Does a project need to be interesting to stay motivated at work?
Posted by xeviltimx@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 55 comments
I’ve always believed that having genuine interest in a project is a key factor in work. But it often turns into emotional swings: when the project is exciting, there’s drive and energy; when it’s gone or replaced with something less inspiring, motivation drops and there’s procrastination instead.
And that’s my current situation. My previous project was discontinued and I was moved to another one.
This raises a question: if a project isn’t inspiring, should you look for a new one or should you learn to find meaning and value in the current one, even if it feels “ordinary” or less ambitious than before?
There’s also another layer. I want to grow into a senior role, and one of the key traits there is ownership. But how do you feel true ownership for a project that doesn’t naturally spark much interest? How do you find that sense of responsibility and connection when the project feels less exciting?
I’m not talking about toxic environments or projects that make you want to quit. This is a subtler case: the project is fine, but it doesn’t spark the same interest. And then it’s unclear whether to change the project or change your approach.
What do you think? How do you handle such situations: by switching to a new project, or by finding a way to squeeze value, motivation, and ownership out of the current one?
snorktacular@reddit
It's not easy, but it's possible to decide to be interested in something. It's like that song, if you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with. Look for opportunities to deep dive into a new part of the stack, or improve your team's operational stance, or learn the domain so well that you can turn around and teach it.
Also, I've learned over time that having ownership over a service or project helps make me interested as much as being interested makes me feel a sense of ownership. It's when I have no influence or ability to improve things that I feel really unmotivated and disconnected from my work.
fragglerock@reddit
This reads like an abusers charter to me!
Human relationships are complex and if there are ties between two individuals (eg children) then you must maintain a relationship with the other person, and of course personal relationships go through ups and downs and you don't want to necessarily jump at the first difficult point... but also once it is clear you no longer love someone then you should get the fuck out of that position.
Similarly at work, if you are not interested in the project, but the complete business is interesting then stick around (but agitate to make a move to the interesting parts of the company), and if the compensation makes up for any boring times then fine... but if you become well known, or expert, in areas that don't interest you then you are making a rod for your back.
tl;dr being a professional sometimes means doing things that don't thrill you, and doing them well... but don't get stuck in that position.
No_Structure7185@reddit
but its still a good thing generally. to look for things that you can make interesting.
juusorneim@reddit
Any advice if the company (direct or skip manager) just decides to shift a dev around from project to project, then the dev no real ability to become an expert in any particular thing and starting over in a new corner of the org every 3 months?
snorktacular@reddit
I can relate. If it's not your cup of tea, I think your choices are either to stand your ground or find a new job. The success of the first approach really depends on your relationship with your management chain as well as the org's needs. There might also be a spot in a different part of your current company where you'll have more stability.
If you haven't had that conversation yet, tell them that stability is something you specifically want. It might also help to say that you want the opportunity to go deep and feel a sense of ownership. But if management can't make up their mind about priorities then they probably can't make that happen for you.
xeviltimx@reddit (OP)
I like the quote 😁
snorktacular@reddit
It's stuck in my head now 😅
MrMichaelJames@reddit
What keeps me motivated is the paycheck every 2 weeks. I don’t care what my team is working on. I work, I go home. That is my day, simple as that.
roger_ducky@reddit
Play the “meta game” instead: “Who am I helping/enabling/making things more efficient?”
At my current point in the career, at almost 30 years, where I’ve already done basically everything at least once, no project is exciting on its own.
Even learning a new framework or library only lasts at most a week.
Gathering requirements from an end-user or business’s perspective is what we’re supposed to do anyway. Let knowing what impact you actually made with the project be your motivation.
pydry@reddit
If you have to do this either there is no PM or the PM is not doing their job.
roger_ducky@reddit
You will have issues with the requirements as stated at times.
You’d need to at least understand why an end user might word it that way in order to figure out what they really wanted, if the way they asked it made very little sense, by using your imagination at the very least if you can’t talk to them. And, failing that, to raise the issue with the requirement so someone can get clarification.
Saying that isn’t your job and doing exactly what was told doesn’t really help the project, you know?
pydry@reddit
Im perfectly happy to flag a requirement that is inconsistent or makes no sense and to understand why it's there but that isnt requirements gathering. Thats sanity checking a PM's work.
I think a lot of devs underestimate whats involved in requirements gathering. It's usually more than a full time job for one person.
roger_ducky@reddit
My perspective is:
To get a 60% good UX design, have a developer use the system as a user and don’t think about how hard it is to implement just yet. Most systems don’t even get this baseline sanity check because the dev just wanted stick with what they had. (Search system where the word
To get the next 20%, A/B testing will be necessary.
Next 10% can only happen with good metrics.
Final 10%, given a large enough money-making user base, perhaps your org’s way of doing it would make sense to do.
Most things are money sinks to the business as-is. They’re not gonna pay for a whole research team on top of that.
Direct-Fee4474@reddit
I'm a fellow old(er) person. Some projects are great, some are snoozefests. But part of being a professional is just getting the job done properly -- even if it isn't super interesting. For op: A lot of this depends on your context (is this a boring small project that you're free lancing for? are you in a megacorp? a company of 30 people? etc etc) but if you're in a place with a decent sort engineering ladder, part of moving up that ladder is a transition from a "i'm working on this thing" to "i'm working on making all these things work together." you go from worrying about individual things to systemic issues that arise when you look at a giant pile of different things. everyone gets a custodial duties for a snoozefest along the line, but just remember that it's generally a temporary step of the progression.
That said, there's no correct answer. If you find work you're not interested in revolting, that's fine. You don't have to do it. Find another project to work on or change companies. That's a perfectly valid response; life's short, and there's no law saying you have to work on things you don't find inherently interesting.
If the thing's boring but in decent shape, work on metaproblems -- figure out how to make it more observable, figure out the math behind what an SLA can theoretically be, look at past things that have broken and figure out how to prevent them from happening. If you really squint you can generally find something interesting in the most boring of problems. It takes work and it isn't sustainable _forever_, but it's doable.
Also, consider getting tested for ADD. I'd struggled exactly the same f(interest)=output issues for my entire life; I got diagnosed in my 40s and the meds have helped a ton. It doesn't make it magically "oh man this thing i hate doing is now the best thing in the world!" but it lowers the barrier to starting the task. It's also helped with basically every other facet of my life, so there's that, too. I'm not saying that it's a requirement or anything, but if you're procrastinating work stuff by posting on reddit asking about how to stop procrastinating about work stuff that you can't bring yourself to do, it's a bit of a red flag.
Also hobby projects work. I've been getting deeply into demoscene fragment shaders to scratch an itch that work isn't scratching.
Party-Lingonberry592@reddit
Why does it have to be about projects? Can you find something you're not good at and work on mastering it while doing your regular job? What's holding you back from going beyond your current work scope? Maybe work on a business degree, or start attending meetups, or maybe hosting meetups at your company? Set a personal goal that helps you grow as a person, see if you can reach it.
wrex1816@reddit
It's just a job. No. Get a hobby after work.
throwaway0134hdj@reddit
Money is money. If you cannot find a better project within the company or a better job you’re kind of stuck indefinitely. You should definitely seek out better work always. Personally, I feel like projects kind of boil down to the same ideas of inputs, output, business problems, providing information to people — I am kind of indifferent on what the actual project is because the way we get there is usually the same. Though, the biggest determining factor for me is my colleagues, if my colleagues are selfish jerks, it doesn’t matter how interesting the project is that can make or break it. Your colleagues have probably the single biggest impact on your overall mental wellbeing on a project — and if management doesn’t see the problem there isn’t much that can be done because then it’s a top-down problem. Otherwise if you have cool colleagues (including management) you’re bound to learn a lot and enjoy yourself.
IProgramSoftware@reddit
As long as the check clears idgaf
false79@reddit
When I was younger, I thought my time should be spent on things I am interested about.
As one gets older, you eventually learn the code you write is paying someone else more than you make and there are more important things in life.
frostbite305@reddit
As true as this might be, sometimes you find yourself having a short term interest in your work projects regardless as a way to cope. Personally I just get more dopamine out of more interesting projects. Doesn't mean I'll put in more time or effort than I'm getting paid for, but it also means I'm a bit less miserable.
Gwolf4@reddit
As someone con ADHD, I would say to anyone who seeks dopamine that it may be too check themselves for ADHD.
frostbite305@reddit
I also have pretty bad ADHD, so hey, maybe that's part of it.
Gwolf4@reddit
That explains alot hahahha.
EmberQuill@reddit
In my experience? Yes.
Maybe it's just me, but I see these as two entirely different concepts. The work I do is interesting, but it is not inspiring and I don't find any kind of deep meaning in it. It's interesting, which is enough for me.
I enjoy the act of building things. I enjoy finding problems and solving them, and improving things that are in need of improvement. When someone drops a challenging problem in my lap and I fix it, I feel proud of that work. I couldn't care less what the thing actually does (beyond what I need to know to work on it), just that I made it and it works, or I modified it and it works better.
Might be because I have ADHD so I don't get emotionally invested in projects because I'm constantly flitting between different ones. Might be because I'm not technically 100% a developer since I'm more of a devops person as a Systems Engineer. Or just because I see work less as something to be passionate about and more as something I need to do to afford all the things I'm actually passionate about.
tl;dr I guess the thing I like the most about the work I do is seeing how my work impacted a project, without really caring about the impact of the project itself.
jek39@reddit
If it’s an easy project, you should be able to crush timelines. If it’s a hard project you get to be challenged and probably learn something new. Either way if I can’t deliver, I won’t have a job, so it’s pretty motivating.
freekayZekey@reddit
motivation is the direct deposit hitting the account. there is a reason why you are getting paid for you time; having fun isn’t one of those reasons
whisky_pete@reddit
Wish that could be motivation enough. It was when I was poor & started my career, but hasn't been for a long time.
cserepj@reddit
Having an adhd brain, unfortunately yes. But there are coping mechanisms. It helps a lot if your boss knows you are wired this way and actively helps with tasks that are more challenging.
Also, you can find stuff to challenge yourself outside working hours:
https://spakhm.substack.com/p/surviving-disillusionment
zabby39103@reddit
Yeah, me too. There's a lot of room for automating your work as well. I'll spend time automating something even if it takes 50% longer than doing it manually, just because I can't stand the monotony. I have a big library now, so I've used the big time sinks enough enough that I think everything is break even now (and some orders of magnitude higher than break even).
Although I became a Senior Dev somehow so I'm bored less often nowadays.
xeviltimx@reddit (OP)
How becoming a senior helped to be bored less often?
zabby39103@reddit
Harder work.
PoopsCodeAllTheTime@reddit
My motivation is to make my job as easy as possible 😄
If I can have few meetings, teammates with a good attitude, and a product that isn't a scam, then I'm good.
I'll do my part in keeping the code tidy for my coworkers, and then I will spend most of my time building my own personal wiki so that work becomes rather easy to complete.
Then... I enjoy the extra time to cook good meals, take a walk, play a bit more Hollow Knight, spend more time with my partner, the works.
xeviltimx@reddit (OP)
I’ve also tried to use PKM, it really helps to not store everything inside my brain. But haven’t found the good solution yet. I plan to revisit that
thewritingwallah@reddit
Want to not get bored in life? Take a highly ambitious project.
Don’t see a point in it? Remind yourself that it’s to prevent getting bored.
Not making enough progress? Well, that’s expected as it’s ambitious.
holsteiners@reddit
Is there a way to better restructure the code? More modular?
Easier to adapt? Calibrate?
Ways to make it more secure?
Can it handle double the traffic? 10 times?
Gwolf4@reddit
It will depend on the person. To me no, interesting in the work just leads you to not perform greatly when something challenging non fun appears. I dare to say that if someone wants/need a project to be interesting, they need to know how to look for inside the macrocosm of the project into small microcosms where they can find some interests to keep the fire ignited.
mlitchard@reddit
I find compensation motivating but if you’re making me use perl, I’m adding another zero.
2rsf@reddit
I'm in the same boats as others here- I've done everything, seen everything and an endless chase after the latest and greatest is not interesting anymore. Only today we had the N'th inspect and adapt meeting for the N'th reorganization in our small area, younger engineers are full of energy and excitement wanting to change this or focus on that, while I wear my grumpy face on the side remembering that we said (and didn't do) the same things in previous iterations.
Two things that helped me appreciate the relative comfort of not interesting projects were family, and becoming more mature with age. Less exciting projects tend to come with better WLB, and I try to find excitement outside of the workplace, or in small parts of an uninteresting project where I can innovate or have more fun.
I understand and identify in myself your frustration in finding ownership in things that you find hard to connect to, but having the state of mind "it's just work, let's count down to early retirement" usually helps.
Having said that, I can't give you any advice on how to achieve this state of mind, it's like teaching a teenager the importance of patience and planning.
liquidpele@reddit
It needs to be interesting, or it needs to be temporary. Good employees won't stick around longer than a year or two if it's boring grunt work.
ForsakenBet2647@reddit
Once I got laid off due to my disinterest and subsequently spent almost a year jobless. And you know what? Now a steady paycheck holds my interest despite what I need to code at work.
nicocope@reddit
Sometimes it's just a matter of reconnecting with the emotions you had when you started working on that project. I suggest to do a so called "map of purpose". You can do it even on a napkin or a post it.
Write at the center the project name and then put around it all the emotions you remember you had when you started working on it.
syklemil@reddit
Possibly not, but it does help. Motivating employees is a large part of what leadership is about, though.
At some level there's a reason the things you're doing is a paid job rather than a hobby—would anyone do it if it was unpaid? But if that's the sole motivator for working, then it's likely time to seek another project, or another job, possibly another field of work even. Likely just chugging along will have negative consequences on your mental health / emotions over time.
JimDabell@reddit
There’s normally something to find interesting about a project. If you don’t like the problem domain, focus on the tech. If you don’t like the tech, focus on the problem domain. If you don’t like either, focus on improving your dev process.
CartographerGold3168@reddit
give me 500k and i can run naked in office. very motivated
Bakoro@reddit
Discipline is the word.
It's great if you are fortunate enough to land a job doing something you enjoy doing, but that's not most people in most jobs.
Even if you like what you do, sometimes you just aren't feeling it, yet you have to do it anyway because it's a job.
I'm not saying that you should force yourself to be miserable doing what you hate, but it's also wrong to expect that you're always going to enjoy every part of work.
Motivation and inspiration are mercurial things, discipline is always there for you, if you cultivate it.
turtlemaster09@reddit
Regardless of the project motivation matters 100%. The question then becomes how do you find it?
Few options. Money. If there’s a clear path of work hard and make more money this one is easy ( example, if this product makes X in the next year you’ll see a bonus of Y
Success. If I work hard and make this a success I’ll see some of that( example, if you can convert lost costumers to stay with ai, well Make you ai staff dev)
Learning. This is fun new and exciting I want to learn it( example, hey can you help optimize our internal revenue team with ai tools you seem like you know that stuff)
There’s more options. In the end it’s wether your company give your a way to grow and learn.. task taker is not one.
If they don’t and you don’t find a way to be motivated, then let them go, you’re better off
MaverickGuardian@reddit
I guess it's not the worst place to be. You could slow down a bit and do some side learning etc. if possible
Could be worse. Like having multiple such projects to multitask. Best way to burn out.
LogicRaven_@reddit
You could check the impact of the project and raise the bar for that.
For example if the project is removal of a tech debt item, then the impact is often shorter time to market and reduced risk for instability/security. Is there a way to do the project more efficiently so the impact comes sooner? How is success measured or evaluated, is there a better way? Are there other stuff (a kind of roadmap) that could increase the impact?
DigThatData@reddit
it sure helps, but no: everything can't always be fun.
...actually, that's not necessarily true. Life is filled with tradeoffs. How important is "All of my projects need to be interesting" as a work value to you? If it's extremely important, you should consider what you would be willing to sacrifice in service of that. Concretely: you will have a lot more choice over what you are doing if you are willing to accept a lower salary. A lot of the most societally valuable/interesting work you could do pays orders of magnitude less, because our society is completely broken.
SeriousDabbler@reddit
There's usually still some art and science to be made of a project even when the subject matter is a bore. Also, the other thing - I spent some time in the game industry, and some days, I thought to myself, "Well, this is more or less the same as being in plain old tech" telephony had a pretty good mix of good immediate feedback and challenging problems despite being a blah subject matter
xeviltimx@reddit (OP)
Game dev is one of my dream. But it’s usually means half of faang-like company’s salary. So I’ve never tried…
SeriousDabbler@reddit
Yeah, this was \~20y ago I remember that there was quite a lot of competition with very talented batchelors that were willing to pull crunch hours all of the time, I think the culture out there is better now, and that the industry in particular is a bit more mainstream now, but yeah entertainment still has a propensity to hire people in a sort of breathe-in breathe-out contractor mode so it's not all that reliable income wise
mxldevs@reddit
Some people are motivated by extrinsic factors (eg: money) while others are solely motivated by intrinsic factors (eg: interest)
If you have the luxury to only choose to work on things that interest you, you don't have to force yourself to do less interesting things.
For the rest of us, we just set a plan and try to finish it bit by bit
TopSwagCode@reddit
Really depends on the person. Some people needs / wants to work on high important issues. Others working on latest shiny tech. Some working on new products. Some really love making code better. Some loves challenge and hard domains. Some just needs to know that its a feature many people are / will use.
Like there is really many different motivation factors and there can be multiple of them that motivates you . There might even be factors that dows the opposite. Like I know developers who hate working on Frontend. Some who hate databases.
Itallian-Scallion@reddit
I find I can get in to almost anything. I've worked in a few industries, and some completely unrelated to what I'm interested in. But the ones where I have an interest I can develop a lot faster and contribute more. It's easier to work and be involved, so that all helps.
I've had a couple jobs where I just didn't get what we were working on, a highly regulated and technical industry. Medical insurance for one. That was just me working on the specs they gave me. I did look for a new job, I just didn't feel that good at it there.