11–20 of 189 posts
What an inspiring passage. I’ve been feeling the exact same way about software lately. It’s just no fun anymore. I should do something pointless like making a wayland compositor for myself or something.
I think this is an indication of the difference between the start of project and maintenance of a product. At the start, you can imagine all the cool things it does, once it's working you have to keep it working in the real world.
I’ve thought about leaving the research life for a regular job, but it’s not obvious to me that would help. First, there’s not really other jobs I’d rather do. Second, the burnout has penetrated so many facets of my life (various hobbies, etc.) I’m not sure if it even is burnout or a deeper issue.
Therapy and medication has only been marginally helpful. I’m really not sure what to do at this point.
As a researcher, I’ve felt largely the same way lately. It’s been hard for me to even wrap up a project I was so excited about when I started it that I missed sleep because I was that engaged. Unfortunately, I don’t have a cozy tenure position at a major research institution to ride out the burnout until I feel inspired again. I’m just a lowly postdoc. I’ve thought about leaving the research life for a regular job, b…
Some highlights:
- He takes a week long vacation every now and then to hack on a completely different game idea for fun, with the focus on it being short and fun
- Time for relaxation and unstructured thinking
- Walks / showers can produce amazing ideas
1. Get good at something
2. Get paid for doing it
3. Get burned out by doing it
4. Return to the fun way of doing it
5. ???
6. Win a Nobel prize or similar
I can just imagine this in his voice (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYg6jzotiAc ) Feynman is my favourite physicist. Of course you could pick someone else, you could argue about the relative importance of each person's contribution to scientific knowledge, but it was his aimiability, playfulness and curiousity, combined with the fact that he _did_ break new frontiers in quantum physics that make him so inspiri…
I think this is an indication of the difference between the start of project and maintenance of a product. At the start, you can imagine all the cool things it does, once it's working you have to keep it working in the real world.
Dancing T-handle in zero-g, HD
While this passage is inspiring, it boils down to: 1. Get good at something 2. Get paid for doing it 3. Get burned out by doing it 4. Return to the fun way of doing it 5. ??? 6. Win a Nobel prize or similar How repeatable is that pattern? Is that one of the patterns we want to teach the next generation? Serious question. I don't know the answer. Feynman is obviously rather exceptional. Should we encourage people to f…