Why do I hate programming now ? I'm scared
Posted by Radonish@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I've always been programming , for a very long time too , haven't gotten consistent with it until a year ago when it stuck with me , a year ago I started my programming learning path, I was learning things really quickly and building well , I enjoyed it a lot but now I don't feel like I have the interest in coding as I always did , MIT cool swaggy projects don't hit the dopamine receptor anymore , I don't feel like I like these projects anymore , like any programming project , deep down I feel like I still love programming but something feels really off and makes me feel like it's boring ...
djhaskin987@reddit
Sounds like neophilia, the love of all things new.
Some things only stick with us is they satisfy something deeper in our souls, even after the novelty wears off.
Radonish@reddit (OP)
Nah it's more like numbness to everything productive , figured out it might be high stimulation levels , I'm trying to detox now
owp4dd1w5a0a@reddit
Are you talking sufficient breaks from coding to do restorative restful things that are unrelated? Minimum for most people to avoid burnout, you need weekends off, a 3-day weekend every month, a week off over a season, and 2 weeks off once a year. This is the AVERAGE, some people might require more or less.
During time off, you need to be doing things that actually help the mind and body recover - hydrothermal therapy, walks in nature, light exercise and stretching, sleep as much as your body wants to, meditation, relaxing art projects like coloring, etc. If you spend your time watching tv, playing video games, doing side hustles and projects, going clubbing, etc you won’t recover.
Radonish@reddit (OP)
Yeah I've explored this more , it's definetely because of high stimulus levels , I will try to lessen the stimulus levels
Radonish@reddit (OP)
I will try that , literally a month ago I kept working nonstop fueled by the love for programming
shapingthefuture@reddit
I think a lot depends on whether you're doing it for fun or in hopes of making a career change.
I can't give you career advice, but I can share my experience of doing programming as a pretty serious hobby.
The big thing that jumps out at me as that you refer to "MIT cool swaggy projects", which makes it sound like you're mostly doing projects from courses. That gets old fast. What do you want to build? Try to build that! With only a year of more dedicated experience, the odds are really high that you're going to pick something way too hard for you, but trying will teach you way more than any course can. You'll really build that muscle of "Hrm, what should I do next to make this happen". You'll get lots of practice reading the documentation and googling for answers to a problem you've encountered. And you'll also get the experience of "Oh crap, the way I did this earlier thing is now a problem, time to refactor that section of my code" (which will also teach you how to build your project better next time).
Radonish@reddit (OP)
I'm talking about mit maker portfolio projects
shapingthefuture@reddit
/looks that up/ Okay, so college application materials? Is that the context?
Radonish@reddit (OP)
Ye search them up on YouTube they make really cool stuff I've even seen a full electric car from 0 made
yellowmonkeyzx93@reddit
Feels like there's the external expectation of.. "Oh, you're a programmer and you can't code this? Even a basic dev can do it, why can't you?".. sorta fear.
Fuck them. At the end, do the things that you wanna do for fun. All the best programmers make mistakes and enjoy the journey.
Radonish@reddit (OP)
Nahh nobody has expected anything from me ever
Jim-Jones@reddit
I really enjoyed it when a program came together. Sometimes I was solving a very nasty problem or automating a tedious process.
SleepMage@reddit
Burnout is normal. The best way to combat it is to find new new hobbies and diversify your hobbies. Go read some fiction books, write, etc. Try and find something that doesn't involve computers to do when you're getting burnt out on programming :)
rodalexanderson@reddit
Haha it’s normal, you’ll get over it
ffrkAnonymous@reddit
I played breath of the wild every day for months, over 100 hours. Then one day I was just, I have no interest anymore and never played again. Never even beat Ganon.
grantrules@reddit
How would we know? Your tastes and interests change over time. Just a fact of life.
Substantial-Bus7066@reddit
maybe you just burned yourself out? happening to me all the time with different hobbies, I get super into something for months then suddenly it feels like work instead of fun
from psychology perspective this is pretty normal - when something becomes routine or you hit plateau in learning, brain stops giving you those reward chemicals. could be you need break or maybe try completely different type of programming? like if you been doing web stuff, try game development or something totally different
i had similar thing happen when was exploring abandoned buildings - used to get huge rush from it, then one day just felt meh about whole thing. took few months off and came back with fresh eyes, now i love it again
Radonish@reddit (OP)
I liked it when it was fun , I want it to be fun again and I don't really like other things
Eight111@reddit
lol "I'm scared" made me think you are a dinosaur who built entire coding career and suddenly lost the passion
but after reading "a year ago I started my programming learning path" yeah whatever man just move to your next hobby
QualityOk6614@reddit
I understand you and I think it’s burnout. Or at least for me it definitely is. I can never be consistently coding everyday and if I do, I get burnout and don’t feeel like touching a computer ever again