Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 326 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#151

Post by dhzhzjsbevs »

sinenomine wrote: post #103
fleb wrote: post #16

This sounds like burnout to me. I am in my mid-40s and used to have spells like this, but no more. I needed some kind of large change, back then, to get myself sorted out, but this could be pretty destructive because if I waited too long, the change I'd need wouldn't really be conducive to staying on whatever project I was on. The key to not having to deal with this problem anymore, for me, was starting to proactivel…

Burnout has become such a catch-all term as to be effectively meaningless by now. In our professional lives, we are used to set quantified KPIs in a SMART way, and I wonder, why is it that our expectations are so comparatively low in our personal lives?

I like to define burnout as expending effort without makng perceived progress.

If you can phrase explain your problem in those turns there is a good chance it is burnout.

If not, it might be depression or something else.

In answer to your question though, speak for yourself. My personal goals are far more ambitious than my work ones.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#152

Post by kossTKR »

albinowax_ wrote: post #146
kossTKR wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suffer from Post Exertional Malaise but from before Covid. Though Covid has made it worse. Really a horrible predicament because the more you try, the more you get punished. Currently thinking about taking a break from running and lifting which is incredibly hard because well, i'm a white collar worker that's already too sedentary. If you or others have tips to get out of the cycle of crashes please share your tips…

This might not be relevant to you, but a lot of runners/cyclists exercise at 'tempo' - an intensity higher than necessary which mostly generates more fatigue without much benefit. So, if you need to drop the pace/intensity of your running to recover better, it's probably still worthwhile. More info here: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/zone-2-training-for-endur...

Thanks for the input, intersting article! This might actually be a worthwhile first step in recovery as i run at quite a fast pace naturally and after covid i often hit a hr of 180bpm as a 30 something year old - maybe i should only walk jog for now.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#153

Post by leetrout »

incrudible wrote: post #77
rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

I know exactly what you mean. As a counter point to the many "burnout answers" here which I completely agree with by the way. It could also be an example of "neuroplasticity" (hear me out). I'm 40 and been coding like it feels forever, I find it "relatively easy" to learn new frameworks or languages. What is much harder are new paradigms; example OOP vs functional. The last few months I've started to learn Clojure. M…

Having gone all the way and back, I will say this: Undogmatic imperative programming (with objects) is superior to pure functional programming. You can still use functional constructs and immutable data where it makes sense. You never want to shoehorn a problem into a niche programming paradigm.

I have come to realize this is why I love Go. Lots of the big libraries over complicate things at times but for my own simple toys I love writing down my types and planning my data containers and then just writing small functions to interact with them.

I have started writing (type annotated) python this way and it has made it a joy to work with again. I watch coworkers add so much state and complexity turning every small problem in to a bigger problem with object oriented patterns.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#154

Post by kossTKR »

telman17 wrote: post #27
kossTKR wrote: post #10

This must be very common right now? I'm at the exact same point with Vue3. 10+ years of experience, created two fulls stacks sass'es as a Tech Lead but i feel so slow learning this new stuff. Just installed a starter kit and been endlessly fiddling with a simple test frontend and couldn't get basic reactivity to work. I feel the documentation is riddled with advanced concepts and everything is way, WAY more complex t…

When I started learning React I felt the same frustration but then it just clicked one day after maybe 2 months of struggling. I’m still waiting for the Vue click but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

Interesting, how long have you been using Vue3? I'm only 3 weeks in and still waiting for that video or diagram or tutorial that really inform me on why all of this extreme overhead is needed to perform simple tasks.

Does anyone have any good resources that made them enjoy the Composition api, Pinia etc?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#155

Post by lupire »

sinenomine wrote: post #101
tehmillhouse wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's definitely something to the neuroplasticity thing. Learning does take longer as we age, that's just a biological fact. > Man what a frustrating journey it has been ! I keep telling myself I'm a seasoned senior dev... This right here, that's something you're misunderstanding. Learning something new is supposed to be uncomfortable. To learn most effectively, you want to shape your mental behavior to min…

I think the neuroplasticity angle is vastly underestimated, and we should seek (and also design, research & fund if there is none) neuroplasticity-upregulating drugs & therapies. As far as this field goes, this is a remarkable paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24348349/

That looks suspect. n=23

2 groups of 12. (one person's data was lost).

No baseline pre-treatment data.

Each group did two trials: VPA then placebo, or vice versa. The VPA-first group did well on VPA, but the VPA-second group did not. Improvement was suggestive but slight.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#156

Post by jwr »

danuker wrote: post #43
rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

I know exactly what you mean. As a counter point to the many "burnout answers" here which I completely agree with by the way. It could also be an example of "neuroplasticity" (hear me out). I'm 40 and been coding like it feels forever, I find it "relatively easy" to learn new frameworks or languages. What is much harder are new paradigms; example OOP vs functional. The last few months I've started to learn Clojure. M…

I am almost 30 and attempting to learn Clojure was to me like swimming through mud. It is definitely not just you.

I think this could be particularly difficult for people (just guessing here) who haven't used a functional approach in the past. The shift from procedural imperative thinking to functional thinking is not obvious, and Clojure strongly pushes you to use immutability right away, too. That can be a steep learning curve.

I can tell you that the payoff at the end is huge, though :-)

As a side note, I'd highly suggest that everyone reads "Seven Languages in Seven Weeks" (https://pragprog.com/titles/btlang/seven-languages-in-seven-...). There are many programming paradigms and opening your mind to them is a great investment in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#157

Post by stuporglue »

solenoidalslide wrote: post #145
stuporglue wrote: post #28

A few years ago I just felt tired at the thought of learning another fad language. I ended up getting an MBA and switching into procurement. Now I just code on personal projects and it's fun again.

The MBA route not a fad language in itself?

Maybe. With programming though, the amount of actually new stuff I woukd learn with a new language is relatively small. With an MBA at least I'm learning every day because I'm newer to the topics.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#158

Post by lupire »

jseban wrote: post #129
rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

I know exactly what you mean. As a counter point to the many "burnout answers" here which I completely agree with by the way. It could also be an example of "neuroplasticity" (hear me out). I'm 40 and been coding like it feels forever, I find it "relatively easy" to learn new frameworks or languages. What is much harder are new paradigms; example OOP vs functional. The last few months I've started to learn Clojure. M…

I don't know from your post if learning Clojure is for work or not, but if it is in your spare time, I would really ask myself why I'm actually learning clojure, and spending my free time working outside of work.. If that makes you feel exhausted and burnt out, then just stop learning clojure for goodness sake, and sit by the pool in your free time.

Playing with a new language is much less work/burnout than the BS we get paid to do

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#159

Post by alexashka »

I work with people like you everywhere I go.

They're not smart enough to understand and therefore affect their circumstance. Their greatest accomplishment is that they still have a job, lol.

You are the Peter principle. You are fatigued from being asked to use a brain that isn't capable of solving corporate web dev and relaxing. It is instead tired of trying to solve what it considers 'complex stuff'.

If something is still complex about placing buttons and text on a screen after 15 years - you're not smart enough to do it!

Try switching into management, testing, anything else where brain use is severely limited and largely not needed. You'll feel a great sense of relief.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

#160

Post by jwr »

incrudible wrote: post #77
rawoke083600 wrote: post #35

I know exactly what you mean. As a counter point to the many "burnout answers" here which I completely agree with by the way. It could also be an example of "neuroplasticity" (hear me out). I'm 40 and been coding like it feels forever, I find it "relatively easy" to learn new frameworks or languages. What is much harder are new paradigms; example OOP vs functional. The last few months I've started to learn Clojure. M…

Having gone all the way and back, I will say this: Undogmatic imperative programming (with objects) is superior to pure functional programming. You can still use functional constructs and immutable data where it makes sense. You never want to shoehorn a problem into a niche programming paradigm.

Setting aside why I disagree with this superiority claim, since this is posted under a "Clojure" comment, I just wanted to point out that Clojure is not a pure functional language and you can still use imperative programming. In fact, most Clojure programs are a mix of imperative and functional constructs.
Post reply on HN