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Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#51

Post by k3n »

peacemaker wrote: post #46
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #7

Take a break. I had the same thing when I was 25. I ended up quitting my job and buying a one-way ticket to Europe. I didn't think I would ever write code again. I spent about three months backpacking Europe, then came back and spent a few more hanging around and doing odd jobs around town. Eventually, I started code in my free time again, and about a year later, came back into the profession refreshed. Now I know wh…

This is the best advice here. I got incredibly fed up with my programming career after about 5 years or so. I went off and traveled around the world for a year, met my wife, opened a coffee shop, spent a winter at a ski resort and freelanced in Tanzania (on Zanzibar). After all that I found I missed programming, and realized what things I didn't like about my career choice, such as long meetings, boring projects and…

How did you play it on your resume? I know in some circles, having a lapse in employment in your resume is about like having a lapse in insurance coverage; e.g. it's a red flag and can really hurt your chances of getting the job (economy notwithstanding).

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#53

Post by k3n »

reverend_gonzo wrote: post #7

Take a break. I had the same thing when I was 25. I ended up quitting my job and buying a one-way ticket to Europe. I didn't think I would ever write code again. I spent about three months backpacking Europe, then came back and spent a few more hanging around and doing odd jobs around town. Eventually, I started code in my free time again, and about a year later, came back into the profession refreshed. Now I know wh…

Same question I asked below, but: how did you play it on your resume? Did you just put "hiking in Europe", etc.? I'd love to do something like this, but I'm fearful what kind of damage it'd have on my resume.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#54

Post by steve8918 »

pav3l wrote: post #45
steve8918 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, trading using algorithms to try to make money. Emphasis on the word "try". I love it, regardless of my level of success in it. My friend is a day trader, and he gave me one of his setups for trading. I didn't believe him, so I downloaded the data, wrote the code to simulate it across a few years, and then all of a sudden, this became a computer problem that I could try to solve through programming. I've been hoo…

Yes, I always thought I could use my math/CS skills to try to make some extra cash on the side, but not even sure where to start (working in healthcare now). I was always under the impression you have to be "close to the market" to be able to trade effectively, i.e. pay a lot of money to have direct access to the latest information, trading API's etc.

No, I think you mean High Frequency Trading, which is a specialized form of algorithmic trading. Algorithmic trading just means you use a computer to execute trades based on algorithms that you define.

It can be as easy as "buy at market open, sell at market close". Or it could be much more complicated, for example, the stuff that quants do. I'm much closer to the former than the latter. You can definitely pay for things like a real-time data feed (less than $100/month) and trade real time, or you can choose to expand your time frame and do swing-trades with daily data which you could probably get from Yahoo.

And believe me, it's very, very hard, to the point where I almost don't think it's possible. But I still love it.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#55

Post by peacemaker »

k3n wrote: post #51
peacemaker wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the best advice here. I got incredibly fed up with my programming career after about 5 years or so. I went off and traveled around the world for a year, met my wife, opened a coffee shop, spent a winter at a ski resort and freelanced in Tanzania (on Zanzibar). After all that I found I missed programming, and realized what things I didn't like about my career choice, such as long meetings, boring projects and…

How did you play it on your resume? I know in some circles, having a lapse in employment in your resume is about like having a lapse in insurance coverage; e.g. it's a red flag and can really hurt your chances of getting the job (economy notwithstanding).

I put it exactly as it happened. The travelling has never caused me any problems, in fact it usually is the cause of some interesting discussions with potential employers.

As for running my own business, I can point to all the skills gained during that experience as benefits to the company as well. Leadership, discipline, time management, working under pressure and so on.

The sort of companies that wouldn't like my past experience are exactly the sort I would never want to work for, so it works as a nice filter for me too! :)

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#57

Post by reverend_gonzo »

k3n wrote: post #53
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #7

Take a break. I had the same thing when I was 25. I ended up quitting my job and buying a one-way ticket to Europe. I didn't think I would ever write code again. I spent about three months backpacking Europe, then came back and spent a few more hanging around and doing odd jobs around town. Eventually, I started code in my free time again, and about a year later, came back into the profession refreshed. Now I know wh…

Same question I asked below, but: how did you play it on your resume? Did you just put "hiking in Europe", etc.? I'd love to do something like this, but I'm fearful what kind of damage it'd have on my resume.

So, when I got back, and decided to go back to work, I was definitely concerned about it.

In my case, one of the side jobs was a small business being run on eBay, so I had that listed. I also said in interviews that I wanted to take a year off to see the world. Once I got the first job after the break, it was never a concern anymore.

Since then, between jobs I've taken a couple months off, and I've never found it to be a problem. Especially when you say, I was burnt out and I needed to refresh myself before I came back to work. Otherwise, I just wouldn't be as productive. Potential managers definitely appreciate that you can take care of yourself.

(Or rather, the kinds of companies you want to work for appreciate that you can take care of yourself to recognize and prevent burnout.)

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#59

Post by reverend_gonzo »

peacemaker wrote: post #46
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #7

Take a break. I had the same thing when I was 25. I ended up quitting my job and buying a one-way ticket to Europe. I didn't think I would ever write code again. I spent about three months backpacking Europe, then came back and spent a few more hanging around and doing odd jobs around town. Eventually, I started code in my free time again, and about a year later, came back into the profession refreshed. Now I know wh…

This is the best advice here. I got incredibly fed up with my programming career after about 5 years or so. I went off and traveled around the world for a year, met my wife, opened a coffee shop, spent a winter at a ski resort and freelanced in Tanzania (on Zanzibar). After all that I found I missed programming, and realized what things I didn't like about my career choice, such as long meetings, boring projects and…

Exactly, now that I know exactly what keeps me satisfied, I can make sure that my environment is just that. It's better for myself, since I'm happier, which means I'm willing to work harder and am more productive, which makes it better for the company as well.

I also know exactly the things I feel before I get burnt out, so when I feel that happening, I can take a short 2-3 week vacation and don't need to do something drastic again like taking a year off.

Overall, it just teaches you about yourself and how to be more efficient at whatever it is you want and need to do.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion?

#60

Post by pav3l »

steve8918 wrote: post #54
pav3l wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I always thought I could use my math/CS skills to try to make some extra cash on the side, but not even sure where to start (working in healthcare now). I was always under the impression you have to be "close to the market" to be able to trade effectively, i.e. pay a lot of money to have direct access to the latest information, trading API's etc.

No, I think you mean High Frequency Trading, which is a specialized form of algorithmic trading. Algorithmic trading just means you use a computer to execute trades based on algorithms that you define. It can be as easy as "buy at market open, sell at market close". Or it could be much more complicated, for example, the stuff that quants do. I'm much closer to the former than the latter. You can definitely pay for th…

Thanks, how would you recommend learning about trading platforms. Say I can write a basic trading program in Matlab and Python, who should my program be communicating with?
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