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Ask HN: Why can't I learn anymore?

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

#171

Post by sinenomine »

adriand wrote: post #135
sinenomine wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some examples of directly measurable KPIs: 1. Mood diary 2. Time spent on social media, negative 3. Hours of sleep 4. Steps walked, number of repetitions in exercise, calories burnt 5. Psychometric tests (help measure mental clarity) https://openpsychometrics.org/ 6. N-back: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.0220... 7. Active vocabulary test to measure available crystallized intelligence 8. Biom…

I have a strong dislike of the modern focus on personal measurement and metrics. It implies a sort of mechanistic existence. It’s also often connected to a focus on productivity optimization, which given that the OP may be suffering from burnout, seems like it might be the wrong direction. My advice to OP: whether it’s burnout or not (and it does sound like it), you aren’t liking what you’re doing right now, so if yo…

I too would like if my life were nice by default, but it is not. When faced with a hard problem we have to resort to hard measurements of progress, because otherwise we tend to go in circles in high-dimensional parameter space.

Otherwise taking a sabbatical is a nice decent feel-good advice.

> If you are able to regain your energy and enthusiasm you will surely be extremely employable, so your overall risk seems low.

And that's a big if.

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

#173

Post by foobazzy »

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…

> most effective way to recover enthusiasm was to pick up a new skill, work-related or not. I was in my mid-30s in the late aughts and not entirely sure I wanted to keep coding - so I signed myself up for an 18 month "executive MBA" program to find out if I might want to do something else

This might sound tangential, but I am at this exact stage in my life. I am in my early 30s and have signed up for the executive MBA program. I will be looking to start my term in Sept. Any tips/suggestions/warnings that you can share?

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

#175

Post by wonderwonder »

It's likely burnout. I have experienced this for a solid year now. Just sit at my desk for 8 hours a day unable to get any real work done. Have probably 30 minutes of real productivity a day. Started after working insane hours for months and months on end. I refuse to work more than 40 now. Funny thing is I get great reviews because I just decided to hijack a team lead role that was missing and just run the team. No one knows how absolutely fried I am. My opinion is that humans are not meant to just sit in front of a desk producing useless widgets that do no real societal good besides making money for our employers. We have no sense of purpose. We just make dumb shiny things. I am still struggling with it. Starting a new job soon in an official management position, optimally I am happier there.

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

#176

Post by taylorius »

adriand wrote: post #135
sinenomine wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some examples of directly measurable KPIs: 1. Mood diary 2. Time spent on social media, negative 3. Hours of sleep 4. Steps walked, number of repetitions in exercise, calories burnt 5. Psychometric tests (help measure mental clarity) https://openpsychometrics.org/ 6. N-back: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.0220... 7. Active vocabulary test to measure available crystallized intelligence 8. Biom…

I have a strong dislike of the modern focus on personal measurement and metrics. It implies a sort of mechanistic existence. It’s also often connected to a focus on productivity optimization, which given that the OP may be suffering from burnout, seems like it might be the wrong direction. My advice to OP: whether it’s burnout or not (and it does sound like it), you aren’t liking what you’re doing right now, so if yo…

If I could upvote your comment twice, I would. Measurement has become the be all and end all, and it's useful of course. But it's easy to make the mistake that you've captured the whole of something on your graph, or spreadsheet, and usually that is far from the case. The spirit of a thing is not easily captured.

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

#177

Post by doliveira »

sinenomine wrote: post #123
ttoinou wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any example of a smart KPI ?

Some examples of directly measurable KPIs: 1. Mood diary 2. Time spent on social media, negative 3. Hours of sleep 4. Steps walked, number of repetitions in exercise, calories burnt 5. Psychometric tests (help measure mental clarity) https://openpsychometrics.org/ 6. N-back: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.0220... 7. Active vocabulary test to measure available crystallized intelligence 8. Biom…

I envy your energy to even spend time tracking all those things. Just reading and imagining keeping them as a routine sounds exhausting.

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

#179

Post by junon »

adriand wrote: post #135
sinenomine wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some examples of directly measurable KPIs: 1. Mood diary 2. Time spent on social media, negative 3. Hours of sleep 4. Steps walked, number of repetitions in exercise, calories burnt 5. Psychometric tests (help measure mental clarity) https://openpsychometrics.org/ 6. N-back: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.0220... 7. Active vocabulary test to measure available crystallized intelligence 8. Biom…

I have a strong dislike of the modern focus on personal measurement and metrics. It implies a sort of mechanistic existence. It’s also often connected to a focus on productivity optimization, which given that the OP may be suffering from burnout, seems like it might be the wrong direction. My advice to OP: whether it’s burnout or not (and it does sound like it), you aren’t liking what you’re doing right now, so if yo…

I'd upvote this multiple times if it were possible.

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

#180

Post by solatic »

foobazzy wrote: post #173
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…

> most effective way to recover enthusiasm was to pick up a new skill, work-related or not. I was in my mid-30s in the late aughts and not entirely sure I wanted to keep coding - so I signed myself up for an 18 month "executive MBA" program to find out if I might want to do something else This might sound tangential, but I am at this exact stage in my life. I am in my early 30s and have signed up for the executive MB…

Not OP, but in my early thirties finishing an MBA now.

Here's how I sum it up. Pure CS is about determining what's theoretically possible, then software engineering is "applied CS", about taking what's theoretically possible and making it in the real world, which includes a mature understanding of costs (both upfront to build v1 and long-term maintenance). Thus an MBA is "applied software engineering." It's not sufficient to understand the costs of the engineering we build, because it doesn't matter if it costs $2,000 or $2,000,000 if we don't have the money for it. We also need to understand how to make it actually self-sufficient, by ensuring that it brings in enough revenue to cover the costs. $2,000,000 in costs, let alone $2,000 in costs, may be too much for a college student to afford out of pocket, but if you can show that you can earn it back and more, then you will find investors - be they angel or VC investors for a new venture, or your company's Finance division for a new project in a Fortune 500 company.

Ultimately the skills you get are about convincing people to fund what you want to build, for different definitions of "fund", whether it's literally cash, or persuading people to invest blood-sweat-tears equity by joining you, or just getting work to allow you to put time into it. Instead of working on what others want you to work on, you will learn to persuade The Powers That Be that your work should be funded. The main caveat: working on the MBA may change your mind about what's worth working on.

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