From: Craig Maloney Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2019 11:41:24 +0000 (-0400) Subject: More editing on giving up X-Git-Tag: 20200112^2~69 X-Git-Url: https://jxself.org/git/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=c6d33201c0ccaf00a65986c28f80d9964dcda44e;p=themediocreprogrammer.git More editing on giving up --- diff --git a/chapter07.md b/chapter07.md index 2fe8d4b..b759cbb 100644 --- a/chapter07.md +++ b/chapter07.md @@ -138,13 +138,13 @@ Part of the joy of programming is curiosity. If we can nurture our curiosity whi But we might realize that there is no joy left for us in programming. The thought of programming computers no longer excites us. Even the thought of trying something new fills us with dread. What then? -### FIXME +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 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. +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 not for everyone. Programming is something that is best when you really want to do it. If you're stuck in a situation where you don't want to do this anymore then it's perfectly reasonable to step away from it and give up. There's no shame in this at all --- many programmers have felt they 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 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. -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 examine our feelings and realize that we're just going through the motions, or find that we're 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 and doing something we don't enjoy robs us of a meaningful life. +### FIXME Giving up doesn't have to be a negative experience. Taking time away from being a programmer is perfectly fine and is not a mark of shame. Plenty of programmers have taken a "sabbatical" from programming to allow themselves to explore other interests and recharge themselves. Breaking the loop of negative experiences in programming can help us clearly see what we want out of programming and a programming career. It can help confirm our innermost feelings about programming and see if it's right for us to pursue any further.