Learn Haskell ;)
It helped me find excitement. It did the same for Edward Kmett: https://www.quora.com/Reviews-of-Haskell/review/Edward-Kmett
Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
31–40 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#32With your code skills and business aspirations, why not create a "set it and forget it" style product? Create some freemium app; Dominate a niche enterprise market.. Income hack.
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#33After about 7 years of professional programming, every day I'm in awe at how much I don't know and how much understanding it would make my life better. The amount of stuff I want to learn seems to increase daily. I can't see myself be even close to being "done" in 10 years.
There's so much depth, beauty and challenge to be found in language design, API design, architecture of scalable distributed systems, design of human and computer-friendly tools, refining one's mastery of various programming paradigms (working daily with Clojure and Haskell will keep you busy and interested for many years). Learning about OS internals, graphics programming, networking etc is mind-blowing. Find inspiration in the great work of those who came before like all the people featured in the AOSA books. If you ever reach the point where you've done everything you can as an individual contributor, you still have a lifetime ahead of you mastering how to inspire, coach and pass on wisdom to the more junior members of the team, share your shokunin-like fervor for software with them.
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#34You don't mention any details of your current role. Are you full-time or contract?
If it's the former, you could always try contracting for a while. A few potential benefits:
- You're only in the same organisation for 6-12 months so it's less likely to get stale.
- You'll earn more $/day so you can take more time out to pursue other interests, holiday, play with your kids etc
- It's a solid precursor to starting that 'successful tech business' that you dream about. You're less likely to break out and pursue that while you're earning wages.
Of course if you have a family to support then a lot will depend on your financial situation. But as another poster said you should be in reasonable shape if you've been a dev for 15 years...
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#35Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#36How can one be bored with programming? Am I the only one never bored when left alone somewhere? There's always more to learn, more to do, to experiment with, etc. It's really a shame to read such a question. I don't even want to work with you.
> Am I the only one never bored when left alone somewhere?
Ah, boasting disguised as a response.
> I don't even want to work with you.
And a really cruel, personal insult to finish off with.
This sort of attitude needs to end. It absolutely infests tech sites.
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#37Awhile back I started working on some Project Euler problems and found that some of my passion for programming returned. Also, pursuing some projects of great personal interest to me helped, but the repetitive annoyances (rabbit hole/yak shaving issues, horrible API documentation and frustrating APIs, etc.) still got to me eventually. Ultimately, I began to realize that what made me happy with my work in the past was having good people around me, regardless of whatever death-march project I was on.
Show me a passionate, mature software developer and I'll show you someone with a good social work environment.
Oh, and never underestimate the power of a real vacation. I'm talking two weeks swimming and reading (non-tech stuff) on a beach somewhere, never fretting about your real-life and tech problems. Really, how many of us ever experience such relief?
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#38With your code skills and business aspirations, why not create a "set it and forget it" style product? Create some freemium app; Dominate a niche enterprise market.. Income hack.
Fancy words..
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#39I would suspect you are probably less bored with programming but probably bored with your job as a whole. It's likely time to move from day-to-day programmer to a management role. If you are as experienced as you seem you should really consider it. It will present a number of new challenges and leading your peers to do great work will likely be a whole new challenge.
Management (especially managing people) isn't for everyone. I tried it for several years, burned out on it, and went back to being a developer.
Re: Ask HN: I'm bored with programming, what should I do?
#40>I have some pretty significant overheads to meet each month.
Do whatever you can to reduce your overheads. A few years of sacrificing to cut your overheads can be hugely beneficial to your overall happiness. I know this is easier said than done but, if you have any debts, get rid of them as soon as you are able to.
>I dream one day of running my own successful tech business.
Have you considered starting something in your spare time? Do some freelancing, build some gizmo and release it online or whatever takes your fancy. You don't need to spend any money to step out of the employee box and to start developing a side income or outside projects. If anything it helps with saving money as you find yourself spending more time tinkering instead of being out spending money.
I don't know what you do exactly but I had great fun doing onegameamonth.com I did this free course https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython then started making crappy little games and had great fun doing it.
Go check out coursera.org, edx.org and udacity.com. Take some free courses in whatever amuses you. Either something technical to broaden your skills or something totally unrelated just because you want to.