I’ve never fallen out of love with coding, and I can’t imagine that happening. At its core, it’s logical problem solving, and that’s what I was born to do. I’ve DEFINITELY fallen out of love with companies, languages, platforms, etc. though. Perhaps it’s time for a change of some kind?
Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
111–120 of 124 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Got any recommended books on product management?
Here's a list of books I have compiled as a fairly fresh PM (just getting started with the reading). The intention with this list is to built up a good mental tool box to succeed in product management (coming from SW+chip design). PM: - Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love - The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback - Escaping the Build Trap: How Ef…
Writing Great Specifications by Gherkin
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#113I burnt out on coding a few years ago because of the painful development process in a professional environment. Dead lines, boring work, bug fixes, politics, micro management, etc. Here is exactly what I did:
1. I quit my full time job (I was working at a FAANG), took a 2 month break in order to travel, work out etc, then I started working on my own projects. I was coding from 7am to 1am from Monday to Sunday, 6 months in a row. This doesn't include coding only, I also worked on UX, marketing, legal, anything involved in building a product from scratch. I enjoyed every minute of it and learned so much...
2. This got me into Product Management. I started focusing on product management only and started bootstrapping the whole thing to iterate on more ideas. It ended up not working so well so I started applying for PM roles. I got some opportunities here and there but they weren't as good as I wanted. Being a Tech lead having to start at the bottom of the PM chain. It felt like I was over qualified for an entry level role and would not get qualified for a Senior PM role because of a lack of "PM" experience.
3. So I went back to coding for a large company as a lead.
4. Quickly transitioned into Management and moved away from coding again.
There you have it. Coding became a second nature but I can't be as productive as I used to be in the past. So why would I try to compete against young and fresh people? I found out I was more valuable in designing systems, optimizing existing infrastructures, asking questions young engineers don't really think about because of a lack of experience. The act of coding per-se isn't for me anymore. That's it. There are many ways to move away from coding without losing all your valuable years of experience.
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
How easy would you say it is to move back into a developer role if I say switch into product management role? I am scared I will be asked a lot about why I am switching back into coding and why I left it in the first place? I am scared of coming across as indecisive
If you are asked that question this is the sort of answer you give: "I was given an opportunity to lead a product I was very excited about, and I took it. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot, but ultimately now I'm glad to be moving back into a developer role." If you can truthfully say that, you're conveying not indecision, but rather showing the flow of your career path. That is something that is expecte…
And if you have leadership experience, you could always step back into that role if the needs of the company change (e.g. project lead leaves the company and they need someone to fill in until they get a replacement).
My previous company saw project management as a step up, whereas I see it as just another role. Many engineers make poor project leads, and many project leads make poor engineers. Unfortunately, our society values "people" jobs like leadership positions more than technical jobs, so people will see it as a downgrade (especially those in management).
Ignore that noise and do the thing you like that helps you meet your other goals (financial, lifestyle, etc).
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#115I have taken multi-year breaks from programming several times (network engineer, academic, etc). To me it feels great to have a change of pace and focus. Have been in biz dev role too. After a while that too became boring - same issues, different faces. The biggest stumbling block in "solutioning" is when the programmers responsible for implementing your vision drop the ball and you have to face the customer and expl…
[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#116I think a lot of it is coding is gluing stuff together nowadays. It's like being a skilled bricklayer and now you've had a taste of being the foreman and you like it. You still like to make a good wall, but making walls all day gets boring. I understand.
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's a good counter-point to my comment. I have observed the same, I should have realized it too, as I work with them in my current job. The Japanese also have the concept of "karōshi" or "death by overwork", as I understand it. So there are definitely extremes and software engineering it is no exception.
I guess then it falls back to the OP's question, in the sense, is it something soul crushing about the nature of coding, software engineering etc.?
Having felt the crush myself, I often attribute it to the endless hamster wheel of always being behind on all the developments because it changes so fast, and never seeming "good enough" for the particular job or project. That's a little bit of "imposter syndrome" speaking, but it's also a lot of reality - job requirements vs. what you know often seeming to be at odds with one another.
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's a good counter-point to my comment. I have observed the same, I should have realized it too, as I work with them in my current job. The Japanese also have the concept of "karōshi" or "death by overwork", as I understand it. So there are definitely extremes and software engineering it is no exception. I guess then it falls back to the OP's question, in the sense, is it something soul crushing about the nature o…
10/10 it's the hamster wheel. That gets everyone.
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#119No. It is not. The secret to a fulfilling life is to figure out what you like and then do it. A wise man once remarked: "If you are working hard, you are not working at all."
Re: Ask HN: Is it normal to fall out of love with coding?
#120It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work. One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending t…
Thanks for the reply. In fact I have been considering moving into product management as it feels like a more stronger fit. However, I am scared if this is the right choice or if I might regret leaving coding. I could always code as a hobby I guess.
And if you do regret leaving coding, you could always go back to it