I've just lost the passion for developing software :(
I've taken 3 months off so far, but still can't bring myself to open up some code - I'm wondering now if I should think about changing career completely, what can an ex-developer retrain into?
1–10 of 83 posts
I've just lost the passion for developing software :(
I've taken 3 months off so far, but still can't bring myself to open up some code - I'm wondering now if I should think about changing career completely, what can an ex-developer retrain into?
Or if you like to travel frequently, look at becoming a sales engineer.
Or do consulting, become self employed, start a company, etc.
Lots of options, but you have to find something that inspires you. Take another few months off if you can afford it, travel around, get involved in things that interest you in and out of the industry, engage in hobbies, eventually something will strike your fancy.
1) after talking to my wife and my doctor I got a counselor. Well really a team of mental health professionals. My counselor and a psychiatrist to help with meds really helped. I started out by taking some medication and doing weekly one on one therapy. Over time I actually got off of medication and the therapy reduced to every other week and then monthly. I still see my counselor every month. He’s amazing. I am so glad I sucked up my pride and met and talked to him.
2) through therapy I realized that I didn’t have an identity outside of being a software developer. That’s what was burning me out. I wasn’t Tim the person who has a family and interests and develops software. I was Tim: software developer. The end. This turns out to be really bad. I had to remember who I am other than software developer. All I ever did was work or think about work or work on other things that were just like work.
3) in discovering who I am I remembered my other passions in life. I spent more time with my family and enjoy the time more. I spend a little time with just myself and that is ok too. I enjoy hobbies (mine are recreational math, reading legal briefings (I’m aware this is weird), crocheting, and writing short stories). I do these by myself or with my kids and wife. It’s nice.
4) now when I sit down to code it’s deliberate and I don’t feel passion towards it as much. I'm okay with that. Coding is work and pays bills and makes me happy in that way. And when I’m done with it for today I’m ok with that too.
Ironically enough I’m more successful in coding and business than I have been in many many years. It’s great. It hasn’t harmed me at all.
So I would suggest not giving up on coding. It pays the bills well and it’s a good career. I’d suggest going to talking to a professional. Figure out what the underlying issues are and fix those.
I’d be glad to answer any questions you have.
But, if you want to keep it close, you can do analytic or managemnt work. Analysts with development bacground have advantage.
Or maybe don't code yet, just read about theory - math, engineering, organization and soft skills for a bit. Maybe you will start to get feel for coding after you do related but different activities for a while.
I'm currently in a phase where I still get satisfaction from design and coding but the things I have to work on right now just aren't that interesting.
I'm not feeling a high from my current work. It seems trivial, boring, reducing tech debt that I just don't find interesting at this point in my career.
The dopamine release isn't there and my previous work was giving that to me daily in large quantities.
I'm considering changing teams.
At some level though, I am in the same boat as you. I don't want to just write lines of code. I want a bit more.
Since this started happening, I've enrolled in courses on Coursera and Khan Academy. I'm leaning about deep neural networks and machine learning. The amount of information is staggering.
I have one stream on just relearning or newly learning some of the math. I have another stream just watching ML and neural net tutorials and articles to become as familiar as I can. Then, there's a third stream of actually coding through some exercises.
Motivation comes and goes. Stay disciplined and find something that really excites you.
If you're just done with development, maybe consider a step into management.
Most new parents seem to be perpetually short of sleep and exhausted for the first two years. Being exhausted can make intellectually challenging things just too hard to cope with.
I will suggest that it is possible you are just tired and should consider finding employment that is less mentally taxing for now. Consider the possibility that when things settle down, you may want to go back to coding.