Does keeping to yourself at work hurt your career?
Employees who prefer to just do their work and go home fear they are naive about how much advancement depends on relationships. Even with good performance reviews, they worry that failing to network internally will leave them stuck doing the same thing rather than growing.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1moving the mouse every 15 minutes to stay active onlineDid this help you?
- 2giving vague updates during meetings like "still auditing the back-end"Did this help you?
- 3being told by others to just enjoy the free paycheck and quiet quitDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I know I sound insanely ungrateful, but having literally zero work to do is slowly destroying me?”source ↗
“Since then, my daily routine is literally moving my mouse every 15 minutes, answering maybe two emails a week”source ↗
“i feel like my brain is rotting. I tried updating my resume last weekend and relly couldn’t write down a single tangible skill I’ve used since last summer.”source ↗
“I’m genuinely terrified I’m making myself completely unemployable.”source ↗
“A friend told me I am hurting my career by not networking internally. I genuinely just prefer to do the work and go home. I am not unhappy and my reviews are good. But now I am worried I am being naive about how much of advancement is really about relationships. Is keeping to yourself actually a career liability, or is that advice oversold?”source ↗
“I feel I'm wasting my career growth I'm not lying they pay pretty well, but again I will be stuck doing the same thing”source ↗
“I'm passionate a career in forensic accounting, but in order to get this position I need to have experience in IA, or risk analyst”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 20Why do I feel so far behind in my career compared to others?
- 7How hard is it to switch careers after starting in a niche role?
- 2Will past job mistakes block my professional license?
- 15How to change careers when you are stuck in a niche
- 6Should I give up a comfortable remote job for career growth?
- 12Should I quit my demanding job for a simpler, lower-paying one?