4 ms·

Spoiler alert: there are no secrets. EVERY person in EVERY occupation suffers from periods of lack of motivation, some occupations more so than others. As pro

Spoiler alert: there are no secrets. EVERY person in EVERY occupation suffers from periods of lack of motivation, some occupations more so than others. As programmers, we're lucky that our job is a combination of mostly interesting problem solving and high pay, so I'm thankful every day I've been able to carve out a 20+ career doing something I love. Others aren't nearly as lucky. And yet, I've had burnout twice, once during the dot com bust, and once a few years ago where I had quit my job for almost 1 year. I'm pretty happy these days, but things go up and down, like everyone else.

TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
I am kind of the opposite. I have been struggling to find anything outside of a tester job for the past decade. I have almost zero motivation to continue. Will probably bail on tech very soon. Happiness only comes in the form of cooking for me so maybe something a kitchen.
- robgibbons 10y ago
  I also love cooking, I find it therapeutic. But I can't imagine doing it for anyone but friends and family. Just like software development, it tends to be more a lot enjoyable when it's not done for money.
  - TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
    Then I will probably sell drugs.
    - RandomInteger4 10y ago
      Make a Skinner Box app. It's basically the same thing as drugs, but potentially more profitable and also legal.
yawz 10y ago
> mostly interesting problem solving and high pay Arguably the "high pay" factor can be detrimental to professional motivation. I'm pretty sure some developers would hesitate less in switching to a completely different career when they are not happy at work if their compensation weren't better than average... But it's a good problem to have for most of us.
- evo_9 10y ago
  This is definitely a big part of it. Around 10 years back I was super bored coding, I just felt like things had become so stagnated, esp. in the web-space where IE6 and MS in general were a constant source of frustration and demotivation. It seemed things weren't going to ever get better, and the thumb of Microsoft would stay firmly on the backs of all web devs forever. Around this time I became obsessively into cooking. I decided I wanted to be change careers and even went to several schools to check out the programs. My then wife at first was supportive but at some point it went from 'this is a cute dream' to 'this is real' and she wasn't having any of it. Long/short we split up, I realized I couldn't really afford to go back to school solo, and ultimately I took a big step back and realized I had it pretty good, that my 9-5 life didn't have to be my entire life and things were a lot easier once I got my social life back in order. I stuck with coding, the iPhone came out around that time and that started the wheels turning (along with other factors of course) that really kind of revitalized the entire dev scene. It became exciting and new again, and caused a sort of cascading effect of progress. MS wasn't able or willing to sit on IE6 and let things ride, a whole host of new exciting JS libraries started to emerge, etc etc. Point being, finding your mojo outside of work might be a better approach than trying to 180 into a new career. I also think it's easy to forget how cushy most dev jobs are... typically you aren't expected to be in as early, dress code tends to be more relaxed even at stodgy companies I've worked at, there is a sort of acceptance that coders are different. And course it's hard to take a 50% or more pay cut, which would have been the case for me going from a lead dev role to a line cook at best, or struggling 'chef' sinking every dime of my savings into opening a restaurant with no prior experience.
- komali2 10y ago
  I'd argue the opposite - high pay gives us the freedom to save up enough to take a lesser paying job with little detriment, because we can depend on our cushy savings. That is, if you live well below your means. Maybe I have a kind of stilted perspective because I came to programming from a job where I was making 40k, and other than the increase in rent by 400$/mo moving to the Bay Area, my cost of living / cost of comfort hasn't gone up. To me, it just feels like I have a much larger cushion, with lots more opportunity.

TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago

I am kind of the opposite. I have been struggling to find anything outside of a tester job for the past decade. I have almost zero motivation to continue. Will probably bail on tech very soon. Happiness only comes in the form of cooking for me so maybe something a kitchen.

robgibbons 10y ago
I also love cooking, I find it therapeutic. But I can't imagine doing it for anyone but friends and family. Just like software development, it tends to be more a lot enjoyable when it's not done for money.
- TheOneTrueKyle 10y ago
  Then I will probably sell drugs.
  - RandomInteger4 10y ago
    Make a Skinner Box app. It's basically the same thing as drugs, but potentially more profitable and also legal.

yawz 10y ago

> mostly interesting problem solving and high pay Arguably the "high pay" factor can be detrimental to professional motivation. I'm pretty sure some developers would hesitate less in switching to a completely different career when they are not happy at work if their compensation weren't better than average... But it's a good problem to have for most of us.

evo_9 10y ago
This is definitely a big part of it. Around 10 years back I was super bored coding, I just felt like things had become so stagnated, esp. in the web-space where IE6 and MS in general were a constant source of frustration and demotivation. It seemed things weren't going to ever get better, and the thumb of Microsoft would stay firmly on the backs of all web devs forever. Around this time I became obsessively into cooking. I decided I wanted to be change careers and even went to several schools to check out the programs. My then wife at first was supportive but at some point it went from 'this is a cute dream' to 'this is real' and she wasn't having any of it. Long/short we split up, I realized I couldn't really afford to go back to school solo, and ultimately I took a big step back and realized I had it pretty good, that my 9-5 life didn't have to be my entire life and things were a lot easier once I got my social life back in order. I stuck with coding, the iPhone came out around that time and that started the wheels turning (along with other factors of course) that really kind of revitalized the entire dev scene. It became exciting and new again, and caused a sort of cascading effect of progress. MS wasn't able or willing to sit on IE6 and let things ride, a whole host of new exciting JS libraries started to emerge, etc etc. Point being, finding your mojo outside of work might be a better approach than trying to 180 into a new career. I also think it's easy to forget how cushy most dev jobs are... typically you aren't expected to be in as early, dress code tends to be more relaxed even at stodgy companies I've worked at, there is a sort of acceptance that coders are different. And course it's hard to take a 50% or more pay cut, which would have been the case for me going from a lead dev role to a line cook at best, or struggling 'chef' sinking every dime of my savings into opening a restaurant with no prior experience.
komali2 10y ago
I'd argue the opposite - high pay gives us the freedom to save up enough to take a lesser paying job with little detriment, because we can depend on our cushy savings. That is, if you live well below your means. Maybe I have a kind of stilted perspective because I came to programming from a job where I was making 40k, and other than the increase in rent by 400$/mo moving to the Bay Area, my cost of living / cost of comfort hasn't gone up. To me, it just feels like I have a much larger cushion, with lots more opportunity.