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Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

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Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#51

Post by omnicognate »

Down in the commments [1], OP has said they had COVID earlier this year. There's a strong possibility that the symptom OP is experiencing is "brain fog" due to post-viral syndrome.

As a PSA: People are recommending exercise in the comments. If you are experiencing symptoms like OP's, do not start vigorous exercise unless you're sure that post-viral syndrome is not the cause. If you have post-viral syndrome, return to exercise needs to be slow (months) and graded. If you overdo it you are at risk of "post-exertional malaise". I've been dealing with these problems since early last year and it has had a profound impact on my life and work.

If you're experiencing symptoms like OP describes after COVID, talk to a doctor.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31282305

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#53

Post by tomgp »

telman17 wrote: post #22
lordnacho wrote: post #12

Good comments here about the work itself, but I note you haven't mentioned anything about your personal life. Has anything changed? Just a thing to think about, it may well be that it's purely a work issue.

Last year was a pretty crazy year for my wife and me - said goodbye our two dogs of 16 years, I switched companies and got a huge pay raise, and we sold our first house. Both of us got CoVID at the beginning of the year but recovered fine. My wife suffered from depression as a teenager and suggests that I should consider seeing a therapist as it helped her but I don’t even know if what I’m feeling is depression.

I think seeing a therapist sounds like a good idea. If you don't know what it is you're feeling a therapist can help with that.

To you're original question I'm sure you can still learn, it's just that you can't, at the moment, learn what you think you should be learning. There's undoubtedly a complex mess of social and physical and psychological reasons behind this. Doing the work that's required to understand this mess and find a way through is hard but you can do it. Take care of yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#54

Post by zippercreatemy »

I think it is more to do with your maturity allowing you to see more of your weaknesses.

When you are young, myopia makes you think you know it all and can solve everything. Young devs run gun ho into things and they focus on happy paths and ignore a lot of the complexity that you learn from experience, noting there is some exceptions.

The second problem is scope, when you are a junior you normally have a single project and a lot of guardrails to support your learning, and typically just need to think about a small bit of code. As you become more senior you are suddenly responsible for a P&L, other people, lifecycle management, stability and scalability.

Last year I was feeling overwhelmed and couldn't learn Quarkus and Java. Turns out I just needed a week of focus. I was able to take my years of .Net, PHP and JavaScript experience and produce amazing code in Java.

My biggest blocker to learning was managing other people, projects, scope, budgets, requirements, approving leave requests, preparing status reports, managing vendors, interviewing candidates, dealing with shareholders, backlog grooming, workshops, committee meetings, CAB preparation, ARB negotiations, and the desire to be instantly good.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#55

Post by harel »

readonthegoapp wrote: post #36
thesz wrote: post #15

Walk. And lift weights - all three basic exercises should be done. That's what saved me in my then mid 30s in a comparable circumstances.

deadlifting? no thanks.

Lifting weights doesn't translate to deadlifting. That's just one exercise of many. Weights and other exercise helped me. I don't deadlift though.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#56

Post by bennyp101 »

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Mid to late 30s, professional for 15+ years.

I've noticed recently that I just don't care about work and technology anymore. I have things that I need to get done, but I'm pulling on that starter cord and the engine is just not firing - no motivation to really do it.

I've been chatting to some friends about this, and I've come to the conclusion that I need to make a Dr's appointment - just to see if there is something glaringly obvious (either physical or mental) that can be treated.

I've also taken up building a model railway - my son loves trains - and I actually enjoy doing the building, I think because it is away from a computer and screens. I've also pretty much cut out all TV time, cut all ties to social media (that's helped), and only check the news in the morning to make sure we haven't slipped into a new WW.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#57

Post by rawoke083600 »

tehmillhouse wrote: post #47
rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

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. M…

I think there's definitely something to the neuroplasticity thing. Learning does take longer as we age, that's just a biological fact. > Man what a frustrating journey it has been ! I keep telling myself I'm a seasoned senior dev... This right here, that's something you're misunderstanding. Learning something new is supposed to be uncomfortable. To learn most effectively, you want to shape your mental behavior to min…

>Thinking you should be exempt from this just adds internal resistance to an already uncomfortable process.

Wow, thanks ! That sounds like real practical advise ! I think you hit the nail on the head here !

> To learn most effectively, you want to shape your mental behavior to minimize surprise

If you don't mind, could you expand on this part ? I'm not 100% clear on what you mean ?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#59

Post by lmarcos »

bennyp101 wrote: post #56

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Mid to late 30s, professional for 15+ years. I've noticed recently that I just don't care about work and technology anymore. I have things that I need to get done, but I'm pulling on that starter cord and the engine is just not firing - no motivation to really do it. I've been chatting to some friends about this, and I've come to the conclusion that I need to make a Dr's appointment…

Not caring about work and just getting things done is what 90% of the population does. Do you really think they all need to check it with the doctor?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#60

Post by lmarcos »

rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

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. M…

The point is not to learn something "cool" that may appeal you (like Clojure). The point is to learn something you truly believe is worthless, but you need to learn it to get your job done (e.g., an outdated version of, let's say, PHP or Angular).

In the latter scenario, learning becomes more difficult.

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