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I lost my job in January because the company closed the office in my country, haven't written a single line of code since then, looking for motivation to start

I lost my job in January because the company closed the office in my country, haven't written a single line of code since then, looking for motivation to start again but I feel like an absolute failure and don't know what to do now. The fact that I stopped coding 10 months ago and wasn't even a good developer, to begin with, isn't helping. I guess I need therapy.

thih9 7y ago
Thanks for sharing. It takes a lot of courage to admit the need for therapy. It will get better. Take care!
bluedino 7y ago
Don't feel like a failure because some company closed an office you worked in. It had nothing to do with you or your work.
magnoossig 7y ago
Use it as fuel! All of us feel like a failure at some point, it's just a question of faking it until you make it!
eecc 7y ago
You can try going to meetups, participate to the local developer community. There you will realize how much of your self-deprecation is justified or not. Identify your weak spots and work on them, but also realize your strong points and use them to climb out of it. And yes, talk to a counsellor as well if you feel it helps.
cryptozeus 7y ago
Get paid projects from online sites, get moving, do some exercises, get the momentum back. It will be hard to get out of the quicksand otherwise.
spoonie 7y ago
A layoff isn’t about you! The company said they don’t want anyone working in that position anymore, not just you. It doesn’t reflect on you at all! :)
- bigboris 7y ago
  Not true when the company that laid you off constantly posts job openings with your exact job description. You're forgetting about things like age discrimination, too. For example, I'm in my 50s and had a long history with my previous employer. Promotions, bonuses, etc. However, big companies in the US do layoffs to get rid of pension liabilities. I had no pension at this company, but because of my age I was tagged. Why? Age demographics...including those without pensions in the layoff rounds let the company show they were not violating the WARN Act and others (in the US) by singling out only pension holders.
rossdavidh 7y ago
When I am having a problem getting up the gumption to tackle something, programming-wise, I tell myself that I'm not going to do the actual code yet, just comments (TODOs and such) about what I will do eventually. Some of those comments, are just sentences, but then sometimes it's easier to just put the code in the comment, than to describe it in any other way. Still commented out, though. I'm not coding this now, just saying what i will do, eventually. After a while, sometimes I uncomment a few sections, and test just those little functions to see that they work, anyway. But basically, I'm not coding now, don't have the energy or will to do it right now. Sometimes, it is enough to get me going, and I turn the comments into code. Other times, I stop for the day once everything is planned out, as much as I can at this point. Either way, it is better than not approaching it at all, because it seems to require (psychologically) a smaller step to code it once I do come back to it the next day, because everything is planned out. If you don't have a job in programming just now, do puzzles, do a small app for organizing your recipes or books, do something. It doesn't have to be something which anyone else will ever want or need to see, just something to exercise that part of your brain.
- error417 7y ago
  Only answering this comment to avoid spamming: just a quick message to thank everyone for the great support and advice, I've started solving some problems on LeetCode today and I should be back to working on my personal app by the end of the week. Thanks again, everyone.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
sifar 7y ago
Create an urgency to deliver. Use that as a motivator. 1) Promise someone you value/respect to deliver some program 2) Join an interesting coding competition 3) Help teach kids programming. 4) Figure out if you can solve a problem in your current scenario with any program. Concentrate on the process/act of doing it, rather than the thing itself. Learn to enjoy doing it. Also if you are not doing it already, I would suggest to start exercising or playing a physical sport which would put you in better frame of mind.
lordnacho 7y ago
Do a few LeetCode puzzles each day. You want to keep things fresh, plus they're the kind of thing that people ask for before interview stages these days. And you'll inevitably learn something. Bite sized so you can for it into your day.

thih9 7y ago

Thanks for sharing. It takes a lot of courage to admit the need for therapy. It will get better. Take care!

bluedino 7y ago

Don't feel like a failure because some company closed an office you worked in. It had nothing to do with you or your work.

magnoossig 7y ago

Use it as fuel! All of us feel like a failure at some point, it's just a question of faking it until you make it!

eecc 7y ago

You can try going to meetups, participate to the local developer community. There you will realize how much of your self-deprecation is justified or not. Identify your weak spots and work on them, but also realize your strong points and use them to climb out of it. And yes, talk to a counsellor as well if you feel it helps.

cryptozeus 7y ago

Get paid projects from online sites, get moving, do some exercises, get the momentum back. It will be hard to get out of the quicksand otherwise.

spoonie 7y ago

A layoff isn’t about you! The company said they don’t want anyone working in that position anymore, not just you. It doesn’t reflect on you at all! :)

bigboris 7y ago
Not true when the company that laid you off constantly posts job openings with your exact job description. You're forgetting about things like age discrimination, too. For example, I'm in my 50s and had a long history with my previous employer. Promotions, bonuses, etc. However, big companies in the US do layoffs to get rid of pension liabilities. I had no pension at this company, but because of my age I was tagged. Why? Age demographics...including those without pensions in the layoff rounds let the company show they were not violating the WARN Act and others (in the US) by singling out only pension holders.

rossdavidh 7y ago

When I am having a problem getting up the gumption to tackle something, programming-wise, I tell myself that I'm not going to do the actual code yet, just comments (TODOs and such) about what I will do eventually. Some of those comments, are just sentences, but then sometimes it's easier to just put the code in the comment, than to describe it in any other way. Still commented out, though. I'm not coding this now, just saying what i will do, eventually. After a while, sometimes I uncomment a few sections, and test just those little functions to see that they work, anyway. But basically, I'm not coding now, don't have the energy or will to do it right now. Sometimes, it is enough to get me going, and I turn the comments into code. Other times, I stop for the day once everything is planned out, as much as I can at this point. Either way, it is better than not approaching it at all, because it seems to require (psychologically) a smaller step to code it once I do come back to it the next day, because everything is planned out. If you don't have a job in programming just now, do puzzles, do a small app for organizing your recipes or books, do something. It doesn't have to be something which anyone else will ever want or need to see, just something to exercise that part of your brain.

error417 7y ago
Only answering this comment to avoid spamming: just a quick message to thank everyone for the great support and advice, I've started solving some problems on LeetCode today and I should be back to working on my personal app by the end of the week. Thanks again, everyone.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

sifar 7y ago

Create an urgency to deliver. Use that as a motivator. 1) Promise someone you value/respect to deliver some program 2) Join an interesting coding competition 3) Help teach kids programming. 4) Figure out if you can solve a problem in your current scenario with any program. Concentrate on the process/act of doing it, rather than the thing itself. Learn to enjoy doing it. Also if you are not doing it already, I would suggest to start exercising or playing a physical sport which would put you in better frame of mind.

lordnacho 7y ago

Do a few LeetCode puzzles each day. You want to keep things fresh, plus they're the kind of thing that people ask for before interview stages these days. And you'll inevitably learn something. Bite sized so you can for it into your day.