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I've been working as an engineer in high paced roles at one of the FANGs for about 15 years now. I've gone through ups-and-downs in terms of what I call "creati

I've been working as an engineer in high paced roles at one of the FANGs for about 15 years now. I've gone through ups-and-downs in terms of what I call "creative energy", which I will refer to as coding "mojo". 1. You have a limited amount of mojo that you can throw at a problem. When you're young, this focus and energy is easy. You can throw it at problems that you may not be that vested in for a reward like money. It's also easy to recover. These times are great. 2. As you get older, mojo will become more cyclical. When you're in the troughs it will be difficult to focus your energy on a problem if you're not that vested with it. When you work on projects that fail, this will be extremely draining. At this stage, you will need to build "refresh" mechanisms into your schedule. It will help to work on non-tech yet creative passions on the side that have easy to reach end-states. I personally had this successfully going for over a decade. 3. Sometimes instead of being cyclical, your mojo will just totally flat-line. Sometimes it was too many death-march projects, sometimes it's personal health related, dealing with aging family members, or the stress of being a parent. If you haven't built in a refresh cycle that works for you yet, it's going to be very difficult to get your mojo flowing again. At this point more drastic measures are necessary. One piece of advice I heard was "take a break until you get really bored again." After joining a project a few years ago that caused me to sacrifice my "refresh cycle", I found myself quickly in #3 as well. I wish I had better advice, but I'm planning to take some extended time off from the grind. [Advice to younger devs: this lifestyle requires active maintenance on your part to sustain and you won't know about this until it's too late. Save up and plan for a mid-career break.] I'm planning on working on some fun projects to expose me to new technology stacks and try to see what problems I can get excited about again and do some self-investments to open up alternative career paths. [I've always considered "retiring" into education at some point but maybe I'll play with a few different self-employment ideas first.]

TheColorYellow 6y ago
This feels like the best advice in this thread. Two questions: 1. What are your refresh tactics and any advice for what makes a good refresh? 2. What strategic advice would you give for preparing for that mid-life break?
- sgwizdak 6y ago
  1. It's going to be different for everyone. I think it should be activities that leave you feeling physically and mentally refreshed. Learning a new musical instrument and mountain climbing helped myself. I have had other coworkers who found a lot of value in learning to dance. 2. Be realistic about the fact you need a mental break. Avoid burning yourself out anymore than you already are. Discuss your strategy and reasoning with your family so it's not a shock to them and have a plan on how to cover finances and health-care.
VladimirGolovin 6y ago
There is an obscure Russian book on creativity and talent, “On the nature of Talent / The boy who could fly” by Igor Akimov and Victor Klimenko (1988), that explores the concept of “energy potential”-- the thing that you call “mojo”. It resonated with me 20 years ago, and it resonates now, after a re-reading. Here are some quotes from that book. Please excuse my rough translation: When the creator is larger than the task, he is OK -- he has no need to exercise his willpower or to spur himself. When the creator is equal to the task (e.g. the shape of the chair he is designing causes him discomfort but he cannot figure out why exactly), the willpower wakes up and stands behind his back, expecting an assignment. If the creator has enough energy, the willpower just states, “here’s the task, no need to rush -- we’ll solve it, no need to worry”. But if the creator has low energy, the willpower rolls up the sleeves in order to gather up missing energy. When the creator is smaller than the task, he’d better step aside, or the task will crush him. If the creator’s energy is depleted, peace of mind is a godsend to him. The ability to solve problems (the structure of the creator's soul) is not affected by any external conditions, nor by time. That’s why no matter how hard life tries to crush the creator, he cannot be crushed. To uplift him, there’s no need to pump him up with energy externally. All he needs to do is to muster up just a bit of strength to lift his eyelids -- and notice the task. Seeing the task is his salvation. Squash the smallest task -- swat! and it’s gone. No problem that the task was small: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The subsequent task will be easier for him -- because he’s already moving, he has some momentum. And so his energy level begins to rise. But if he wastes his energy potential, he loses himself. No protection: he is vulnerable all around, and even if nobody is intending to hurt him, he sees malicious intentions in every word, gesture or action, however well-intentioned. Our energy capacity increases in only two cases: 1. When our energy is expended during creative labor. 2. When our energy is expended during physical exercise, resulting in pleasant tiredness. Means of increasing our energy potential: 1. Positive emotions. 2. Motion / movement. 3. Solving problems.
- saltyfever 6y ago
  Sounds like an interesting book. Not sure if I agree with the first point though. If the task is smaller than the creator no potential is being explored, no boundary being tested, no growth attained. It is going to feel like an unsatisfying chore.
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TheColorYellow 6y ago

This feels like the best advice in this thread. Two questions: 1. What are your refresh tactics and any advice for what makes a good refresh? 2. What strategic advice would you give for preparing for that mid-life break?

sgwizdak 6y ago
1. It's going to be different for everyone. I think it should be activities that leave you feeling physically and mentally refreshed. Learning a new musical instrument and mountain climbing helped myself. I have had other coworkers who found a lot of value in learning to dance. 2. Be realistic about the fact you need a mental break. Avoid burning yourself out anymore than you already are. Discuss your strategy and reasoning with your family so it's not a shock to them and have a plan on how to cover finances and health-care.

VladimirGolovin 6y ago

There is an obscure Russian book on creativity and talent, “On the nature of Talent / The boy who could fly” by Igor Akimov and Victor Klimenko (1988), that explores the concept of “energy potential”-- the thing that you call “mojo”. It resonated with me 20 years ago, and it resonates now, after a re-reading. Here are some quotes from that book. Please excuse my rough translation: When the creator is larger than the task, he is OK -- he has no need to exercise his willpower or to spur himself. When the creator is equal to the task (e.g. the shape of the chair he is designing causes him discomfort but he cannot figure out why exactly), the willpower wakes up and stands behind his back, expecting an assignment. If the creator has enough energy, the willpower just states, “here’s the task, no need to rush -- we’ll solve it, no need to worry”. But if the creator has low energy, the willpower rolls up the sleeves in order to gather up missing energy. When the creator is smaller than the task, he’d better step aside, or the task will crush him. If the creator’s energy is depleted, peace of mind is a godsend to him. The ability to solve problems (the structure of the creator's soul) is not affected by any external conditions, nor by time. That’s why no matter how hard life tries to crush the creator, he cannot be crushed. To uplift him, there’s no need to pump him up with energy externally. All he needs to do is to muster up just a bit of strength to lift his eyelids -- and notice the task. Seeing the task is his salvation. Squash the smallest task -- swat! and it’s gone. No problem that the task was small: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The subsequent task will be easier for him -- because he’s already moving, he has some momentum. And so his energy level begins to rise. But if he wastes his energy potential, he loses himself. No protection: he is vulnerable all around, and even if nobody is intending to hurt him, he sees malicious intentions in every word, gesture or action, however well-intentioned. Our energy capacity increases in only two cases: 1. When our energy is expended during creative labor. 2. When our energy is expended during physical exercise, resulting in pleasant tiredness. Means of increasing our energy potential: 1. Positive emotions. 2. Motion / movement. 3. Solving problems.

saltyfever 6y ago
Sounds like an interesting book. Not sure if I agree with the first point though. If the task is smaller than the creator no potential is being explored, no boundary being tested, no growth attained. It is going to feel like an unsatisfying chore.

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