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

I've been programming since I was 8. It has always been to me what gaming seems to be to a lot of people.

It's always been a means to exercise my brain and solve interesting problems. An escape from the mundane triviality of life.

I've never been in love with programming just to program. I've always been in love with that "Oh! I get it!" moment when you finally figure something out. The next piece of the puzzle. Forever working towards the big boss of the next level - delivery.

Gaming never held my attention. Programming for me seems to be a never ending journey of discovery, forever chasing that moment of realization. Programming is just a means of expressing my solutions in one of a handful of languages I speak. It just so happens that the languages are technical rather than verbal.

Did you fall out of love with language or did you fall out of love with solving problems? "Solutioning" as you put it isn't any different than programming - you just feel like you need to express your solutions in a different form... a new language. Perhaps it's at a higher level now rather than being stuck in the details.

Sometimes when I"m feeling burnout, I realize I'm actually falling out of love with coding for other people, and for projects I'm not passionate about.

I recently picked up a side project that I've fallen in love with, and can't wait to get off work to start working on my passion project.

One difference I've noticed is that I'm not learning new things with my side project (something I'm traditionally excited about); I'm using what I already know to build something great.

In this project "coding" isn't the end, it's the means to the end I really want- and therefore it's not even about the coding, it's about the project.

First check if its one of these things. (a) Did you always want to start a company, and has the success of acqui-hire made you feel accomplished and thus burnt out motivation to code? (b) Is this your first experience with customers and are you smitten by the novelty of it?

I ask this because I had something relatable but wrt education. For three years, aged 16 to 18, I was deep into science and maths as I wanted to get into mechanical engineering at a good college, and these subjects were the key. I did quite well in the entrance exam and achieved what I aspired for. I was excited and did really well the first semester. Then, per chance, I visited the city library, for the first time, and saw a big hall full of books of all kinds on liberal arts topics. Having been immersed in STEM topics for so long, I was instantly taken in by its charm. I had never seen anything like that before and I indulged in it full time. I lost all interest in my engineering for the next few years, and my grades took a nose dive, but I did come to my senses and recover eventually. After I joined the software industry I had occasional flings of this kind with other topics but my past experience made me more prudent in dealing with them. I take that as a great life lesson.

I like doing both more than I like either one on it's own. Coding in a bubble and discussing through mediators are both sub-optimal and they take away the best part of being a programmer, seeing the user/customer reaction when they get exactly what they wanted from something you built.

I started coding for fun while an undergraduate in the late 60's and spent much of my time coding until I recently retired, except for one year when I dedicated my time to directing a project that led to a major system for the company. Most of that time was as a researcher and I had the freedom to use whatever language seemed appropriate. The list grew to dozens (anyone remember Bliss, Metafont, SAIL or the great SIGMA assembler?), finally ending up in Python within Hadoop. Since retirement I've time with J after spending a year or two with APL in the 70's.

I find I'm losing the absolute need to code, but I can't think of anything else that could have offered me the variety, depth and engagement (not to mention a reasonable salary) that coding has over the last 50 years.