I could be wrong but it seems the problem is not what you are doing, but what you are doing it for. We all know solving problems is fun, but at some point we wonder what is it good for? Dont forget programming is a tool, use it with a purpose. For me the satisfaction comes from making people happy by helping i.e. solving problems for them. So identify 'unhappy' people with problems, try to solve them and build a startup around the solution.
Ask HN: quitting programming?
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#22It sounds like you have excess creative energy. The nice thing about life is that success in one niche is not always easily translatable to success in another niche. Programming is easy for you. Why not push yourself and diversify out of technology? There are many things you could push yourself into, especially related to your love of travel. Assuming you are not already, please consider learning and studying another…
I've been thinking about living in a different country for a while. Done it a couple of times for short periods (up to three months), but maybe I should spend a year or so doing something entirely different in a foreign country. Thanks for the advice! I speak a couple of languages, though only 3 fluently, which means that there's a lot more to learn, thanks!
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#23If you're social, you might want to consider being a recruiter. You'd be a god among men, since most recruiters don't know anything about programming.
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#24It sounds like you might be burnt out. Why don't you just take a break? I was burnt out for a few years and didn't realize it until August this year. I decided to step away from programming. Instead, I traveled. I told myself I'd stay away from programming while traveling, but I couldn't. After a few weeks, I was hacking away at things on my computer again. It's incredibly fun, even if I know how to solve most of the problems in my domain.
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#25Have you tried programming hardware? I'm talking about microcontrollers or embedded processors. Make some LEDs flash, do some bluetooth, control some motors. I dislike programming, but I love making things move.
I'd suggest checking out the Arduino project (http://arduino.cc).
Also (shameless plug), I run a robotics site that you might find some inspiration - http://robotbox.net
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#26You may want to consider a third option, one that has worked well for me: Solve a hard problem. This requires 3 steps: 1. Find a hard problem, with the emphasis on "Find". It must be someone else's problem, not yours. It also needs to be big enough to be important, hard enough that the elegant solution hasn't been found yet, but not so hard that you'll waste the rest of your life on it. Examples: Bad: Invent a time m…
Yes, this is indeed what I originally planned to do. Although I keep a book with the problems / ideas I have, none of them really motivates me (and I think there are about a hundred ideas in there). Given that there are enough ideas, I don't think the ideas are the problem... I guess this is the perfect solution, but I don't feel like doing that now. I have the time, some money, lots of contacts and no car, expensive…
You didn't give a lot of hard details to work with, but based on this post, I would say find work outside of software. It's clear that you're not well suited to founding a startup - you don't have the a vision and lack motivation - and you probably are right that you wouldn't do well at a larger company.
A number of people I know outside of software have great ideas for startups because they run into hard problems in their fields that they recognize could be automated, but they lack the technical talent to solve the problem. Maybe you'll be in a position to find one of these problems and be motivated to solve it if you find something you're passionate about.
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#27Personally, I think you should come up with what exactly you plan to do if you stop programming. I realize you may have a lot of things in mind, but eventually you'd have to pick one and try it. Try picking one now.
Does that job seem particularly appealing to you? Why? If you can come up with good reasons, by all means go for it. If you can't, why go do something you're worse at (and presumably will be paid less for) if you're going to be similarly unfulfilled?
Your feelings are totally understandable. I just think you're giving your current occupation short shrift if you're weighing it against the abstract concept of "doing something else", even if you have a general field in mind. Every job has its downsides, and you need to be able to weigh those against the ones you're painfully aware of with programming. Until you have a concrete idea for another job, you can't do that.
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#28Sounds to me like burnout. If you have been freelancing or doing some enterprise/LOB apps you are probably solving the same problem over and over again. That gets old fast. IMO, there is no way you have seen it all yet if you are just a year out of school.
One way I try to stay interested is finding a segment in which I have no business knowledge. My most recent change was commodities trading software. Using the same tools and language that I have for the last 7 years or so(C#, winforms/ASP, sql) with much more complex problems, so I stay interested.
That may or may not help, but it sounds like you are still young-ish, so maybe you just need a change of scene? vacation? time to experience life? recharging your batteries may do you some good.
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#29I had a similar situation. Got a break from programming for several years and now I like programming even more :)
During my break i tried to manage other programmers to program my ideas, but it didn't work very well (only one project, that paid my expenses, was launched).
Re: Ask HN: quitting programming?
#30I had similar feelings a couple of years ago. I was a .net programmer for 10 years and seriously considered going to dental school.
Instead I bought a MacBook last thanksgiving and built an iPhone app that Apple featured and subsequently sold very well. The Mac world was a completely new area as well as mobile (was doing enterprise software). It has made programming fun because I also run a small business with it. In addition, running a small business I'm using open source software to build my new website and learning python on django has been a pleasure.
At least for me programming is fun again, but also because it's helping towards my goal starting a company.