did anyone else lose the motivation to “learn more” after becoming a dev?
Posted by Cool_Kiwi_117@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 43 comments
I’m working as a software engineer now (remote), and something I didn’t expect is how hard it is to stay motivated to keep learning outside of work
before getting a job, I used to grind tutorials, build random projects, and was always curious about new stuff
now after spending like 10–12 hours coding or debugging, the last thing I want to do is open another course or tutorial
I know there’s always more to learn in this field, but it feels like I’ve hit a wall mentally
I’ve even started picking up non-screen hobbies just to balance things out, which helps, but then I feel like I’m falling behind technically
for those who’ve been working for a while — how do you approach learning now?
do you still study outside work or just rely on what you learn on the job?
curious how people deal with this without burning out
Think_Speaker_6060@reddit
This is me. I always wanted to learn something to expand my skills but working for hours and looking at the screen is taking a toll. I don't wanna stress myself and strain my eyes more. Just wanted to enjoy.
Comfortable_Baias90@reddit
how did you become a remote programmer im thinking of learning how to code because i know this area of job offers remote working but do you need a degree for it
skysparko@reddit
Yeah this is pretty normal.
Once you’re coding all day, forcing yourself to watch more tutorials after work just feels like punishment.
Most people shift from “study mode” to “learn when needed.” Instead of grinding courses, you:
Also, it’s fine to take breaks and focus on non-tech hobbies. You’re not falling behind, you’re avoiding burnout.
If you still want to improve without that “course fatigue,” try more hands-on stuff instead of passive learning. I had the same phase and found doing small, focused problems (like on skillron.com) easier than sitting through another tutorial.
Consistency over time matters more than forcing it daily.
luckynucky123@reddit
i think software industry has a bad side of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. and unfortunately pushes people to burn out for the sake of chasing a moving goalpost.
web dev is the worse of this: there's always new tooling and framework being pumped out.
from my experience - develop your own tempo. treat the FUD like risk management. here's some of my own personal guidelines you can try:
time box yourself to be updated with the latest tech news. keep note on things that interests you. put that notepad aside once you're done.
do good work in your day to day job - take note on projects that aligns what you like to do. 2.1 if the company's project starts to not align to things you like to do - form an exit plan (start looking for jobs and gigs that aligns to your interest) but still keep on doing good work. 2.2 Use that "exit plan" to train and build random projects to learn.
create a re-education money budget - ideally also within your FU work budget. this helps ease the FUD and buy time if the knowledge gap gets super wide. 3.1 this is risky though - money helps create the opportunity of knolwedge but not necessary on the outcome. its a pay to play strategy - know the limits too.
when it comes to study and do random projects - ideally aim for projects that help you - whenever its your day-to-day operations OR some sort of interest. software is not just about ability to impliment - one of the other goal is to make life easier. 4.1 try your best to finish it - if you can - great! if not - we have a saying that its a prototype and prototypes are suppose to be thrown away because the knolwedge addresses risks. reflect on what knowledge you gained and take notes on what gap knowledge you want to focus on on the next "study session" (this writing will also help on technical writing).
lastly - every year think of whats really important to you - and i think its okay to say "hey im here for the money". there's many bugs/features/tickets out there - but there's only one of "Cool_Kiwi_117" - or whoever reading this.
take care of yourself.
luckynucky123@reddit
oh yeah one last tip because im getting long winded - this popped in my mind when i was showering.
find good learning resources - keep on the lookout for good education.
sometimes its paid. sometimes its free. but a good education source really open things up.
sophieximc@reddit
Yeah I hit that wall pretty fast.
When you’re learning for fun it feels creative, but once it’s your job it turns into deadlines, tickets, and random stack changes you didn’t ask for. Hard to stay curious after staring at code all day.
What helped a bit for me was shifting to learning totally unrelated stuff sometimes. Keeps that “explore” feeling alive without it feeling like more work.
k1v1uq@reddit
Sadly that's just the difference between working for yourself vs. working for someone else. There's always conflict of interest between employee and employer, and the opportunity cost of your time. Every hour you spend polishing someone else's property is an hour you're not building your own. Apple's Severance is about this topic. How working for someone else's interests destroys you mentally. It's not like you own what you have built, you get money for selling your lifetime to the employer so they can use you to build their property.
Anyway, what keeps me motivated:
1) I don't conflate my life with the employers interests. When ever I'm tasked with sth I try to get as much of knowledge or skill out of it it as possible.
2) I keep 1-2 hours / day for my own projects. Small projects enough to stay hydrated. I've just finished a password generator. I really liked the idea behind this
https://www.uni-muenster.de/CERT/pwgen/index.php?lang=de&mode=pwcard
generator, so I did one in Go and Bubble Tea.
3) I try to squeeze as much theory out of a problem as possible (feeds into 1)). When I'm stuck debugging or making the code work, I force myself to really understand why I'm hitting a wall... goal is to generalize, learn to see recurring patterns so I can recognize them faster next time.
For example, I had problems to keep my dependencies under control, then learne about Design Structure Matrix (DSM) and Domain Mapping Matrix (DMM) to map out dependencies. That kind of learning pays off beyond a single task.
But the problem will not go away. Building stuff for others will never equal self-employment. Problem with self-employment is of course competition. If you don't own sth (capital, access to resources/contacts, IP) that nobody else has, it'll be difficult to survive.
aanzeijar@reddit
First mistake. Do 40h and you have the time and motivation.
Once you have been working with programs for a while, courses and tutorials become extremely inefficient for learning. You know 90% of the stuff they tell you already, you only need the translation to the new tool.
Ordinary-Parking5387@reddit
Great explanation
QualityMany5711@reddit
Thanks for sharing
JustTheAATIP@reddit
Listen to the gateway tapes.
AlSweigart@reddit
Yes and no. I think I've switched from learning to new things to building things based on what I already know.
patternrelay@reddit
Yeah that shift is pretty common, once coding goes from "exploration" to "obligation", your brain treats it differently. I mostly just learn on the job now and only go deeper when something actually breaks or feels limiting. The forced grinding outside work just isn’t sustainable long term.
Dank-but-true@reddit
I was a professional sports player and anyone who says anything like “do what you love for work and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a fucking moron. If you do it work, it becomes work and you don’t love it anymore. There are moments you still enjoy, but by and large you loose what you loved about it.
NationsAnarchy@reddit
What was the sport, just for my curiosity?
Dank-but-true@reddit
You’d never have guessed it to be fair, polo
darkmemory@reddit
Ah, moved from the sport, to a job that [used] to sport the shirt. Do you still have the mallet to signify when a meeting has gone too long?
Made-In-Slovakia@reddit
You can still love it but but it is really easy to end in the other group.
sudojonz@reddit
+1 to this take. As a professional musician I had the same experience. Started to hate my passion
Objective_Ice_2346@reddit
My motivation to code went down the drain while I was in college doing Assembly
dialsoapbox@reddit
You can ask yourself, if you were laid off tomorrow, what skills do you think would help you land your next role? and/or are there companies you'd be interested in working at, what skills do you think would help you land a role there.
and then kinda spend time learning those skills. Nothing hardcore, spend like 30 min /day learning those skills.
If you do get laid off, at least you have a plan going.
If not, then you're still learning skills that can help you later.
Made-In-Slovakia@reddit
TBH it sound like beginning of burnout and it sounds like 12h work days may be part of reason for it. Hobbies outside of your professional job are important for every profession.
No_Report_4781@reddit
Welcome to the career! Good luck keeping a healthy balance between work and life! Do the things that tickle your brain, not necessarily in ways that directly benefit your job. You’re a person who has a job developing software.
TritiumNZlol@reddit
Yeah it's definitely a marathon not a sprint.
Jarvis_the_lobster@reddit
Yeah this is pretty much universal for anyone who codes full time. When learning was the goal, everything felt exciting. Once it becomes the job, your brain just stops having the same appetite for it after hours.
The mental shift that actually helped was stopping treating it like "keeping up" and more like staying curious about whatever surfaces at work. If something interesting shows up in a ticket or a PR review, that's where I dig in now. Most real growth happens on the job anyway, not from side tutorials.
The non-screen hobbies are a good sign, not a red flag. Burnout usually comes from not having an off switch.
Reallyhotshowers@reddit
I block time during my working hours for learning and development. Not a ton, but a bit (30min-1 hour per day). This benefits my employer as it makes me better at my job and it benefits me in the long run.
Part of the expectation of your role is likely that you stay up to date on current technology, and so that should be done inside of your working hours.
squirrelgirl88@reddit
This. Staying up to date is part of your job. Do it on the clock.
elpigo@reddit
Yes. I’m on autopilot now with AI. I know what to check for. I use this opportunity to work on other things in my life.
remerdy1@reddit
I only really take the time to learn things if it genuinely interests me or I need it to do my job
Which is quite rare
Most the time I just focus on my hobbies now
cesclaveria@reddit
I’ve been working as a software engineer for about 20 years, and yeah… after a while you kind of lose that drive to be learning all the time. At some point you have to start being selective, protect your time, and protect your energy.
What’s worked for me is separating what I’m learning and why.
Learning for the job naturally becomes the main thing. That just happens as part of your day-to-day work, solving problems, picking up new tools, etc.
Outside of that, I try to dedicate a small, realistic amount of time, usually around 3 hours per week, to learning something new. Usually not more than that. And I alternate between things that help directly with my job, and things that just keep me up to date or that I find interesting.
Also, don’t be too hard on yourself. Not everything you learn needs to turn into deep expertise. Sometimes just having a general understanding is enough.
AntiDynamo@reddit
My job thankfully gives us 1-2 hours on fridays to do whatever professional or coding development we want, and I know a lot of my colleagues use that time to learn new programming things
Zalenka@reddit
I've got hobbies that intersect with programming but also ones that do not.
I think I actually enjoy making things and sometimes programming scratches that itch. Othertimes it's writing music, playing board games, reading, or building things.
Beregolas@reddit
the opposite actually. In my first job I constantly looked for new shiny technologies and built proof of concepts with them all the time. I never really did tutorials though, I just went in and started building stuff, reading what I need as I go. Maybe reading the docs first.
My first company also gave us a yearly budget for learning material and a few days of specifically for conferences and similar events
mjmvideos@reddit
You’re in the wrong field. I’ve been programming for over 45 years and I have a list of things I want to learn that’s longer than I have time for. I have to weed stuff out and choose carefully what I learn next.
BigHammerSmallSnail@reddit
Or it’s just a job and not a life passion. There’s a myriad of reasons why someone wouldn’t feel like learning more in their off hours.
xtraburnacct@reddit
Sometimes. There has to be a balance. After working 9-10 hrs I don’t want to be on my computer like…at all.
TigerAnxious9161@reddit
It's real i think in every field, but that's what filter most of us.
The-Oldest-Dream1@reddit
Yepp haha. I don't mind working on my side projects during the weekdays since I am already in the zone. But on weekends? Hard no. Just looking at my work laptop during the weekends makes me gag
Hot_Pomegranate_0019@reddit
Yeah this is pretty normal.
After a full workday, most devs don’t have the energy for tutorials, so learning shifts to on-the-job + occasional lookups. Some people just use tools like Copilot, Runable Ai or Stack Overflow to unblock themselves instead of extra study.
Non-screen hobbies are actually a good sign—you’re avoiding burnout. You’re not falling behind, just moving from “study mode” to “work mode,” where growth is more gradual.
JohnBrownsErection@reddit
I only got into this stuff because there were things I wanted to make that didn't exist so no.
TorresMrpk@reddit
Unfortunately programmers dont have much of a life and have to be frequently studying. What frustrates me the most is when a new architect or manager comes in and decides to change the software stack and/or cloud provider, just because that's how they did it at their former company, and if you complain they just lecture you on "embracing change". They say things like "A is much better than B, so we're moving to A", but what they really mean is "we used A at my last company and I dont want to learn B, so I'm going to force you guys to learn it".
NationsAnarchy@reddit
Nope, not for me. I guess my love for tech and computer helps
Resident_Cookie_7005@reddit
I've also experienced this, especially when my responsibilities stayed the same. If the job requires you to implement new stuff, you naturally learn, but that's not always the case.
I built an app for myself, which suggests courses when interacting with agents. Partially to learn more through the project, partially to make learning easier for other devs.