> what's kept you going all these years? It's just fun, ~80% of the time.

the need for 💶 so that I can support my family... On a very regular basis I'm wondering if I should change career completely. as I am rather fed up with it all.

I find reading https://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil360/16.%20Myth%20of%20Sisyphus.pdf helps

And the money

but to answer your question a bit more... last year I had a project that was interesting and I was learning lots of new stuff (Rust in this case) and that made it fun again... and we had really good results as well (performance problems) that made the customer really happy, so that was motivating. my current project is anything but motivating... but tomorrow is the last day. no idea what's next though

Thanks for the replies guys. It's helpful to know I'm not the only one who has had these thoughts. Thanks, @UC3QUCV60 , https://clojurians.slack.com/archives/C0KL616MN/p1713946997618649?thread_ts=1713945335.959799&cid=C0KL616MN has been an interesting read so far

I've changed jobs a lot more than others seem to. Around every two years. Not because that would be the plan, but because around that time I usually give up on the workplace where I'm at improving at meaningful pace (or at all).

I think I just like to learn new things and software development for me is holistic, so it's all of it from business needs, architecture, implementation, team recruitment, etc... However, the fact is that finding a company that understands that is really hard and flustrating

Indeed. For a while I was happy trying to make best code I can. Then I started thinking that it's not really that useful, if the code around me needs more help. Or the people making the code. After that I started focusing on doing the right thing, instead of doing the things right.

I suppose I should get into management consultancy. But instead I've been working at startups lately, even if the money isn't that good.

I'd rather work somewhere with work that I find interesting, nice colleagues and decent pay instead of more money and work that bores me and !@# colleagues. just my 0,02

for hobby programming: i do it when it's fun and/or when i have inspiration or curiosity about something. if it stops being fun, i do something else (read a book, play video games, do house work, etc) if i'm feeling listless at my job, i talk to my manager about getting new or different work, if i can find inspiration in some other avenue without having to switch jobs entirely. of that doesn't work out, i just suffer lol

I've used the same strategy here, @UEENNMX0T! However, after working at a startup that failed, I questioned whether I needed to find another paying job. And after reading some https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ articles, I realized I did not.

nice! i'm too risk averse to go without a full-time job and have neither the desire nor personality to be that careful with my money lol

Yes, I have had extended periods where I felt like I wasn’t getting any better, and definitely times when I hated the work and never wanted to touch another computer. Every single time this happened, I realized later that the answer was simple: I was burned out. What has always worked is to do my job to the best of my ability during the day and (most important) close the computer at the end of the day. Then practice self care in all the ways that are commonly recommended for burnout. After a period of time, I find that I always come back to it because, the reality is that I love it. Programming is what I’ve wanted to do since I was ten years old. I also find that when the burnout is managed properly and passes (as it always does) I often experience an increase in my skillset. So, for you, from the sounds of it you may also be experiencing some burnout but I would also ask, what are your expectations for “leveling up career-wise”? Is it making more money? Nothing wrong with that but it might be worth reevaluating your timeline. Is it that you want to move to more senior roles and/or management but aren’t there yet, or are getting rejected for those roles? Maybe ask for candid feedback from the people rejecting you and who you work with to find out what skills you need to improve.

> have you had a period where you felt like you didn't actually enjoy your work? I mean... once per quarter, maybe? I though already about changing careers multiple times, but I always end up back to software development because it's what I like to do. There's a famous character in Mexico that said once "There's no bad work, the bad is needing to work" - while it's supposed to be funny, I think there's some truth in it - I would love to work only when I want to, not when I need to - like, take some project, see it to the end, then start a new one, then when I'm tired I'll just step back and try something different. Unfortunately, that's not how things work for most of us :man-shrugging:

I suspect that a vast majority of people don't like work in general. Obviously is not socially acceptable to state this plainly, in particular in corporate environments which enforce the worship of itself. It's very common to have ups and down (meaning, with highs really high and the lows really low). Coding itself can be less repetitive than other jobs, which can help many people on the way (or can be a curse for others, to each their own). > what's kept you going all these years? For the nature of itself and for personal inclination (I'm curious, I like to learn new things and/or improve, etc), I find tech still interesting (there's always something to learn, some old crappy system at $CURRENT_JOB that can be a pain but also an interesting challenge) and this helps me, despite being deeply tired and disillusioned with the corporate world. Sometimes the bad in a job or a contextual situation can be unbearable and this should not be diminished; within the limits of what's bearable it's good practice to sanely evaluate what's good and less so, at least to prevent the bad to take full ownership on our own narrative when it doesn't deserve to.

I'm a little on the opposite side: I'm learning new things, improving, etc, on my personal projects. Corporate, I am in a boring safe job now, by choice - I was burned out, and then I got some weird experiences on my last 2 jobs that triggered my impostors' syndrome a lot so I'm laying low to avoid further psychological issues (which, so far, seems the right choice).

That is to say - there's no "one true answer" really. It all boils down to personal experience I think

I’ve settled for a low stress, low innovation job. It seems as stable as a job can be in this industry. I do a bit of Clojure on the side and use it to automate a bunch of work tasks. The job itself is mostly TypeScript written like Java. I used to care a lot about languages but now I just want a regular pay check to support my family.

This is a kind of related post that resonates with me: https://yosefk.com/blog/fun-wont-get-it-done.html (also the video at the end is 👌 )

the video at the end -> 😍:rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:

> what’s kept you going all these years? I like it. I liked it before I knew salary and before it was cool. Before even think about real job.