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Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

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Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#61

Post by SE4L »

some_account wrote: post #17
poulsbohemian wrote: post #6

Identify _why_ you have lost passion for developing software. I can think of dozens of reasons _why_ you could reach this point, but the answer will direct you toward the next destination.

I'm not burned out but my reason for moving away from coding is simple. It's not fun in a open office environment with "agile" way of working. I got tired of feeling like a factory worker.

Agile methods improved things for a while in my book. Because the old style was WAY worse. Long projects that were designed by people who knew little about the problem or the complexities involved. Everything was under bid and it resulted in every project going through at least 1 death March period. But I think SCRUM has made things too formulaic and it causes bad decisions in project management. I still think it is better than waterfall.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#62

Post by Latteland »

aragorn2 wrote: post #53
trcollinson wrote: post #5

I have been coding since the 90s. This year I finally felt really burnt out. It got so bad I was upset, miserable, and lost all passion for working. I have 6 kids and a wife with a chronic untreatable disorder so I couldn’t just quit. And I’m glad I didn’t, it turns out that wouldn’t have helped. Here’s what I did and what I would suggest: 1) after talking to my wife and my doctor I got a counselor. Well really a tea…

Your second point has made me realize that not having identity outside of work is the biggest source of my anxiety. Thanks! I also can’t seem to stop thinking about work. Maybe it’s related to that point. I can’t enjoy anything since there is always “but you should be solving problem X” in the back of my mind. Maybe it’s the type of personality I have - if there is a problem, I can’t stop ruminating about it. It’s mo…

I get that feeling too that I can't enjoy anything until I get a problem done. Then I do that big thing, and for a few days I feel relief until another issue comes up that I have to do, but don't want to do or its hard and scary.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#63

Post by aragorn2 »

Latteland wrote: post #62
aragorn2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your second point has made me realize that not having identity outside of work is the biggest source of my anxiety. Thanks! I also can’t seem to stop thinking about work. Maybe it’s related to that point. I can’t enjoy anything since there is always “but you should be solving problem X” in the back of my mind. Maybe it’s the type of personality I have - if there is a problem, I can’t stop ruminating about it. It’s mo…

I get that feeling too that I can't enjoy anything until I get a problem done. Then I do that big thing, and for a few days I feel relief until another issue comes up that I have to do, but don't want to do or its hard and scary.

I get what you’re saying. I wish it were like that for me. I can’t get anything done. Maybe it’s the type of work. Upper management is always uhappy, users are hostile (for a reason), enormous technological debt paralizing all development. I am simply incompetent to deal with people, juggle the requests and politics. It’s been like this for more then ten years. I am sick to my stomack when thinking about our software product. I’m taking anxiety medication, have stress related heart condition. I don’t know why am writing this. I’m venting I guess. Not a place for that. I will stop now.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#64

Post by aragorn2 »

aragorn2 wrote: post #63
Latteland wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that feeling too that I can't enjoy anything until I get a problem done. Then I do that big thing, and for a few days I feel relief until another issue comes up that I have to do, but don't want to do or its hard and scary.

I get what you’re saying. I wish it were like that for me. I can’t get anything done. Maybe it’s the type of work. Upper management is always uhappy, users are hostile (for a reason), enormous technological debt paralizing all development. I am simply incompetent to deal with people, juggle the requests and politics. It’s been like this for more then ten years. I am sick to my stomack when thinking about our software…

And my spelling sucks!

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#65

Post by eeZah7Ux »

eb0la wrote: post #58
mooreds wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were to enter a complicated transaction without consulting a lawyer (raising funding for example) people would say I was crazy. Yet somehow we think we should be able to work out personal issues (burnout, marriage issues, depression, etc) by ourselves. It's bizarre. If you can afford help, get it. If you can't, often you can get a discount (sliding scale) or work something out.

It is not bizzare: we are used to do stuff other people cannot think to do... ... Like if it was a superpower. Superheroes doesn't need advice. At least in the comics I read as a kid. So this superhero syndrome, hurts more than having no superpower at all.

> stuff other people cannot think to do

What are you talking about?

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#66

Post by q-base »

There are a lot of good comments that probably hit a lot closer to the root cause that what I can supply. But I just wanted to chime in with reading either "Deep work" or "Flow". (A third contender could be "So good they can't ignore you").

I am not overly passionate about programming, but I really like the feeling of reaching flow-state. And programming is especially good at this - if I let it.

I will move away from programming, but until I have a clear alternative I might as well enjoy the feeling of reaching flow while also getting paid heftily for it.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#67

Post by eb0la »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #65
eb0la wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not bizzare: we are used to do stuff other people cannot think to do... ... Like if it was a superpower. Superheroes doesn't need advice. At least in the comics I read as a kid. So this superhero syndrome, hurts more than having no superpower at all.

> stuff other people cannot think to do What are you talking about?

A lot if people has trouble with computers, technology, etc.

If you're able to understand or at least start troubleshooting computer relates stuff, you look like you hace a superpower to them.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#68

Post by zapperdapper »

ghthor wrote: post #11

I've taken to extended breaks in my career, reduced my expenses to dollars a month and pretty much focused on something else entirely. The first time it was learning taijiquan and reconnecting with my body through walking and physical labor. The second time is was to play video games and build a community. At the end of both sessions my energy was revitalized around software engineering because in each instance i cam…

Extended career breaks work magic for me too. I recently took six months away from work and it was sheer bliss. I was doing some techie stuff - but only things I really wanted to do and didn't force myself. I did a lot of sleeping, walking, eating good food and generally relaxing. Worked like a charm and I went back to work reinvigorated.

I do think though if you are significantly burnt out then a year off might be necessary in order to fully recover.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#69

Post by zapperdapper »

onion2k wrote: post #23

When I felt the same way I actually went the opposite way and started to write code every day - the code I want to write . I got back the passion and enjoyment I had from writing code. Even if it's just a line in a readme, I do something every day. I'm a lot happier now because of it, I've learnt a lot, and I'm a better developer all round.

Funnily enough this can work - but you have to be careful you don't burn yourself even more.

If you find something that just captures your imagination then go with the flow.

By coincidence it was a video linked to here on HackerNews that gave me the impetus for the tech project on my last career break. It was the video of the guy who fixed a ten year old bug in Guitar Hero without the source code. It turned out to be a memory allocation failure. I found that so interesting I spent quite a bit of my 6 month career break investigating memory allocators, memory debug tools, and even wrote a couple of my own experimental allocators - absolutely fascinating stuff. Really miss those days!

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#70

Post by zapperdapper »

newhotelowner wrote: post #30

I quit my FE engineering job and bought a hotel. I don't think I can go back to what I used to do. I still love writing code. Now I just build stuff for myself.

Recently was in Philippines for a month and met a guy there who was a former software engineer who owns and runs a resort. He'd been there 7 years and was really doing well. Really nice Swiss guy. Resort was magical too - we had a cold spring in the back garden of our bungalow... sigh...
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