Learning something is always helpful in some ways but it may not be exactly what you need. It sounds like you may be at a point in your career where you may be suffering some imposter syndrome when it comes to making the decisions to move the PoC code to something more final. I hit a stage as well, years ago where I was paralyzed by the 40 different ways to architect a Java web app and all the arcane crap that came along with it. In general patterns only serve to better understand and maintain your code. That should be your primary goal during this time, is this readable and maintainable? After that, think about ways you can make it more slick. Eventually, you get over the hump and those patterns become part of your writing style and you don't even think about it anymore, until you hear about some new cool pattern (MVC became THE THING during my professional time) and you figure out how to incorporate it. After this similar block I had in my career I never really had another, until...
I had a different type of block earlier this year. For the first time in my career (I'm 32) I left my employer to work 100% for myself. I spent the first six weeks so twisted up I'd go days without a line of code written- luckily there was enough in the way of infrastructure and Ops tasks to give me something to do. I think the stress of it all just kept me from being able to focus like I need to in order to develop.
I started taking breakfast with the wife and kids, going to the gym every single morning, walking around for at least 15 minutes at lunch, being home by 4:30 (instead of 6:30/7). I basically focused on everything else and after a week or two it just started coming back and I feel like I'm faster and less stressed than I've ever been. Even if I'm not I'm happier and my family is significantly better than before, so I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
> It sounds like you may be at a point in your career where you may be suffering some imposter syndrome when it comes to making the decisions to move the PoC code to something more final.
Definitely! I'm the imposter that imposter syndrome was defined around ;)
> That should be your primary goal during this time, is this readable and maintainable?
Oh, that's an interesting twist. Move the focus away from craftmanship of the present-day to future-proofing. It may be more ugly but if I can fix/extend it in 12 months without missing a beat then my job is better done.
> I spent the first six weeks so twisted up I'd go days without a line of code written- luckily there was enough in the way of infrastructure and Ops tasks to give me something to do. I think the stress of it all just kept me from being able to focus like I need to in order to develop.
I'm 31 and that's how I've spent a lot of time recently. Especially when not working flat-out on a project to meet a deadline. Give me one of those and I'm happy: head down, pounding it out.
I had a different type of block earlier this year. For the first time in my career (I'm 32) I left my employer to work 100% for myself. I spent the first six weeks so twisted up I'd go days without a line of code written- luckily there was enough in the way of infrastructure and Ops tasks to give me something to do. I think the stress of it all just kept me from being able to focus like I need to in order to develop.
I started taking breakfast with the wife and kids, going to the gym every single morning, walking around for at least 15 minutes at lunch, being home by 4:30 (instead of 6:30/7). I basically focused on everything else and after a week or two it just started coming back and I feel like I'm faster and less stressed than I've ever been. Even if I'm not I'm happier and my family is significantly better than before, so I'd do it again in a heartbeat.