Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 124 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#101

Post by gabrielblack »

em-bee wrote: post #91
gabrielblack wrote: post #37

Blacksmith. If it was possible to go back in time, I would be a blacksmith. This is my conclusion after working several years as consultant. The last project was horrible, hundreds of thousands of lines in C++ wrote by monkeys in ten years, layers of layers of crap. When I say layers I'm not speaking about architectural layers, but geological layers, like the sedimentation that trap the skeletons of dinosaurs. They i…

why not do both? like Niels Provos: https://www.wired.com/2013/02/provos/

I'm also a maker, but this guy is just entered in my pantheon of hero. Swords ! With some kind of code can be a solution, also ! :-)

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#102

Post by em-bee »

gabrielblack wrote: post #101
em-bee wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not do both? like Niels Provos: https://www.wired.com/2013/02/provos/

I'm also a maker, but this guy is just entered in my pantheon of hero. Swords ! With some kind of code can be a solution, also ! :-)

he's taking a different approach when it comes to cutting the cruft in the code he is working on. :-)

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#103

Post by muttled »

om3n wrote: post #83

Sometimes when I"m feeling burnout, I realize I'm actually falling out of love with coding for other people , and for projects I'm not passionate about. I recently picked up a side project that I've fallen in love with, and can't wait to get off work to start working on my passion project. One difference I've noticed is that I'm not learning new things with my side project (something I'm traditionally excited about);…

I like the idea of switch to "I've amassed all this knowledge, I should do something with it."

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#104

Post by kettunen »

Personally I love coding, but I don't do it primarily for a living. I do work with code daily, but more in the side of quality assurance and DevOps. This I why I can focus to code various things that are interesting for me (multiple open source and personal projects) during my free time. I believe this is big reason for why I still love coding.

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#105

Post by shath2018 »

You're definitely not alone. A big part of what drew me to customer-facing roles in tech was that I found purpose and impact from human connection.

Being able to master technical product, build relationships, solve problems, and find problems that customers didn't know they had has been a really rewarding experience. It comes with its own challenges for sure, and a whole new skillset and language, but the level of impact is huge, and the ability to code helps you relate complex concepts and learn from users.

There's some great research by Adam Grant that debunks the myth that customer-facing roles (ie: tech sales) are for non-technical extroverts. In fact, the most successful tech sales leaders develop technical skills to be thought leaders in their industries.

Happy to chat more - DM me if you have questions. I'm the founder at Flockjay (YC W19 - Tech sales education where the school doesn't get paid until you're hired) - we have amazing engineering talent in our current batch, and past graduates. We help with the transition from engineering/other backgrounds into sales.

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#106

Post by shath2018 »

julesallen wrote: post #94

So many awesome answers here. I've been through a similar route and have gone on to do a bunch of roles that had tech at their core but were not coding (so think marketing for SaaS, etc.). I still code, I still keep up, but I get to do that because it's fun and interesting, not because if I don't do it then I can't eat or have a roof over my head. There's a huge happiness difference in wanting to do it and needing to…

So pumped and proud to have you in class, and I love that we can help support you. Happy to chat w/ anyone as well re: engineer-to-sales transition. I started Flockjay for this exact reason.

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#107

Post by badpun »

weego wrote: post #11

Since moving out of large / enterprise style business and into startup culture I've definitely felt a big shift in my view of my job and role in this industry. I've shifted my perception of myself from being an engineer/programmer to seeing myself as a product person that happens to use code to express my goals. I still obviously expect and demand a high standard of code quality from myself, but I'd much rather do on…

> wrap myself up in the more esoteric solutions to coding issues. I don't constantly chase new libraries and frameworks and build tools and I don't spend time discussing semantics while pair programming.

You've just described virtually all my colleagues at my last $ENTERPRISE_JOB. In enterprise jobs, hell is other people - at least it is if you just want to get the job done.

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#108

Post by hacknat »

Are you excited and jazzed about the customer work? Or do you just prefer to do that now over coding? If you’re excited and genuinely enjoying what you do then you should probably allow yourself to just enjoy your new taste(s) and learn and grow in this new area.

If you are simply spending time in this new area over coding then I do think it could be a sign of burn out. In which case, you need to recover.

Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?

#109

Post by james_s_tayler »

sixdimensional wrote: post #84
yason wrote: post #52

Anything you do for work eventually wears out and becomes "just work". That's why it's called "work". Hobby coders can escape into the unrestricted world of building stuff without limits to satisfy their imagination and curiosity. They can also change hobbies and increase or decrease the amount of time they want to spend on coding to stay in the sweet zone. Paid coders can only carve out little, temporary nooks of fr…

Just to offer a different perspective, there are some cultures I have observed which treat spending one’s life honing their occupation to perfection as highly valuable. The Japanese and sword making is one example that springs to mind. In that context, I wonder if they too “wear out” or if they find a way/reason to enjoy it constantly, such as their concept of “ikigai” [1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai

Having worked with Japanese software engineers I'd say they more likely feel they have no ikigai. It's substantially soul crushing compared to sword making or carpentry.
Post reply on HN