From de7034efb7cc8915117626b0cd017db85db7a007 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Craig Maloney Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 21:32:07 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Additional editing, and adding the section on Reaching Out for help --- chapter07.md | 8 ++++++-- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/chapter07.md b/chapter07.md index 9561d2c..0c08009 100644 --- a/chapter07.md +++ b/chapter07.md @@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ ## The emotions of programming -There's a stereotype of a programmer sitting emotionless in front of the computer. They sit quietly entering lines of code as though they were transcribing them from memory. But if you've been a programmer or have been around programmers you know that it's more like the stereotype of a frustrated composer. Sure we sit in front of our computers for periods of silence and concentration but we're far from emotionless. We bask in the glories of code that works perfectly the first time. We glower at code that misbehaves. We go from cheering ourselves in victory to cursing the machine and threatening it with clenched fists. We swing from emotion to emotion: exuberance, joy, fear, anger, resentment, sadness, loneliness, guilt, and shame. +There's a stereotype of a programmer sitting emotionless in front of the computer. They sit, quietly entering lines of code as though they were transcribing them from memory. But if you're a programmer or have been around programmers you know that the stereotype should be that of a frustrated composer. Sure we sit in front of our computers in long periods of silence and concentration but we're far from emotionless. We bask in the glories of code that works perfectly the first time. We glower at code that misbehaves. We go from cheering ourselves in victory to cursing the machine and threatening it with clenched fists. We clench our teeth when bugs rear their misbehaving heads. We swing from emotion to emotion: exuberance, joy, fear, anger, resentment, sadness, loneliness, guilt, and shame. No wonder we're exhausted by the end of the day. -Programming is a taxing process. Not only do we need to keep a mental model of the software we're working on, but we also have our own emotional attachment the software. Our emotional state can mirror what we feel about what we're creating; whether we're excited, bored, or stuck. Keeping a positive attitude about software that isn't measuring up to our expectations is exhausting. Couple that with our own insecurities, fears, and doubts and you begin to see why programmers tend to burn out --- it's a combination of the stress of the job and our emotional reaction to that stress. +Programming is a taxing process. Not only do we need to keep a mental model of the software we're working on, but we also keep a mental model of how the software should behave. We create a story of how this software will work and paint a picture of how we will feel when everything works as we envisioned. We create an emotional attachment the software. Our emotional state can mirror what we feel about what we're creating; whether we're excited, bored, or stuck. Keeping a positive attitude about software that isn't measuring up to our expectations is exhausting. Couple that with our own insecurities, fears, and doubts and you begin to see why programmers tend to burn out --- it's a combination of the stress of the job and our emotional reaction to that stress. ## Emotional drains @@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ It's also cliche to say "learn to say no", but this is an important skill as a p You will experience periods of burnout in your programming career. Things will come at you that will overwhelm your ability to cope with them. You will find yourself stuck in loops wondering if this is really what you should be doing. Understanding what you're feeling and acknowledging your feelings as valid is the first step to changing the course from one of burnout and stress. Programming shouldn't be drudgery (no work should be drudgery). There should be something in your programming day that keeps you motivated, and helps you grow your skills. Adding bits of learning, joy, and wonder (along with periods of downtime) will help sustain you through the emotional turbulence that awaits. And recognizing when you're burning out and renegotiating your agreements with yourself and others can help reinvigorate your desires to keep programming. +## Reaching out for help + +### FIXME + ## Giving up Programmers don't like to think about giving up. We work on machines that have so many possibilities that we feel we should be able to make anything work on them. But sometimes we don't want to see those possibilities. Sometimes we look at the list of things we should be learning and wonder if it's all worth the effort. We look at lists of job prospects for our set of skills and see that the only fit for those skills is nothing but work that we find meaningless. People learning to program ask us what it's like to be a programmer and we wonder if it's OK to tell them that we're not happy with our decision and crush their dreams this early in their careers. The joy that sustained us into learning the craft disappears and we're left wondering if we will ever cultivate that feeling again. -- 2.31.1