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How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

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Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#11

Post by wincy »

imwillofficial wrote: post #3

I won’t spoil the article, but the advice is great. I’ll give number 4 a try. But the hobbies page of Wikipedia is too long and unorganized for my tastes. Anyone have any cool hobbies?

I got into 3D printing miniatures and statues and stuff during the pandemic. Spent one of the stimulus checks on a good resin printer, was astounded by the quality. Then realized the filament printers were a better idea for some prints and bought 3 of them.

Then I wanted painted stuff, so I bought some cheap store paints, they were okay so I bought some hobby paints which were excellent. It really wows people instead of getting them some cheap present for Christmas printing them a cool statue and painting it up.

Another thing is that 3D printers are still very hacker ish so for me another fun part was analyzing what upgrades were actually functional and helped me print faster/more accurately and only doing those upgrades. This includes software side like compiling your own open source firmware and integrating a general purpose CPU in a Raspberry Pi to do the gcode processing. It’s a good way to do low stakes configuration and compiling of software so it’s something I’m capable of as an SWE and it’s fun to tinker with since the worst that’ll happen is I’ll have to reformat my printer.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#12

Post by VyseofArcadia »

mertnesvat wrote: post #9

I liked the article and the wikipedia page for hobbies is very interesting, I've found some gems... - Magnet Fishing ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_fishing ) - Binge watching ( didn't know it can be called as a hobby - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge-watching ) - Constructing languages ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language ) - Tea bag collecting ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag )

+1 for constructed languages. Fascinating hobby. I've dabbled myself.

Bonus: Tolkien would approve.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#13

Post by gus_massa »

yaysyu wrote: post #7
imwillofficial wrote: post #3

I won’t spoil the article, but the advice is great. I’ll give number 4 a try. But the hobbies page of Wikipedia is too long and unorganized for my tastes. Anyone have any cool hobbies?

Bouldering seems to be really popular amongst Software Engineers I know. Taps into many things that Software Engineers typically like. Walls often require problem solving as well as physical ability. Walls are shorter than rock climbing walls (fast iteration cycles/“dev loop”) Lots of different difficulties for a clear sense of progression. Indoors (usually). Can be done solo.

I make math problems for Math Olympiads for kids, and bouldering feels similar. To build an interesting wall it must not be obvious, but it must be solvable. From time to time I fell in the rabbit hole of a YouTube channel that explain unusual solutions "Beta Break!" by Albert Ok: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsfWe31L6Quop7WDY7ky7... (Note: I only climb stair, and only if they are not too stepped :) .)

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#14

Post by smashface »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #8

I found this to be an incredibly depressing article. It boiled down to, "think about pleasant things that aren't work." For example, > Pick an activity that you've always wanted to try. Don't have ideas? Try Wikipedia for a good list of hobbies I already have plenty of hobbies, and I'd rather work on any of them than be at work! I've always been very self-motivated. I want to work on what I want to work on. Being for…

Perhaps not depressing but certainly unhelpful. If I'm spend time thinking about other more interesting stuff, I tend to get sucked into those things. Which just means I've got zero focus on stuff I need to get done.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#16

Post by NAHWheatCracker »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #8

I found this to be an incredibly depressing article. It boiled down to, "think about pleasant things that aren't work." For example, > Pick an activity that you've always wanted to try. Don't have ideas? Try Wikipedia for a good list of hobbies I already have plenty of hobbies, and I'd rather work on any of them than be at work! I've always been very self-motivated. I want to work on what I want to work on. Being for…

These were my thoughts as well. The article has nothing to say about being engaged at work. It's all non-work suggestions.

The best interpretation I could infer was that if you are engaged outside work, you'll be able to be more engaged at work?

My feelings about cause-and-effect are the opposite. When I'm disengaged at work, I'm less engaged outside of work. I'll try to do hobbies and stuff outside of work but it makes the contrast more drastic, which makes work less bearable.

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#18

Post by [deleted] »

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #8

I found this to be an incredibly depressing article. It boiled down to, "think about pleasant things that aren't work." For example, > Pick an activity that you've always wanted to try. Don't have ideas? Try Wikipedia for a good list of hobbies I already have plenty of hobbies, and I'd rather work on any of them than be at work! I've always been very self-motivated. I want to work on what I want to work on. Being for…

[deleted]

Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide

#19

Post by tstrimple »

I know that this wasn't the point of the article, but please don't ever do this.

> Why do web applications have no sound? Why can't we make boring internal tools come to life with sound, in the same way that UI on a Nintendo Switch pops and clicks and whistles?

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