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

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

#1

Post by ganadiniakshay »

I started coding when I was 11 years old and I am 26 now so thats about 15 years.

All through this I have always enjoyed coding which is why I chose to study CS at college and then have been working as a dev post college. But of recently it has started to feel more monotonous and boring.

Last year I started my own company and then got acqui-hired into a startup. I realised that talking to customers and solutioning is more fun than wiriting code. How many of you have felt or feel the same way and what are you doing about it?

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

#2

Post by stphn2013 »

Definitely felt the same way at various stages in my working life. There’s a huge difference between doing something you enjoy as a hobby and doing it as a job. Working life beats the enthusiasm out of you, especially when you’re not always in control of the projects you work on and the software tools you get to use.

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

#3

Post by keviv »

It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work.

One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending time in front of a laptop. Go find a hobby: Travel solo, read books, learn to play some sort of musical instrument, learn to cook. Anything helps.

If you like talking to customers, find a developer evangelist job somewhere. You'll get to talk to customers and developers. Else, think about moving to a product management role. Start reading books about product management. You can also fast track your learning by taking some kind of formal education in product management.

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

#4

Post by padpnut »

keviv wrote: post #3

It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work. One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending t…

Got any recommended books on product management?

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

#5

Post by kalev »

keviv wrote: post #3

It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work. One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending t…

This question and your answer are so relatable. I now realize I was close to burning out, without me knowing it at the time.

I've changed jobs recently and this made me so much happier; still programming full-time but working in a new domain, new language, new but positive people renewed my joy in building stuff.

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

#6

Post by joelbluminator »

I think it's normal, things lose their excitement at some point. That's human nature. You will probably start resenting clients in 10 years. Also - you yourself will change. You will grow older and might find more value in things outside career. Or not, who knows. But don't expect to be the same person 10 years from now. Switching stacks, jobs, challenging yourself with harder roles, taking more responsibility etc are all things that might help. But unfortunately I don't think anything can bring back the joy I used to feel when I succeeded in building my first web app. After doing it professionally for years it loses it's magic.

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

#7

Post by bshimmin »

keviv wrote: post #3

It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work. One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending t…

This is a great reply. I really recommend the learning to cook suggestion - there are a bunch of parallels with programming (it's creative but in a process-driven sort of way; there are loads of different styles and techniques; great sense of accomplishment when you finish something complex; you can delight others with your creations; gentle learning curve; etc) in addition to (possibly modest) health benefits and a general sense of de-stressing.

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

#8

Post by lordnacho »

The thing that makes you happy when coding is purpose.

Even automating your house so that heating comes on before you arrive has a purpose. Or writing a script to clean up your photos. Or any number of little coding tasks. You do them and you find them enjoyable because they have purpose.

Sometimes with work, you lose that. Often it's because coding isn't seen as anything but a chore that needs to be done towards the business goal. A necessary annoyance, where the real purpose is something that doesn't require coding. And that really kills the enjoyment for a lot of devs.

I had a period where I felt like you. I was working in a dying business, other people weren't supporting it, and it just felt like a death spiral. The only thing to be done was to change track and do something else.

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

#10

Post by svs »

Coding is transforming a set of problems into a particular level of abstraction. Higher levels of abstraction exist (team, business model, etc.) and it's perfectly fine to find them more fulfilling and interesting as one goes. I haven't coded in years as a result of being a founder and then CTO of a largish company. I don't miss it because my head is in a completely different place but equally absorbed in solving problems. And people are fascinating - hacking people, groups, teams, customers etc. is much more fuzzy and presents interesting problems as well.
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