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How to Burn Out Programming

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Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#41

Post by noname123 »

Not off topic but looking for people who have a different approach towards coding and life,

> Growing in the company (developer -> manager -> director)

I recently realized that I really don't want to be a manager or director. Nor do I have the interest in becoming the consultant or startup route. For me, the coolest to do is to contribute to open source projects, lean programming languages/Linux Kernel/Bioinformatics/ML etc. for fun; I'd love to find the right balance of doing either menial work or mindless web dev work without being too taxing to fund my own personal interests; and am willing to be basically work at an livable income (40K in a big metro).

Recently a gentleman mentioned on a thread that he is doing indie game development while working at a Target warehouse. I'd love to hear people who are have gone down this route or have the same mindset. Do you guys work say half a year doing consulting and half a year on your own stuff? Or do you guys work at a menial job and work on your free mental capacities after work. Or do you work at a menial web dev job or at a company that offers "summer hours" (4 day 10-hour weeks) or flex-time and work on cool stuff after work. Would love to hear some of your thoughts and journey should you have gone down this path.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#42

Post by dwd »

drtse4 wrote: post #22
georgemcbay wrote: post #9

My list would be more like -- How to Burn Out Programming: 1) Do it too much for too long while being under stress. The same way you burn out doing anything. 2) See #1 I do agree with some of the points laid out in the post, but disagree with #2 and #4. #2 ("Have a negative attitude toward everything") is a bad thing for team morale and should be avoided but I don't believe it has anything to do with burnout. #4 ("Sw…

The problem with #2 is that the author lists it as something that causes burnout when instead is one of the likely results. I agree about #4 and many of the things he lists are a bit subjective and for some could be again result of being burnout. Your career stagnates even if you persist remaining in the same useless place forever and sometime starting anew somewhere else, on new problems, could at least temporarily…

His points are really the symptoms of doing other things wrong and appear to be mostly self-inflicted.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#43

Post by aktau »

eru wrote: post #32
chasing wrote: post #19

Where's "Don't exercise?" That'd be pretty close to the top of my list. A quick 2-3 mile jog around the neighborhood can help get me out of work-related funks. (I work at a home office, though, so it's easier for me to say "fuck it" and go do something sweaty in the middle of the day...) My theory is that, since the only real item on your jogging to-do list is to put one foot in front of the other, your brain is free…

Also, you can't ignore your body. It wants to move.

I knew Pharell was on HN!

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#44

Post by watchout »

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...

MacLeod’s Loser layer had me puzzled for a long time, because I was interpreting it in cultural terms: the kind of person you call a “loser.” While some may be losers in that sense too, they are primarily losers in the economic sense: those who have, for various reasons, made (or been forced to make) a bad economic bargain. They’ve given up some potential for long-term economic liberty (as capitalists) for short-term economic stability. Traded freedom for a paycheck in short. They actually produce, but are not compensated in proportion to the value they create (since their compensation is set by Sociopaths operating under conditions of serious moral hazard). They mortgage their lives away, and hope to die before their money runs out.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#45

Post by tluyben2 »

Burn out (and worse) victim here; took me almost 10 years to fully recover. I would say not or too little exercise and caring too much (about everything, like the tools you use, the language you use, what people think of you, about deadlines) are the main causes I have seen in myself and others. The rest, If you don't do the former, don't really matter too much IMHO. I like working long hours still etc but I just don't really care about deadlines anymore for instance. In 25 years working for client I have to meet the first one who actually had a real deadline beyond that they would 'like' to have it done by then. And yet that, combined with other things you care about as coder, almost literally killed me.

The reality is that software is very complex and so are the humans thinking it up; if they want working stuff in the end, things are done when they are done. And they cost a lot and you are going to not like your the code you wrote after you wrote it and there might be better tools etc. Who cares? Only you unfortunately and if you let that go you'll have happy clients and you'll be happy yourself.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#46

Post by acron0 »

Number 4 worries me. What's considered to be "too short" a time period between jobs? I was at my previous job 18 months - I'd say a bit 'too short'. I've been at my current job 3 years. Is that 'too short' to think about moving on because I'm bored?

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#47

Post by motters »

I'd say the opposite about switching companies. If you want to make sure that you have no new ideas and increasing tunnel vision with regard to other aspects of life then stay in the same job for long periods of time doing the same thing with the same tools, day in day out. Have no outside interests and work long hours, putting your entire identity and energy into one company/task/organisation/product, and that's a good recipe for burnout.

Also definitely don't exercise and always eat at your desk.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#48

Post by GuiA »

acron0 wrote: post #46

Number 4 worries me. What's considered to be "too short" a time period between jobs? I was at my previous job 18 months - I'd say a bit 'too short'. I've been at my current job 3 years. Is that 'too short' to think about moving on because I'm bored?

Depends on where you are and how old you are. In your 20s in Silicon Valley, 3 years is a bit long. But in your 30s somewhere else it's fine.

Re: How to Burn Out Programming

#50

Post by jcagalawan »

rcfox wrote: post #31
jcagalawan wrote: post #12

Now how about an article on how to recover from burn out, doing nothing all day for a couple months doesn't seem to be working out.

I don't know if I've been burned out that bad, but for me, making something where I can get lots of quick, visible feedback helps a lot. The quick part is important you have to convince yourself to keep going, and if you have long stretches between seeing something new, it's really difficult. The visible part is important, because once you've reached a certain point, you'll want to show it off to people. It doesn't r…

Data visualization sounds like something I could do at work! Working on an enterprise visualization/reporting program now for an internship. Could you guys give me some pointers with getting more development-oriented tasks during code sprint planning?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the glorified Facebook like-clicker type of tester -- the tests are automated at least. I will be finishing my introductory project this week and will be starting sprints with the rest of the scrum team. I have been in a couple sprint planning session but haven't been able to participate yet and will have my first chance to take my first real project. The other intern on my team who's been here longer than me is still doing mainly writing tests with this really outdated Keyword model. I've been doing the same and it's not fun.

My question to you is, as a new intern to the team (this is my first 'real' development job), should I try and aim for getting some dev work? I'm afraid it might tick off a couple of the more senior devs. I'm not against doing test work--I'm watching James Shore's TDJS I know it's important--, but I would rather work with newer technologies than some Java monstrosity written pre-AWT.[0][1][2]

[0] www.letscodejavascript.com

[1] At least it's not written in ABAP like some of our other programs. shudder*

[2]Not sure if I'm doing HN-style citations correctly.

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