How to Not Lose One's Will to Code

Question

I'm currently working for a large tech consultancy on a 12 month contract as part of my Comp Sci degree (we have to take a year out to work in industry). The kind of apps we produce are very typical 'enterpisey' kind of things.

No one there has half the amount of passion I do for software, I'm starting to lose my love, I have another 6 months left before I go back to University for my final year (which incidently is full of people with less passion than the people I work with).

Any advice for something losing the love?

edit: maybe the answer is.. I need to do a startup?

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See also: What is your motivation?

Answer 1

I feel ya dude.

Working on this kinda environment will slowly drain your enthusiasm on coding and learning new technologies because you tend to see same bunch of people everyday and solve similar set of problems.

My solution to this problem is "Be Social"!!!

What I tend to do these days is listen to technology podcasts and read other programmer's blogs to keep myself informed of better and more interesting ways of programming. I found this brought me back my love on programming.

Hope this can help you too.

Answer 2

perhaps you could "cheat" on your favorite language. Learn something new (in programming, of course) that you have never even looked at before. maybe it will catch your fancy and let you retain your love for programming.

Answer 3

If you love it let it go. If it loves you it will come back.

I would say if it's something you really love to do, then you will find away to pursue the passion outside of just your current work environment or people around you. I find it very helpful to get involved in the community. Go join a software developers user group. You'll definitely meet other passionate people out there. If you're truly passionate about it, your passion will endure regardless of those around you.

On the other hand, it may be a sign that you're not really as passionate as you initially thought you were. Everywhere I've worked I've always found that I'm the most passionate about my craft than anyone else I'm working with, but I don't let that get to me. I love what I do because I love what I do. I don't love it because the people I work with love it.

Answer 4

1. Don't pay attention to the people you work with. You decide what your thoughts are.
2. Start thinking about what you'd like to do if not the "enterprisey" stuff. (I don't blame you btw, I've been doing software for 40 years in November and I get tired of it too.)

Seriously consider grad school. A masters or the equivalent will make it a lot easier to find system-programming sorts of jobs. Make contacts while in grad school.

Answer 5

I think one thing to keep in mind is the 80:20 rule (which applies to many things in life) in this case it has been used to describe the ratio of 9-5 career programmers to those in it for the passion.

It can be disheartening working with people who don't have the same enthusiasm in the field, whether that's working with a new way of doing things, new piece of tech or whatever.

I've found going to local user groups has been a good way for me to find like minded people to discuss things with and that helps keep me interested and up to date.

Answer 6

Code what you want in your spare time. Get yourself an open-source project or even start one if you have a good idea. Just code whats fun to you.

Answer 7

You might want to listen to the Accidental Creative podcast. The host Todd Henry talks about this all the time, not specifically in the context of software development but creativity in general in a "create on demand world" as he puts it.

One of his bits of advice is to block out time for "useless" creating, making something for the joy of making it.

Answer 8

Depends on why you're losing it, and what it's based on.

But consider this: what are the companies trying to achieve? Do you want to help people, and do you think the enterprise applications can contribute? Think about how what you're doing fits into the entire 'value chain' of that company. At the end of the day, no company is in the business of making people miserable (at least not its customers).

If you're running into strange standards or constraints, why not ask them about why they are being imposed? Perhaps you can help them find better ways of doing stuff: as an outsider, you have a fresher look at things. Every framework needs people to question its value.

If your co-workers are dragging you down, be aware that you are not them, and will not react in the same way. It's more than likely they have passions outside coding, and invest their enthusiasm there instead. Right now, you still have a lot of learning ahead of you affording you chances for personal growth, and need not repeat their mistakes.

Answer 9

I've been through similar situations at work. I find my work job pretty boring most of the time, even though I'm in a research company. What is keeping my love for coding is trying out new things, helping open source projects and doing things on the side.

This way I always have at least one thing that keeps my mind up.

Answer 10

Whatever you do 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, will turn into a routine. There's no way around that. But that's no reason not to do it. If you love programming, it will rarely get truly boring (although there will be those times as well). And every once in a while something really interesting will come up that you will enjoy doing. There are extremely few people who actually enojy every moment of their work like it was their hobby.

And in your spare time you can still code stuff that you find interesting yourself.

Answer 11

Success is the way to go, IMHO. Every failed project, every little screw up takes you one inch to the point when you must quit. Basically it's loosing the control over the situation.. Ask yourself this question, "would I think about giving up if I were successful"? Probably not. Well... on the other hand I know many people who screwed every single class they wrote, but they're still kicking. Go figure :)

Answer 12

For me personally, I find that if I just program at work, for other people essentially, my passion and drive goes down. This is mitigated when I convince my manager that we should try a new practice or technology to improve our end product, I find that stirs my passion up. Also, I try to focus on what I really want to do, and surround myself with people who have similar goals, and then we feed off each other (not like vampires). For me, this is being my own boss and being in control of what I work on. To this end I teamed up with a couple people outside of work to develop a product of our own, and following this path has really stoked my fire.

Answer 13

The day you'll get bored with coding a private project, is that day you've lost your imagination. So find a private project :-)

Answer 14

My 2 cents.

• Spread the love. (Show other developers what you find facinating about developing, hopefully you'll be able to infect atleast 1 other :)
• Create a mini project that does one cool thing, something that doesn't take long but gives you that "That's neat" feeling.
• Read up on new technology blogs or listen to Podcasts or read mailing lists for your favorite project(s)
• Do some "charitable" programming. Look into forums (or sites like SO) and find a user in trouble and save his day :)

Answer 15

Most of those who go to consultancy see programming as a good promising job, not that they like it and have a passion for it. I read somewhere a blog from Jeff I suppose how he coded SO on Christmas holidays. I also love to develop... my private project.

At work, there is no passion, no aspiration for quality, no best-practices, just quick and dirty. If I attempt to address the issues I either get ununderstanding or just LOL in my face from some people who say things like "i don't care about quality or the good architecture".

So i have no motivation at work except awaiting for the next paycheck.

Answer 16

"There ain't no cure for the enterprise blues" Most jobs are like that. "Dream job" is an oxymoron! But instead on focusing on the things that drag you down, focus on the things that cheer you up. The satisfaction of knowing that you have developed a well crafted application, or anything that makes you feel good. Trying to make your coworkers passionate is somewhat pointless. Passion cannot be forced!

I also adhere to the advice that you should consider grad school. It a door opener!