Part of the joy of programming is curiosity. If we can nurture our curiosity while programming then we have so many avenues to explore. There are always other ideas and other topics to discover, such as game development, esoteric languages, or other programming paradigms. The job market uses a fraction of the programming ideas that are out there, waiting to be explored. There are also many emulators and retro-computers available with good documentation and vibrant communities. One area that has intrigued me is learning about how older computers work. Older computers are simple and can be learned with patience and the right mindset. These machines are well-understood and most of these older programs were put together by one programmer. They make an excellent space for learning not only how older machines worked, but many of the concepts that still permeate our modern machines.
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What happens when we realize that there is no joy left for us in programming? What do we do when the thought of programming computers no longer excites us? How do we keep going when even the thought of trying something new fills us with dread? What then?
-If we don't find any joy in programming then we need to understand why we are feeling this way. Perhaps we're tired after a rough project that sapped all of the fun and excitement of programming for us. Or perhaps we've found the communities online and in our area are hostile and unwelcoming. Maybe we thought programming would be more fun but every time we start we wish we were doing something / anything else instead.
+If we don't find any joy in programming then we need to understand why we are feeling this way. Maybe we're tired after a rough project that sapped out all of the fun and excitement of programming for us. Perhaps the communities we've joined in our area and online are hostile and unwelcoming. Maybe we thought programming would be more fun but every time we start we wish we were doing something / anything else instead.
-Programming is not for everyone. Programming is at its best when you really want to do it. If you're stuck in a situation where you don't want to program anymore then your best course of action is to quit being a programmer. There's no shame in quitting programming --- many programmers have lost the spark and the desire to keep programming and have gone into other fields. It's OK to leave the work of programming computers and do something else.
+Programming is at its best when you really want to do it. It isn't for everyone. If you're stuck in a situation where you don't want to program anymore then your best course of action is to quit being a programmer. There's no shame in quitting programming --- many programmers have lost the spark and the desire to keep programming and have moved into other fields. It's OK to leave the field of computer programming and do something else.
Programming is only one facet of our lives. True, it may be a big facet of our lives, and it may feel scary to give up something that we've worked so hard to accomplish. But if we realize that we're just going through the motions and are no longer experiencing any joy in programming then it's time to think about what else we can be doing with our lives outside of programming. We're granted a limited amount of time to live our lives. Doing something we don't enjoy robs us of a meaningful life.
-Giving up should not be a negative experience. There is no shame in taking time away from being a programmer. Plenty of programmers have given themselves a "sabbatical" from programming to explore other interests and recharge themselves. Breaking loops of negative experiences in programming can help identify what we want out of programming and a programming career. It can help us find and confirm our innermost feelings about programming and see if we're still meant to keep pursuing this path.
+Giving up should not be a negative experience. There is no shame in taking time away from being a programmer. Plenty of programmers have given themselves a "sabbatical" from programming to explore other interests and recharge themselves. Breaking loops of negative experiences in programming can help us identify what we want out of programming and a programming career. It can help us find and confirm our innermost feelings about programming and see if we're still meant to keep pursuing this path.
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There are several fears that can keep us from making this break with programming. The first fear goes by the fancy name of the "sunk cost fallacy". The sunk cost fallacy is the belief that the time and effort we spent learning and developing is an investment, and that investment will be wasted if we quit. Thus, in order to preserve our investment we must keep programming. The problem with this fallacy is that it assumes you have not already received the benefit from that time and effort. I'd argue that learning any sort of programming is not a wasted skill. Programming can be applied to many facets of our lives, such as simplifying tasks into manageable steps, structured thinking, and basic Boolean logic. Many other fields have also adopted computers so having computer skills can be helpful for yourself or other colleagues who are struggling to learn the technology. The knowledge you have will not go to waste.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / commitdiff