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Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

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Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#11

Post by wkat4242 »

Maybe your path in life is just taking you elsewhere? It's not a big deal. I used to like programming too but it became too formal with all the frameworks like agile and scrum. I'm not a team player so having all that collaboration is really annoying. I just need a clear task with defined in/outs that I can bite into and don't want to deal with everyone else.

Also it could be that the lead role is just not your thing. But it can be difficult to change from a financial perspective. I'm also an architect and I'm not as efficient at it as when I was in more hands-on roles. Unfortunately our new director decided to split the technical work out from architecture to a new operations team and I don't want to take a pay cut because that work is less valued.

So I'm staying for now but looking around for something better.

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#12

Post by pizza »

- too much frantic hyperactivity for too long

- too short deadlines so you have to dip into 'personal' energy to meet them in time

- too much concurrent spillover of past work and getting new/constantly shifting objectives so past work always remains pending completion

- greater responsibility but less flexibility in approach

- difficulty in estimation of date of task completion, so as more time passes, more dread of looming intense future work to make up for pace

see how much any of these contribute to how you feel

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#13

Post by plants »

I’m in a bit of a privileged position, but I took a fair bit of time off to pursue personal goals. I got extremely burnt out after 6 years of full-time work at big corp (simultaneously being in part-time grad school for the final 3 years).

I found it took me 3-4 months of absolutely nothing to not feel burnt out. It took much longer than that to get to a point where I was able to pick up my computer and have fun programming again. I’m now working on a webapp that I intend to turn into a business. I have been pouring myself into it in a way that I haven’t done since I was a new hire.

Hang in there. Maybe ask your boss if you can take an unpaid sabbatical. You will ultimately be much more productive if you get a break, and the time off will give you a chance to clarify to yourself what it is that you want.

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#14

Post by lifthrasiir »

plants wrote: post #13

I’m in a bit of a privileged position, but I took a fair bit of time off to pursue personal goals. I got extremely burnt out after 6 years of full-time work at big corp (simultaneously being in part-time grad school for the final 3 years). I found it took me 3-4 months of absolutely nothing to not feel burnt out. It took much longer than that to get to a point where I was able to pick up my computer and have fun prog…

> I found it took me 3-4 months of absolutely nothing to not feel burnt out.

That seems a universal experience. And to be more clear, absolutely nothing to think about, because even a sabbatical wouldn't save you if you think about post-sabbatical matters.

I took a year of non-employment in 2022 after 7 1/2 years of working in the same big corp. My experience shows that it takes me 1 to 2 years until I start to feel burnt out and need something new to work on, and fortunately the company was able to provide such refresher on time (not necessarily at my request) but wasn't able to do this time. So I quit, and next 3--4 months were absolutely non-productive time for me. (I have a ton of side projects at any moment and I realized my burn-out from not being able to work on any of them.) But that followed by a very productive period without any frustration [1], and I was eventually energized enough at the end of 2022.

Sadly not everyone can't afford this, I know, but if you can, consider doing so too. A year should be enough to clear your mind and start anew again, assuming you don't have any other significant problem affecting your life.

[1] J40 https://github.com/lifthrasiir/j40 was mostly written in this period.

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#15

Post by khaledh »

I was in the same position several years ago. It turned out that I needed a change, both the company and the role. I was hesitant to change jobs (I'm not a frequent job hopper), but I decided to do it. It turned out to be the best decision I made. I joined a company that is engineering focused with a great culture. I also left the "architect role" to become a data engineer, and I've been enjoying my role ever since. I don't chase titles anymore; as long as I get compensated well and get to work with a great team, that's all what matters to me. This is not to say that there hasn't been periods of burnout, but I learned to detect them early and take breaks, sometimes to the point of retreating from high profile projects and focusing on maintenance work for a while to rebound.

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#19

Post by matrix87 »

enasterosophes wrote: post #5

I saw something else pass through hacker news today which looks relevant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39170399 "A Unified Theory of Fucks." The conclusion is that when you find you've stopped caring, it's because you put too much of yourself into systems and abstractions, instead of giving your love to people. Systems and abstractions can't return your love, and so it is a waste to put your love into them. W…

> I've also been having trouble articulating why I stopped GAF about computing and technology. Whenever I go for a job interview, a question is "what tech do you think is interesting or exciting right now?" and I think it's a dumb question. I actually don't GAF about kubernetes or microservices or serverless or FaaS or whatever you think is cool this year.

God I hate this. When I first got out of uni it didn't strike me as weird, but now I realize I could honestly give two shits about kubernetes or any of that

I'll think about kubernetes if they want me to, provided they pull out the fucking checkbook

> For me, it's not so much burnout, but the realization that I have lost my attachment to tech-in-itself.

It's a narrative. This idea of really caring about technology, to the point of doing a bunch of volunteer work and making a lifestyle out of it. That narrative proliferates here

Re: Ask HN: How to re-kindle my interest in computer science?

#20

Post by matrix87 »

> That said, I feel like I'm no longer interested in computer science and programming as a whole and that really bothers me

It doesn't have to be your lifestyle. It can be "just a job" that you do for money. You don't have to write a single line of code outside of work. You don't have to "care" about technology outside of work. You don't have to enjoy it in order to do it as a job

There are people who get a superiority complex over making this shit into a lifestyle. That's cool, at least for me personally I'd rather spend my weekends playing a sport or something. It's your life

Also there might be issues at your current company as other people here said. But if you're not interested in doing work adjacent stuff for free anymore, that might not necessarily be a bad thing

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