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You hate work, not programming. I left programming as a career, and now use it in support of the website I run. I went from dreading going to work to skipping

by nicbou 4y ago

You hate work, not programming. I left programming as a career, and now use it in support of the website I run. I went from dreading going to work to skipping meals because I can't lift my hands from the keyboard. The passion came back, and it's stronger than ever. You know what's fun? Just building stuff on our own terms, and going outside when the cafeine wears out. I overengineer or hack together as I goddamn please, and boy howdy does it feel like a million bucks. Get rid of Agile, meetings, red tape and fixed work hours, and I guarantee you that you'll feel the magic again. But ditch programming and keep every other part of the job, and you'll hate it just the same.

throwaway_586 4y ago
Are you willing to share any more details about how you made this happen? A lot of what you wrote really resonated with me. There's a side project I've been working on for 2 years (and hope to monetize soon) and even though the honeymoon phase of "new project" is well past, I still am so excited to work on it every day. But I *hate* work, for all the reasons you and others in this thread have mentioned. Recently it's gotten bad enough that I dread getting out of bed in the morning--but I still love getting off work and being able to hack on my side project. I'm constantly being exposed to advice on HN and the like that entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, but goddamn if it still doesn't seem like the best thing in the world to me. I don't need a huge salary or even great work-life balance (at this stage of my life, anyway), but I definitely do feel the need to work on something I actually give a shit about and have that freedom of owning the product myself.
- nicbou 4y ago
  The trick is to get lucky once. There's nothing more to it. It was a work of love that panned out. If I had to start again tomorrow, I'd probably really struggle to reproduce that success.
  - throwaway_586 4y ago
    That's a very honest assessment, thanks. Hope to be in similar shoes to yours one day.
    - nicbou 4y ago
      And I hope to stay in those shoes until the soles fall off. Once you have a taste of that life, I don't know how you can attend another Scrum meeting.

by nicbou 4y ago

throwaway_586 4y ago

Are you willing to share any more details about how you made this happen? A lot of what you wrote really resonated with me. There's a side project I've been working on for 2 years (and hope to monetize soon) and even though the honeymoon phase of "new project" is well past, I still am so excited to work on it every day. But I *hate* work, for all the reasons you and others in this thread have mentioned. Recently it's gotten bad enough that I dread getting out of bed in the morning--but I still love getting off work and being able to hack on my side project. I'm constantly being exposed to advice on HN and the like that entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, but goddamn if it still doesn't seem like the best thing in the world to me. I don't need a huge salary or even great work-life balance (at this stage of my life, anyway), but I definitely do feel the need to work on something I actually give a shit about and have that freedom of owning the product myself.

nicbou 4y ago
The trick is to get lucky once. There's nothing more to it. It was a work of love that panned out. If I had to start again tomorrow, I'd probably really struggle to reproduce that success.
- throwaway_586 4y ago
  That's a very honest assessment, thanks. Hope to be in similar shoes to yours one day.
  - nicbou 4y ago
    And I hope to stay in those shoes until the soles fall off. Once you have a taste of that life, I don't know how you can attend another Scrum meeting.