u/Few-Selection-8097

I started working in late 2022 (joined big tech), and so pretty much right as I entered the workforce, things went to shit with layoffs, etc. I came in starry eyed and ambitious and 4 years later I'm a shell of my former self and am daydreaming about an exit plan, wondering how long I can withstand this, wondering how other people have been in this for decades.

While I'm lucky to still have my job, corporate anxiety, politics, and optics over real work, has left me jaded and unmotivated completely. I don't believe in anything we do. At the same time, I feel golden handcuffs because even though I'm miserable, I'm lucky to even have a job in the first place, least of all one that pays decent.

I know my sentiment is common nowadays, but my question is - was it always like this? For those who worked in tech pre 2022, was your work life/overall outlook any better back then? Or have these things always existed inherently as a part of corporate? How much of this is genuinely a symptom of today's current environment, vs a personal thing for me?

I realize this is the battle of the soulless neighborhoods. My partner and I (mid-20s) live in UWS and love the area, but go to office 4-5 days a week near Union Sq, and looking for mainly a seamless commute to work, and would be nice to be closer to fun where we hang in lower manhattan and wburg. We've visited LIC a few times due to friends living there, never loved the area as a neighborhood, but it's convenient, safe, and we have friends there. Downtown BK have been only once, but we liked that it seems to have more food options and walkable to other neighborhoods like Fort Greene, while LIC seems a little more removed, and less to do within the vicinity.

We have apartment options in both (Jay St Metro Tech in BK and Court Sq in LIC), that are similar enough where it's really just a battle of location. We do plan on visiting both again, but wanted to get a general feel from you all in case there's something we're not seeing/thinking about.