Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

It is normal and healthy to take breaks.

You do not have to be working on professional skills constantly, and there is some research evidence (citation needed) that taking regular breaks helps you learn more efficiently and enjoy the whole process more.

If you can't take a full on break from work right now (be it for financial or deadline reasons) then please try to find more time to do 'useless' stuff like read novels and get around nature.

Or, whatever makes you feel calm and cheery. All the best in your next move.

> Anyone ever experience this? I'm in my mid 30s.

100% identical to my own experience, except I'm in my 40s.

I've decided to just relax and go with the flow because I figured it's just burnout and unless I take a year off I probably won't get a chance to really recharge.

The fact is that you probably already know enough to be really good at your job, but you can't focus enough, or are doubting your ability/knowledge. Don't worry about learning too many new things, only learn something new when you need to, it's impossible to know everything and our industry moves too fast to keep on top of all the trends.

You have a project/job in front of you, just focus on that, don't worry about what might come next. If you let yourself relax a little, you'll find it becomes easier to remain flexible and learn what you need to tackle your next problem when it comes.

You might want to consider a good long vacation, or maybe a few shorter ones. Getting away from work will help.

I know exactly what you mean. As a counter point to the many "burnout answers" here which I completely agree with by the way. It could also be an example of "neuroplasticity" (hear me out).

I'm 40 and been coding like it feels forever, I find it "relatively easy" to learn new frameworks or languages. What is much harder are new paradigms; example OOP vs functional.

The last few months I've started to learn Clojure. Man what a frustrating journey it has been ! I keep telling myself I'm a seasoned senior dev, worked on all sorts of systems Web/Non-Web/hardware/software you named it ! Why is it so damn hard for me to "get it" or "become comfortable" with Clojure.

Only answer I can come up with, is that I have become too comfortable or "set in my ways" as a dev over the years (decades). I've been thinking and coding and "aligning-my-neurons" in a OOP and Imperative for decades.

I don't really have a solution yet except for "don't give up" and keep learning "new" (unorthodox) things more regularly. Oh and definitely take a vacation and be happy with smaller wins more frequently !

Searched to see if anyone asked if you've had COVID and found you volunteering that you had. This is very likely to be the cause of your problem.

You most probably haven't recovered fine, and I'd recommend discussing it with a doctor. I've been dealing with COVID aftereffects since early 2021. It's insidious and very, very real.

Edit: Until you've verified that post viral syndrome is not the cause of your problems, please IGNORE all the advice people are giving you to exercise. If you have post viral syndrome, your return to exercise needs to be very slow. Graded over months, not weeks. Overdo it and you'll regret it.

Further edit: In case it helps with googling, the symptom you may be experiencing is medically referred to as "brain fog" and the risk with over exercising is experiencing "post-exertional malaise".

> I keep telling myself I'm a seasoned senior dev, worked on all sorts of systems Web/Non-Web/hardware/software you named it ! Why is it so damn hard for me to "get it"

Could this be the problem? Being open to what you don’t know and taking a “beginners mindset” is really important for learning. If you think you already do know how to do something then it’s hard to learn how to do it!