LimitedWard

Here's my unsolicited advice from a software engineer who fluctuates on this:

Try pair programming

Some of my most satisfying work was done in collaboration with my coworkers. Not only did it add an extra social element, the end result came out better than how either of us could have designed the feature on our own.

Try to view your accomplishments in aggregate

My company has us write up self-reviews every 6 months where we summarize all the stuff we got done and what we could have done better. I find this to be a great opportunity to go back through the kanban board and reminisce on all the features I helped ship. Even if you're programming personal projects this is a good exercise.

Try to find external validation if it helps

This validation can come from various sources. Sometimes it comes from asking for feedback from your manager or coworkers. Other times it can come from customer feedback. It may seem shallow, but hearing praise from others for your work helps to reaffirm that what you do matters to others.

Idk how much of these tips apply to your scenario, especially in IT, but I hope they can be adapted in some way. Ultimately the biggest factor in gaining satisfaction from your work is whether or not you actually like doing it. That's harder to change.

I like being able to surf the internet without having 90% of my screen plastered with ads as I scroll. Also fuck those ads that load 10 seconds after the article causing you to click them when you go to click on a link.