Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

> Fill your time with something else that you prioritize above work.

For me this is by far the hardest part. (But also I'm the type to just idly waste time instead of filling it with work.) For most of my life, coding was by far my favorite thing to do; I could do it for hours without noticing the time passing. But now it feels like work and I haven't found anything that remotely fills the hole in its place.

I had the same problem, here's what helped me. You should have some savings. Quit and take some time off to chill. Vegetate at home for a bit, travel a bit, and start doing a few leetcode problems a week. Soon you'll realize that you're not as terrible at them as before. I learned and switched to using python solely for interviews, and it's been a fantastic choice.

Start interviewing at a few places. You'll realize you're horrible at it. But keep interviewing. Doing leetcode doesn't compare to just having the experience. Figure out what you need to improve on, which algos you struggle with, Coding Qs, Behavioural Qs. Interviews become easier once you figure out it's just a matter of applying a few rehearsed algos and rehearsed answers in different ways. There's only so many ways to ask "tell us about a difficult problem/coworker at work"

Polish your resume up, talk to your co-workers and friends if you need help explaining/remembering what you did. Re-write it three times until it looks good.

If you do this, you'll have something better lined up within a few months and some time to decompress and time to renew your skills and confidence in programming. Whenever I quit, I always remember why i enjoyed programming in the first place.

> Go see a psychiatrist, mention those points and they will fix your problem in no time.

It might take some time, but please start with a therapist.

Problems you have:

big picture problems:

- tunnel vision

- limited learning about what the rest of experience on this world is like

- no deep faith in good and benefit of the work you are doing

- being compensated with lots of money but little meaning

- lack of alignment with mission, and lack of social alignment with suitably "co-miserable" peers so that you can actually process (in an 'outside-of-yourself' way) the various crummy parts of your job

little picture problems about working smart not hard:

- trick I discovered: every time some of your code fails, you now have a moral imperative to yourself to prioritizing above everything a.) writing a unit test for that case, and b.) getting that unit test to pass. you will be saved insane amounts of time and sweat and tears in the future if you develop this way.

- using tools that make you waste precious brain cycles on trivial tasks with sparse and slow feedback loops - eg I just discovered the refactoring jetbrains tool

- constant refactoring code is actually insanely valuable. just literally copy and paste massive code blocks when you need to make something do something slightly different, refactor out the common part, etc. to build a better theory of the actual solution to the problem.

tbh I now no longer really understand how I spent so much mental effort writing code all in my head without these principles:

1.) red-green unit testing

2.) IDE refactoring tools

3.) imperative to refactor

give it a shot, it may help unburden your brain significantly!! and it's FUN to work FAST and be CONFIDENT in your code at the same time!

Focus on yourself first. I’d get a good therapist, someone who resonates with you and listens to you, start exercising regularly, even a little/moderate amount helps, and find something you enjoy doing outside of work.

You’re still very young and just have the “oh shit” moment that we all get.