Ask HN: I am 30+ and bored with life and the software industry, what do I do?

I feel this statement is way too subjective and has been used very often in the industry in a negative way. Just because one does not understand the depth of the problem or style doesn't necessarily mean the style is bad or the solution is bad. I first realized this when I picked up AOCP.

> OO can definitely be overused, but honestly 99% of the problems I face are people just writing unmaintainable, procedural code.

I've seen unmaintainable OO code and maintainable procedural code.

> OO can often be less simple (harder to read all at once) but that's the trade off we devs need to balance when writing code.

And it's often vague when rules of maintainability pops up somewhere and people try to pick that up. Suddenly, it feels like there is no need of "Science" in CS.

> I don't want to sound condescending but is it possible you are making excuses for learning hard things. Maybe it's the people you work with who are pushing it down your throat the wrong way.

May be it is the people but then you have to deal with people in the industry. Not too sure about what you mean by "hard things". The hardest problem I've faced at work was the interview question (in a Fortune 500).

Some other ideas:

- Spend your free time (and take some extra time off) to do something new non-computer related: gardening, mountainbiking, climbing, etc. Sometimes, computers are just work (until you have more inspiration), which is ok - it pays the bills, find the challenge somewhere else.

- Try some vipassana meditation classes. It can be really insightful to see how the mind works.

- Take a year off, travel the world (relax a little before a real burn out hits you).

- (If applicable) Start a family :). We have a 1.5 year-old daughter, it's great to just watch her play, going for a walk in mountains with her, etc.

Recognizing "the churn" so often present in our industry is a major milestone in maturation as a person delivering solutions to problems via creating software. The rush many initially experience when exposed to the fact that their thoughts can be reified as programs which dutifully encode their wishes is quite intoxicating. Key here is "initially."

Progression from "I can make a computer do what I want" to "I can make my favourite environment do what other environments do" is a short leap indeed. Herein begins "the churn." Specifically, I mean that problems previously solved in other environments present themselves as an opportunity to be transcoded into (insert environment here). It is far easier to dissect an existing solution and produce an equivalent in another language than it is to tackle something new.

With this background established, let's discuss some of the specific points you have broached.

> I used to love software/programming but it's getting boring now.

A lot of responses have said you might be burnt out. I do not belive this is the case based on what you have written and the title of this thread. Instead, perhaps the fact you are "bored with life and software industry" is because the passion you have for what you love to do has been muted (more on that in just a moment and not the same as burnout).

> It seems so clear to me that so much futile effort is being put into building yet another language, yet another editor, yet another UI rework, yet another infrastructure rework. And for what, just because people would have something to show for.

This is experiencing enlightenment. When this sort of epiphany happens, seeing efforts addressing the same things over and over again becomes obvious (as you state). And once our eyes are open, we cannot close them again. Given a situation where a person has experienced this type of growth, yet may not feel they are in a position to progress with it, some combination of boredom/frustration/dejection/futility are sure to follow.

> Does it get any better ?

Yes. And you are at the precipice of it being so.

It gets better by accepting that those junior in the field experience the aforementioned progression and will duplicate projects often for the ease of being able to simply transcode. And that's OK, as they are in a period of discovery which is entirely new to them.

It gets better by recognizing that still others will reinvent the wheel just because that is all they can do. Their growth has stopped for whatever reason. And that's sad, but their choice.

It gets better by realizing that you have reached the point where you can discern duplicate efforts and choose what of those offerings are best for your way of thinking and/or working.

Finally, it gets better by allowing yourself to choose your own path, trusting your awareness/experience, with what you feel is best for how you can optimally do what you love to do, and eschewing what others espouse since they simply are not you.

So I'm reading maths and physics now. The joy in my life is actually from taking things to pieces and seeing how they work and there is plenty of that there.

For more of being with you, my company drank the microservices kool aid. Rather than concentrate on building a quality product we've got buzzword soaked boiled shit that doesn't work properly. There's nothing wrong with microservices in principle but they lack the talent and experience to pull it off. So there I am, a doomsayer, a figurehead on a ship of fools.

Edit: Just to add, I work for liars and a personality cult and that is the root cause. Why don't I leave? Money is amazing and that gives me the freedom I need.