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Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

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Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#161

Post by cutler »

badpun wrote: post #79
cutler wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite get this. The highest number of JS jobs are in React and Express which are over 10 years old.

There may be 10 year old, but most people didn't work in React in 2012. 10 years ago, people were working in things like Ext.js or Backbone.js. Then, they had to learn Angular. And later, they had to learn React.

That doesn't subtract from my point, ie. that React and Node have been mainstream for many years and continue to dominate in the jobs market so how anyone with these skills can say they're not keeping up with front-end tech doesn't quite add up.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#162

Post by xlii »

lvturner wrote: post #109
xlii wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet this is advice targeted towards developer with 15 years of experience. If someone is in position of working in the field, having a lot of experience and still having issue with putting some cash aside to take few months off then it might hint that not the field but particular work place is root cause.

It’s folly to infer someone’s financial situation and make assumptions about their capabilities based on it. One medical issue or a family member with one could scupper a savings account, this is a precise reason why I hate this advice it’s tantamount to victim blaming.

Just as losing money on bad investment or getting robbed or drained by ex-wife etc etc. But let’s call on Occams Razor and don’t focus some edge cases. Software development is well paying industry. We can’t bend over every single outlier situation which would be known to close friends only.

While maybe not obtainable for individual taking time off is still sound general piece of advice.

If you have bad tooth going to dentist is a a good advice. If you can’t afford dentist than it doesn’t make such advice bad.

For burnout recovery one has to get time off. There are some drugs that can help but they come with a lot of side effects and can actually worsen situation (depending on class of medication there is heightened risk of suicidal behavior or fired on the spot kind of).

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#163

Post by xuding »

koonsolo wrote: post #119
hsn915 wrote: post #8

Web development as practiced by the majority of the industry is truly insane and depressing. No one has any idea what they are doing. Here's what I'm aiming to do: learn systems programming on the side, accumulate enough savings to live off of for nearly a year, then go independent and continue learning systems programming "as I go". Build software products on my own and start selling them.

The problem is that "web-development" encompasses everything from a simple static website all the way to complex web applications. And because of this generic term, I see people making stupid mistakes all the time. React is great for web apps, but then you see the static pages being built by that, and you think WTF. Next thing some of these morons move back to server side rendering, discover how much better it is for…

Have you tried the website builder for Google Sheets: https://sitefast.live yet?

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#164

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

jzellis wrote: post #41

I'm in the same boat, but even older than you with 25 years in. I just hate everything except the actual coding - I hate devops, always have. I hate having to learn new frameworks every six months and having the fundamental stuff I learned early on - objects are good, always separate presentation from logic - being totally flipped around. I've managed to learn React and Next enough to build stuff in them, but I'm not…

in 2010, i would pull an html file from ftp or visual sourcesafe, make my edits and upload.

2022, i need to setup git, setup node, setup credentials, run a bunch of npm commands, which invariably fail and lead me down various rabbit holes, then install docker, then install a bunch of docker updates, then run a build command and hope that all the magic comes to together. just so i can edit a line of copy.

it's not fun anymore. the immediacy of web development has gone for me, i feel my time is spent grappling with obscure issues unrelated to the actual work and something stakeholders are totally oblivious and uncaring about.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#165

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

jaitaiwan wrote: post #12

Seems like you’re experiencing burn-out and from what I’ve read and experienced, burn out is a function of emotional investment vs the emotional return. So I see that you have two options both of which shouldn’t happen before first taking a small break: 1. Continue to work in the industry and reduce your emotional investment. Hint: great places for that are big corporates. 2. Continue to work while upskilling in anot…

> 1. Continue to work in the industry and reduce your emotional investment.

thanks, this is what i've been doing. but it's really impacting my mental health.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#166

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

dunkelheit wrote: post #35

First, you need to take a big break, a couple of months at least. The less computing-related activities the better. The summer hasn't ended yet, do some outdoorsy stuff with other people. Depending on your situation of course, it may not be possible. Then just radically cut back on work and try to spend more time with your loved ones. Second, you need to get your love for technology back. It is still there, but it ma…

thanks, good advice, appreciate it.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#167

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

anotheryou wrote: post #129

Just on the vacancies and 300+ applicants: Writing a good and "personalized" cover letter gets me a really decent interview rate I think. I'd be up to read yours and make suggestions. Just let me know here. My usual receipt: - start with a custom paragraph. Why are you a match and why do you like this company. - 1-2 copy+paste paragraphs about relevant skills (at most a buzzword or two added) - ending with a curious…

appreciate this is good advice, although i think you're probably an outlier.

it's really demoralising to be totally ignored after carefully writing a cover letter.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#168

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

SantiagoElf wrote: post #128

I started moving away from code-only positions once I reached 10 years in the industry - 2015. Now, I am 37 transitioned and while still write A LOT of code ( mostly back-end, high performance APIs, DB stuff ), review a lot of code, but bareley touch front-end work. I grok it, can make the changes, but I am too old for front-end work. At my role ( 1 level away from C-Level executives) it's not expected to code at all…

thanks, i was thinking of getting into dev or engineering management, but all the positions i see require 5+ years of being an engineering manager.

so i'm a bit of a loss how to make that transition.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#169

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

yrgulation wrote: post #45

Move in to management. The reason tech sucks is mainly due to non technical managers who think writing code is the same as laying bricks, constantly breathing on developer necks and nagging about progress. The world needs more tech experienced managers to replace the supervisor types that barely understand the words they use.

i totally agree with you, there is an increase of dogmatic naivety and a loss of experience and pragmatism in this industry for real.

Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?

#170

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 »

chucktingle wrote: post #82

Burn out detected! Ask me how I know :) I went through the same thing and it took me 5+ years to recover. I'm 42, so we're likely in the same boat. First, don't give up and pick up areas in the industry that require people to actually be innovative and not be cogs in the machine. To me those areas are machine learning and blockchain development. I've dabbled in both, and figured I like the latter better. It's got a t…

thank you, appreciate the advice.
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