's not my reality since I make little, basically just enough to live alone and cover the bills but not enough for a relationship or family or investments, nor do I have any high paying skills and I am already 29. Future is looking grey and bleak. Sleep, eat, work, maybe workout and surf the internet and that's it.

Luckily at least my job is not too stressful or annoying, so at least I don't have to drag myself through it, but if I don't do something for the long term to start making more money in a better way, then I think I will remain unfulfilled and just existing, alone, and not living, just going through the motions.

I’m 30 and I also work in a corporate tech job, similar salary and all that. I had exactly the same realization at 27 or so. Did the whole changing to a different job in tech and all that, but still boring. A few things that worked for me…

1: realize that once you’ve learned how to do your corporate job, most days you really only need to do about 4 hours of work each day. The rest is either pretending to work or just plain boring. It’s depressing, but better to accept it how it is than wish for something better.

Edit: in general in life, you can’t find fulfillment by just doing what society tells you and working for someone else. The idea of finding a fulfilling job is inherently wrong. It is up to you, the individual, to find self-fulfillment. If it happens to be your job, it’s a lucky coincidence.

2: what really helped me was finding things outside work to care about. For me, that was a tutoring side hustle, and competitive running, like trying to win races and improve my times. Try different hobbies/hustles out and see what sticks.

3: there’s huge benefit in staying in the tech industry for a few years and saving up. With the savings you can get fuck you money/buy a house/start your own business. And a key advantage you and I have that older people in tech have: we aren’t tied down by marriage and kids. My 60 year old mentor is bored too, but his wife refuses to work (and could never make 6 figures anyway). Remember that our boredom is a luxury. Did I mention that you shouldn’t get married? Yeah, it’s a trap in more ways than one.

Bonus: never date/fuck/relationship with a woman at work. Besides the usual HR risk, tech girls are masculine and don’t look up to you ie they don’t respect you. I went on 3 dates with a girl at work once, she was a raging feminist (despite wanting to take a few years off to make babies lol), and I never even got a kiss in, let alone a fuck.

Anyone else had a similar experience? What did you do?

Well yes, this is pretty common.

I'll just say this:

It's your life, it's your choice. You decide what you want to do, and other people decide what they want to pay you to do.

"It bores me" isn't good enough. Work bores EVERYONE.

You need to find something else that people will pay you to do. Complaining doesn't fix it. Finding a solution that works for you fixes it.