BACKSTORY: Hey folks. As the title says, I've been a PM for 1 year. Came from a non-technical background with some Javascript/Python in college, and a Product School bootcamp course. I used to be in tech support at my company before I was moved to the Product team.

Despite having been with the company for over 2 years I've never had a formal review. I'm told I do good work, but even though my title is PM on all of my projects I'm working with the director of product. They guide me in what to do, meet with leadership, and prioritize. I can speak up about what I think should be prioritized, but I'm not involved in those decisions directly.

My supervisor has other responsibilities, though, and I find myself with a decent amount of time where my to-do list is empty because I'm waiting for other people to get back to me.

PROBLEM: I'm not sure what to do with myself. Part of me feels like I should work on side projects at the company - but I'm not sure whether the work will be wasted if we decide not to do it/go in a different direction. I also regularly pull data and use SQL in my company, so I'm also considering a data analytics course to beef up my resume (and get me beyond my $80K, no equity, no bonus salary). And I've also been feeling disheartened with the sense that, if I need to be supervised this heavily, I must not be cut out to be a PM. I'm trying to reframe it as a mentorship opportunity, but with COVID stuff going on I've also been in a bad space mentally and my general motivation is shot.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of ennui in their careers? What helped revive/revitalize you?