I would highly recommend the book : "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. It's a great book about understanding depression and the steps you can take to fix it.

It helped me a lot, and still does, when I find myself spiraling down.

I have a CS degree so I have read the basic texts on Algorithms, Operating Systems, Compilers.

I recently got through the Design Patterns book. I was thinking of picking up either a new language (Go) or start the "Mastering Regular Expressions" book, not sure which.

I think that, in most cases, regular expressions will do you more good as a tool than Go will. I have not read Mastering Regular Expressions, but due to their ubiquity, they have probably led to a 5% increase in my productivity as a software engineer. I highly doubt that Go will do that for you except in some very rare cases.

Have you considered reading some software engineering classics as well?

Code Complete, Rapid Development, The Mythical Man-Month, The Pragmatic Programmer, Peopleware and A Discipline for Software Engineering? (The last one is controversial).

I have read Peopleware. I was thinking about getting The Pragmatic Programmer next. I somehow feel that just reading books without doing anything with the knowledge doesn't work.

The books I enjoyed the most were Richard Stevens' Network Programming and Unix Programming books. Those books teach you a ton of things while helping you implement something useful. They were very hands on. I haven't been able to find anything similar in a long while.

I think we're on different pages. The books I recommended aren't API, framework, language, CS kinds of books. They're books which discuss being a software engineer.

Are they immediately applicable? Sometimes. Are they applicable for the rest of your career? Definitely.

Yes, I almost ended up accepting the other job offer. However, the management there (as I found out later) was worse than where I am currently.

Updated the description to answer some of the questions the community asked.

I didn't get a good vibe when I went in for the interviews. I didn't think I would fit it very well.

Maybe the were just a little bit nerdy... In any case, your old job sounds so horrible that I would try anything to quit. But there must be more than 2 jobs in the world?

Well, of all the jobs I could like, I narrowed it down to two. And of those two, only one of them made the offer. So even though I liked the position at first, I wasn't so sure after I was done with the interviews.

I think I'll give the team another shot and try to talk to a senior person about what I would be doing and what my role and responsibilities will be.

Well, I guess it's more of the delusion of my team at my current workplace that's causing a lot of mental pain. Too many people thinking they are the greatest developer ever and that their ideas are world-changing. The management apparently has similar delusions of grandeur.

After a day of seeing all this and good ideas being scoffed at, I feel so listless and drained that I don't feel like doing anything.

Well, I do understand that. However, if a job actively sucking your energy instead of giving you the occasional good-feeling of going somewhere, something is wrong.

If the job is not providing enough fodder for your mind to stay alert, it shouldn't actively drain you / make you feel listsless.

I understand, if your Energy is being drained that bad - constantly, maybe the attitude that "life's too short to be stuck in a crummy job" is the way to go. Security is way over-rated anyway, companys go bust, get taken over, managers change.

Thanks for the advice, guys. It has made things a lot more clear.

"don't stay too comfortable for too long" : very well said!

Thanks for the advice! It makes total sense. I can, at this time, afford to take chances. And you make a very good point: There's no better time to take chances except now. It'll only get worse with time.