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Ask HN: quitting programming?

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Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#31

Post by bluekite2000 »

throwaway31337 wrote: post #20
edw519 wrote: post #11

You may want to consider a third option, one that has worked well for me: Solve a hard problem. This requires 3 steps: 1. Find a hard problem, with the emphasis on "Find". It must be someone else's problem, not yours. It also needs to be big enough to be important, hard enough that the elegant solution hasn't been found yet, but not so hard that you'll waste the rest of your life on it. Examples: Bad: Invent a time m…

Yes, this is indeed what I originally planned to do. Although I keep a book with the problems / ideas I have, none of them really motivates me (and I think there are about a hundred ideas in there). Given that there are enough ideas, I don't think the ideas are the problem... I guess this is the perfect solution, but I don't feel like doing that now. I have the time, some money, lots of contacts and no car, expensive…

have u considered living abroad? I spent 3 years in silicon valley and got burnt out. So i just moved to vietnam, opened a bookstore and outsourced most of the work. Then I just went out a lot and traveled a lot since Vietnam is close to everything (thailand,singapore,indo, hongkong,etc). Best years of my life by far:)

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#32

Post by throwaway31337 »

S_A_P wrote: post #28

Sounds to me like burnout. If you have been freelancing or doing some enterprise/LOB apps you are probably solving the same problem over and over again. That gets old fast. IMO, there is no way you have seen it all yet if you are just a year out of school. One way I try to stay interested is finding a segment in which I have no business knowledge. My most recent change was commodities trading software. Using the same…

Thanks. Indeed, it does get old fast. I don't have the idea that I've seen everything: there's so much more for me to learn in software development.

This weekend I'll leave on a month-long vacation with no laptop, iPad and wireless internet, so let's see if that helps a bit.

Thanks (and also, thanks to everybody else in this thread, I've already learned a lot).

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#33

Post by Blend »

The fun is never "out there", it's inside you. The only reason things don't seem fun anymore is because you've made a decision that they're not.

The lack of "challenging problems" is not the problem. Many people complain that things are too challenging to be enjoyable.

Take a vacation away from your daily routines. Just don't think about your problems for that time. When you come back again, you'll then have a bigger picture of things.

The real fun is not in solving "hard" problems. The solutions to many "complex" looking stuff is rather simple. However, we all decide that we need to have a "complex" solution for things to be fun. Don't complicate stuff.

Just try getting a different viewpoint on things. Since you're a good programmer already, it's better to use your natural talent for the better. There are a lot of problems out there which might require your expertise.

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#34

Post by cageface »

bluekite2000 wrote: post #31
throwaway31337 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is indeed what I originally planned to do. Although I keep a book with the problems / ideas I have, none of them really motivates me (and I think there are about a hundred ideas in there). Given that there are enough ideas, I don't think the ideas are the problem... I guess this is the perfect solution, but I don't feel like doing that now. I have the time, some money, lots of contacts and no car, expensive…

have u considered living abroad? I spent 3 years in silicon valley and got burnt out. So i just moved to vietnam, opened a bookstore and outsourced most of the work. Then I just went out a lot and traveled a lot since Vietnam is close to everything (thailand,singapore,indo, hongkong,etc). Best years of my life by far:)

I did exactly the same thing. It made a world of difference in my motivation. If you're smart and creative you need to mix things up occasionally.

Vietnam is a fascinating place right now.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#35

Post by cadr »

One thing that stuck out for me was the "I know a lot more than most of my peers" bit. You might see if you can find a company where you don't. I find the times where I worked with people that knew more than I did were a lot of fun, as I learned a lot from them.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#36

Post by pragmatic »

bluekite2000 wrote: post #31
throwaway31337 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is indeed what I originally planned to do. Although I keep a book with the problems / ideas I have, none of them really motivates me (and I think there are about a hundred ideas in there). Given that there are enough ideas, I don't think the ideas are the problem... I guess this is the perfect solution, but I don't feel like doing that now. I have the time, some money, lots of contacts and no car, expensive…

have u considered living abroad? I spent 3 years in silicon valley and got burnt out. So i just moved to vietnam, opened a bookstore and outsourced most of the work. Then I just went out a lot and traveled a lot since Vietnam is close to everything (thailand,singapore,indo, hongkong,etc). Best years of my life by far:)

Why a book store and why Vietnam?

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#37

Post by twymer »

As others have mentioned, your post sounds like it could be minor depression. You mention being social and liking people. Perhaps your problem is that you're keeping yourself cooped up inside while programming so when you think about new ideas, it's bringing you down because of that.

If you live in/near an urban area perhaps you could try finding a co-working space to work out of. You might get lucky depending on where you live and find one with mostly developers. Changing your work environment might change how you feel about the work you're doing.

Finding a job and deciding you really don't like programming even with the work structure and peers also would not be the end of the world. If this is the last job you have doing development, it's not likely that it will have a negative impact on you as you move to a new field.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#38

Post by bluekite2000 »

cageface wrote: post #34
bluekite2000 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

have u considered living abroad? I spent 3 years in silicon valley and got burnt out. So i just moved to vietnam, opened a bookstore and outsourced most of the work. Then I just went out a lot and traveled a lot since Vietnam is close to everything (thailand,singapore,indo, hongkong,etc). Best years of my life by far:)

I did exactly the same thing. It made a world of difference in my motivation. If you're smart and creative you need to mix things up occasionally. Vietnam is a fascinating place right now.

What? You opened a bookstore in Vietnam too? lol.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#39

Post by philwelch »

twymer wrote: post #37

As others have mentioned, your post sounds like it could be minor depression. You mention being social and liking people. Perhaps your problem is that you're keeping yourself cooped up inside while programming so when you think about new ideas, it's bringing you down because of that. If you live in/near an urban area perhaps you could try finding a co-working space to work out of. You might get lucky depending on whe…

Not only does it sound like depression, but it's curiously timed depression--we're approaching the winter months and daylight saving time just ended. Which suggests seasonal affective disorder.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#40

Post by throwaway4242 »

I feel like I've been in the exact same position as the author for the past couple years. Ever since graduating with a CS degree.

I've tried a few different things to break the rut (chronological listing): - full time 9-5er for a year - 3 month internship working at a cool start-up - freelancing from home as an independent contractor

Every time I start a new programming job I feel excited, but that feeling quickly disappears and I fall back into the same rut.

By taking breaks from programming I've only been feeding this cycle.

I've had thoughts of pursuing a career where programming is only 50% or less of the job.

Have any HNers been successful doing something like that? By starting a modest start-up perhaps?

Focusing on developing a physical product to sell online could be really fun and would seemingly entail doing lots of different things, most importantly using programming as the means to sell online and not the core work.

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