I am in need for help but not sure whom to ask. To be honest, my other developer friends are also on the same boat. So, I hope somebody out here can help me.
I am 30yr old software developer with 9+ yrs of experience in Java/J2EE. I have worked throughout the stack. I have managed mid sized teams and I have also worked as an individual contributor. I have reasonable exposure to Python and R.
I have done some good work in building APIs, learning frameworks like Spring, Hibernate, Jersey, AMQP implementations (the usual mix), and work on personal projects where I got to learn a bit of NLP/ Machine Learning.
I am confident about evaluating a framework, learning it and putting it to use in the project. Although, I never got a chance to master any of the frameworks I'd learnt. Largely, my fault.
Whenever I start looking out for a job I brush up my core Algorithm/Data Structure skills and it helps me get through the interviews. Since I've worked throughout the stack I get questions ranging from OOPS to Continuous Deployment. I answer things which I'd done/read in the past. But I feel miserable for not keeping up.
I find it difficult to solve HackerRank problems on a daily basis because my work demands me to learn/focus on something that's totally unrelated to these problems. For example, one day it'd be a new BPMN tool, or a new NoSQL DB, or even a new Javascript library.
I try to keep up but it just becomes too much at times. I feel tired and overwhelmed. I also want to have a life outside of work. I want to be able to read books, watch movies without the fear of it jeopardizing my career.
Questions:-
- Has anyone feel/felt the same way? How did you overcome this dilemma of "want to do everything but end up doing nothing" ?
- How do you manage your time?
- Can a person be successful in his/her career and at the same time have fun outside of work ?
Thanks in advance
~k