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
#2This article was actually interesting.
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#3I 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?
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#4I 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 used to collect catalogs when they were still paper based. I’d punch ‘order catalog’ into Google and find all sorts of weird manufacturers and retailers selling specialty crap.
Taxidermy supplies, figurines suppliers (from Hummel to Gundam), not to mention the tomes from electronics and engineering distributors like R.S, which are still available (usually at a fee).
Sure you can do it just browsing an ecommerce website, but it’s not the same.
I think I just liked seeing a snapshot of a specific industry’s craft.
I opportunistically go to random trade fairs when I’m travelling now - there’s always one or two in a given major city. Similar ‘snapshot of an industry’ experience.
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#5I 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 mostly just dabble in a bunch of things. I started by looking at what classes are offered in my city, and started signing up for random ones. So far, I've done some leatherworking, metalsmithing, weaving, archery, bike repair, American sign language, etc. I also cook a decent amount, and am always trying new recipes. Trying to add fermenting and preserving to the list this summer. And I've recently reached out to an instructor for guitar and singing lessons.
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#6I 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?
“1:1 podcast with you as the guest”
Anyone can call me and say hi. We chat about anything you’re passionate about, pair program or… rant.
I’ve met a tonne of fascinating people this way. Another neat side-effect of that was filling my backlog with new project ideas (mostly thanks to rants).
Come and say hi! http://sonnet.io/posts/hi/
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#7I 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.
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#8I 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 forced to work on things that I don't care about in order to draw a salary sucks, and no amount of
> Schedule a 30-minute time block to freely jot down questions that spark your curiosity as an engineer. (They don't have to be about work.)
is going to change that. If anything, it makes it worse because now I would rather be investigating those questions than working!
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#9I 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 )
Re: How to feel engaged at work: a software engineer's guide
#10I 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?
3D printing is a fun hobby that combines engineering skills with actual useful stuff. Just printed a set of tablecloth clamps for camping.
Speaking of, camping! Nice to get some fresh air and away from screens for a bit. And I love cooking over an open fire.
Speaking of, cooking! Once you get a little practice, you can really dazzle yourself and others with some delicious food. Especially when you realize that cooking is not actually as fiddly as it seems. Once you have enough experience under your belt to substitute and improvise and just throw something together the real fun begins. I recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/GlenAndFriendsCooking . Just pick a recipe and go for it, and Glen has very practical advice about exactly how unnecessary the fiddly parts of cooking are.
Other things I do: retro video games and related electronics projects (currently building a supergun to play arcade games at home), learn yo-yo tricks, read books, garden, play music.
Lack of hobbies isn't the problem. If someone would pay me a salary just to do my hobbies I'd be extremely happy.