Ask HN: quitting programming? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#41

Post by lobo_tuerto » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 5:54 PM UTC

This describes the feelings I had a couple of years ago.

I didn't want to know about programming anymore, I was almost completely burnt out and needed a new direction to save my love for programming.

I took some time to think and reflect upon what I wanted to do next. Then it hit me, what I really needed was a new goal for my programming skills. That's when I knew what I needed was to programming in a different light: now that I have mastered the skills to program basically anything I want I could focus on the "creating, make it happen" part of programming.

So, I think what you need is to find something worth doing with your mastered skills. Center your focus on finding that thing, the masterpiece you will make now with your new found conscience.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#42

Post by seunosewa » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 5:58 PM UTC

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:)

If Vietnam is not hard-core enough, you can try Iraq and Somalia.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#43

Post by known » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 6:13 PM UTC

In a corporate environment, you'll have the following options

      (1) Elicit Business Requirements
      (2) Design Technical Solutions
      (3) Coordinate Project Activities

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#44

Post by tjarratt » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 8:39 PM UTC

Orca wrote: post #30

I had similar feelings a couple of years ago. I was a .net programmer for 10 years and seriously considered going to dental school. Instead I bought a MacBook last thanksgiving and built an iPhone app that Apple featured and subsequently sold very well. The Mac world was a completely new area as well as mobile (was doing enterprise software). It has made programming fun because I also run a small business with it. In…

If you don't mind my asking, what was the app?

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#45

Post by tjarratt » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 8:42 PM UTC

redfloatplane wrote: post #9

Think about teaching, perhaps. Certainly for me, if I know something well enough to teach it, I've gotten bored with what I can do with it. However, if I actually then _teach_ someone, there's a constant barrage of questions, from a completely new perspective. Plus, there's always the feel-good initiative, and the money in teaching or grinds isn't bad either. Just my €0.02. :)

Great advice. I've long suspected that great programmers like Knuth and Wozniak moved into a teaching role to help themselves continue to learn, and question the world around them, as well as to give back to the community and help new generations of programmers.

Not to imply that only "great" programmers should teach - if you know something, anything, about programming, it's helpful to start blogging or writing about it. At some point your content will be indexed by search engines and you might help someone who has been hitting their head against a brick wall (we've all been there).

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#46

Post by bluekite2000 » Wed, Nov 10, 2010, 9:57 PM UTC

pragmatic wrote: post #36

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:)

Why a book store and why Vietnam?

Because vietnam is a friendly and loving country. bookstore because government-owned stores in Saigon sold really shitty English books

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#47

Post by hasenj » Thu, Nov 11, 2010, 3:24 AM UTC

Get a hobby or something.

Learn to play guitar or piano.

Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?

#48

Post by mattm » Thu, Nov 11, 2010, 10:30 AM UTC

seunosewa wrote: post #42

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:)

If Vietnam is not hard-core enough, you can try Iraq and Somalia.

This isn't the 70s. Sheesh.