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

I couldn't have expressed it any better. This is it for me, it kills it for me when "coding isn't seen as anything but a chore that needs to be done towards the business goal. A necessary annoyance, where the real purpose is something that doesn't require coding. And that really kills the enjoyment for a lot of devs".

I began feeling that way at my previous job and left about 2 months ago. Now I am in my new job at a startup going through hypergrowth and I feel like development and solutioning is so intertwined and we go back to the drawing board so often and the dynamics of so fluid that I get to feel a more obvious sense of purpose.

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.

First of all, I would say it is absolutely normal to fall out of love with coding, and I wouldn't worry about it! If you're enjoying what you are doing, that's a good thing.

Unlike the top comment, I don't think this has to be a sign of burning out (although it can be) - humans are complex beings. The world changes, and we change as well. What was enjoyable to you 15 years ago may not be as enjoyable now, and what you enjoy now might not be what you will do for the rest of your life. At the same time, if you find that you miss coding, you can always return to it later.

If life pulls you towards a more customer-facing role and you discover that you like it, that's a best case scenario to me! Go for it.

I've been coding since childhood and I'm 38 now - and I have had periods where I did other things and enjoyed that as much if not more than coding. Rediscovering a passion is a great experience in itself, worth having at least once.

Is it coding in general, or what you've been coding? I've had projects that I thrived on and couldn't get enough of. I woke up actually excited and couldn't wait to get to work. It obsessed me. I wouldn't want to take breaks. I'd work late and time would just pass with me in a zone. What I was doing excited me. It had utility. It had purpose that I could see. It used new tech that challenged me. It was hard work, but very rewarding.

I've also had projects that I absolutely hated. I didn't believe in what the customer was doing, it was the same 'ol thing, etc. Bland. Cookie cutter. Boring. You get a few of those in a row and you question everything. Luckily, as I progressed in my career, I can pretty much pick and choose what I do and can turn down projects without even giving it a second thought, but I had to get to that point.

You're relatively young still. That's not to be demeaning. We go through stages of life. You don't just stop growing and keep the same interests. Maybe you just weren't exposed to a more social role before like you're in now, so you didn't even know you'd enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with changing direction, as long as it's a positive move for you. Only you can know that. It gets harder to change anything about yourself the older you get, so if you're gonna make a change, I wouldn't wait too long.

I 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 explain the delay, cost over-run, etc. For me that was too stressful over the long-run.