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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?

#251

Post by zdiscov »

Something about these modern UI frameworks, like Vue, perhaps.

The fact that one has to learn mind numbing levels of abstractions, contortions, domain specific knowledge, virtual DOM's and all this with the hindsight that this could soon be out the door just like any number of mootools, extJS's before it. All this effort to get a SPA or a smoother UX interaction doesn't seem to be as appealing.

Given that the basic UX functionality can be achieved with plain html and js in a fraction of the time and effort (minus the smoothness) since the ~2010's.

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

#252

Post by robocat »

pyentropy wrote: post #85
bennysomething wrote: post #70

Yes went through this. Early 30s my dad died, completely changed my view on what I was doing. He was self employed and successful. I started to hate working for someone else. I really started to dislike being a developer. Kept trying to find a way out. Was depressed that being a Dev eats my life, all free time I felt I should be learning technologies Anyway fast forward nearly a decade and I'm really happy in my job.…

You had a depressive episode, and you recovered. It's not getting older, but the fact that time heals most brains just like exercise and antidepressants do. About 70% recover within 12 months [1] [1] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12204924/ Edit: OP said "Was depressed that [...]" and also mentions death of a loved one. Even if I'm wrong, personally I really wish someone mentioned MDD as a possibility to me earlie…

> You had a depressive episode

Armchair diagnoses of mental health problems is very very bad - perhaps you should see a psychologist yourself because you are most likely damaging others?

Even worse, you are ignoring the fact that we can all be situationally “depressed”.

You know, when your job feels like shit, and you can’t enjoy your family or friends or anything? But you change your work situation, and the very next day you are invigorated and energetic and you enjoy work again, and you enjoy your family and friends; and the change is lasting?

Or when your job feels like shit, but you have a wonderful time in the evenings or on the weekend.

You are unlikely to get either of the above if you are clinically depressed (although bipolar may be an exception to that).

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

#253

Post by jseban »

7speter wrote: post #250
jseban wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah always switching tools basically resets your experience to zero, so you have to do the same mistakes over and over, no wonder it's hard to stay motivated. And the "senior" jobs have zero power, so you can't stop people from making mistakes, and trying to "influence" just makes the experience even more exhausting and frustrating when people have no reason to listen to you. I wish there was real senior roles you c…

> I wish there was real senior roles you could grow into where your experience is actually valued, and you would gain certain power to make decisions, but then the argument is that you can't hire juniors anymore because they think it's too uncool to have a boss. Uhh... who are these junior people who don't like having a boss? I read the first part of this sentence and wondered why wouldn't a lower level colleague not…

> why wouldn't a lower level colleague not want a senior helping them avoid potholes in the road

Because they become much more influential in a shorter time, if they make a coup d'Etat by paving a completely new road, now they are the new road master. The old potholes are gone so they don't have to worry about those, and the new potholes are still unknown and yet to be discovered.

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

#254

Post by darepublic »

I went through a similar spell recently. Went from being super motivated at one job, dragging my dubious co-workers kicking and screaming across the finish line, to playing video games most of the day and doing just enough to not completely give it away. Ironically the company where I didn't give a duck liked me quite a bit. I took a few months off work and it did wonders for me. YMMV but good luck to you

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

#255

Post by readonthegoapp »

harel wrote: post #55
readonthegoapp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

OC said 'the three basic exercises'

Maybe he meant something else

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

#256

Post by peteradio »

evilbob93 wrote: post #236
helge9210 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half life of knowledge in our profession is more or less a year and a half. This means 5 years of experience is the maximum you can accumulate. Maybe years are not a good metric for experience.

... and? I agree that years aren't necessarily a good metric for experience, although I have decades in IT - started when I was 19 and retirement is a real thing I have to consider. Years do give you some experience that isn't translatable to the resume: after a while, you've seen through most of the tricks that management likes to try but which the younger colleagues haven't learned. Having older folks around can sp…

What kind of management tricks might someone be missing who hasn't been around too long?

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

#258

Post by balaji1 »

rightbyte wrote: post #105
fleb wrote: post #16

This sounds like burnout to me. I am in my mid-40s and used to have spells like this, but no more. I needed some kind of large change, back then, to get myself sorted out, but this could be pretty destructive because if I waited too long, the change I'd need wouldn't really be conducive to staying on whatever project I was on. The key to not having to deal with this problem anymore, for me, was starting to proactivel…

Getting fed up with all the stupid technology grind is not necessarily burnout though. One could call it wisdom or experience too.

Another level of wisdom is to realize this is a form of job security. Put in the 8 hours, whatever the grind.

If that's good enough for you. Else there seems to be suggestions in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31285969 lol

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

#259

Post by lazarus101 »

sinenomine wrote: post #208
lazarus101 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is aging really a problem? On the individual level it is but as a whole the world population has exploded in the past century. Would we have enough resources for everybody if the life expectancy will increase to say 100 years?

One look at the population pyramids of the developed world [1] is enough to conclude that a systemic shift is underway, and the old social order, at least in its current form, is doomed to be upended. The logic of dependency ratio is hard, you can't circumvent it unless you really do deliver widespread automation of labor, including social service labor. And even then you have obvious concerns of EROEI and "Labor Ret…

Western Europe population is only 2.5% of the total world population

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

#260

Post by svilen_dobrev »

sounds you're bored on that level (be it frontend or what, just coding). Change the level (does not mean going management ; things like say, language design, or, team/culture-leading/building, or mentorship are another levels/dimensions).

Or switch into completely another job/geo/culture/.. for a while.. or find a hobby that can use your thinking skills, but in another way..

But yeah,.. change. While still in control.

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