
Staying Motivated as a Software Developer - kungfudoi
https://www.codingame.com/blog/the-secrets-to-staying-motivated-as-a-software-developer/
======
pfarnsworth
Spoiler alert: there are no secrets. EVERY person in EVERY occupation suffers
from periods of lack of motivation, some occupations more so than others. As
programmers, we're lucky that our job is a combination of mostly interesting
problem solving and high pay, so I'm thankful every day I've been able to
carve out a 20+ career doing something I love. Others aren't nearly as lucky.

And yet, I've had burnout twice, once during the dot com bust, and once a few
years ago where I had quit my job for almost 1 year. I'm pretty happy these
days, but things go up and down, like everyone else.

~~~
yawz
_> mostly interesting problem solving and high pay_

Arguably the "high pay" factor can be detrimental to professional motivation.
I'm pretty sure some developers would hesitate less in switching to a
completely different career when they are not happy at work if their
compensation weren't better than average... But it's a good problem to have
for most of us.

~~~
evo_9
This is definitely a big part of it. Around 10 years back I was super bored
coding, I just felt like things had become so stagnated, esp. in the web-space
where IE6 and MS in general were a constant source of frustration and
demotivation. It seemed things weren't going to ever get better, and the thumb
of Microsoft would stay firmly on the backs of all web devs forever.

Around this time I became obsessively into cooking. I decided I wanted to be
change careers and even went to several schools to check out the programs. My
then wife at first was supportive but at some point it went from 'this is a
cute dream' to 'this is real' and she wasn't having any of it.

Long/short we split up, I realized I couldn't really afford to go back to
school solo, and ultimately I took a big step back and realized I had it
pretty good, that my 9-5 life didn't have to be my entire life and things were
a lot easier once I got my social life back in order.

I stuck with coding, the iPhone came out around that time and that started the
wheels turning (along with other factors of course) that really kind of
revitalized the entire dev scene. It became exciting and new again, and caused
a sort of cascading effect of progress. MS wasn't able or willing to sit on
IE6 and let things ride, a whole host of new exciting JS libraries started to
emerge, etc etc.

Point being, finding your mojo outside of work might be a better approach than
trying to 180 into a new career. I also think it's easy to forget how cushy
most dev jobs are... typically you aren't expected to be in as early, dress
code tends to be more relaxed even at stodgy companies I've worked at, there
is a sort of acceptance that coders are different. And course it's hard to
take a 50% or more pay cut, which would have been the case for me going from a
lead dev role to a line cook at best, or struggling 'chef' sinking every dime
of my savings into opening a restaurant with no prior experience.

------
65827
This article is pretty high on platitudes and pretty low on actual information
conveyed in an english language. Kind of disappointing to see it immeditely
rocket to the top of HN. Do people game this site too? Sigh

~~~
anon987
The other problem is that lots of people upvote without reading - or even
skimming.

Great title? I'll upvote it now and read it later. Maybe.

~~~
giancarlostoro
Upvoting to save for reading the article later. I've done this a few times,
though I try to be sure the article seems good enough.

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kisstheblade
I don't know if it just this article or am I getting tired of these "startup
heavens".

"you probably dream of working in a start-up"

no

"awesome platform and changing the world"

Oh yes, changing the world indeed with your awesome! product. I think not, or
do words mean anything anymore if everything is awesome and world changing.

"Lunch Random Meeting"

Sounds horrible. And how many developers like to socialize and do (or watch)
presentations all the time. Some maybe, but I think not most (and not the ones
who like coding). I rather read about new stuff, and don't like doing
presentations, I would rather "blog" about it but that also sounds forced if
it's some company blog advertising how cool and hip and in touch the company
is.

 __* edit Had to edit this one more comment. Check the last image on their
main page. Are there really guys driving around with pedaling cars (or
something like that) at the office. Looks ridiculous. Must be a startup
without any actual customers stopping by at the office.

------
awjr
Communities are key to me. For many years I worked remote contracts from home
very much focused on just doing a good job. Only in the last couple of years
have I attended hackathons (winning a few) and becoming involved in the local
start-up culture through a work hub (If you live in Bath,Uk the Guildhub is an
awesome space).

I also discovered meetup.com and started attending a few groups (Bristol JS is
awesome). I even did the odd presentation and lightning talks.

Community engagement has been, from a developer point of view, a real life-
changing experience for me. Being surrounded by intelligent people excited to
be coding and doing hard stuff just because they want to is brilliant,
exhausting, fun, but most importantly, has given me immense energy.

~~~
rubicon33
Can you shed a little more light on what it's like joining one of these
communities for the first time? As someone who's always heard of these
programming communities, and been interesting, I've hesitated to join one
largely due to misunderstanding their utility / purpose. What does one DO at a
meetup, for example?

~~~
karmelapple
I organized an iOS development Meetup for years in a fairly low-population
area, and I had no idea what our Meetup would actually do when I created it! I
didn't even know if other people in the area were doing much iOS development;
I literally knew nobody who truly wanted to attend when I started it.

Primarily I wanted to meet other smart folks who were interested in similar
tech problems as myself, hopefully learn something, maybe make some friends
(which I did - many I still keep in touch with!), and have fun.

So the specifics of what one does at a meetup include, but are not limited to:
* listen to talks * meet new people * say hello to people you've already met
and - important to avoiding burnout - ask how their projects (or life in
general) is going * grab a beverage or a little food after the event

Bonus if you organize it: people start to think you're an "expert" in this
field, even though you may have really just wanted to meet some people. I went
on to help organize other meetups and events with great people because of it,
too.

Whether you organize or attend a meetup, simply approach it as a way to meet
some new people and talk about the topic at hand, and you shouldn't be
disappointed.

If you think you'll make lifelong friends after attending one or two, or think
you'll find your cofounder for a new startup after attending one meetup,
temper your expectations. Just like any community or relationship, really
getting to know people takes time, and there's very little substitute for
that.

Get out and meet some people!

~~~
Arizhel
Personally, while I like doing solo technical projects at home in my free
time, I really have little interest in spending my socializing time with more
techies. I get enough of that at work. One thing I've been sick of for a long
time was a lack of diversity in my social circle, which is a big problem in
tech because there's almost no women there, it's a big sausagefest and in many
workplaces has a frat-house feel to it. I really don't want more of that. So
these days, I look for social opportunities with a lot more diversity. There's
a lot of great groups on Meetup.com (outside the tech-focused ones) where the
participants are far more diverse, and I mean that in every way: not only in
gender, but also ethnically, age, career background, national origin, etc.
Personally I like the outdoor activity groups. This also helps me be more
physically active, something else that's wrong with this career field where we
sit in a chair all day long in front of a monitor at arm's length.

~~~
rubicon33
What is with this "diversity for diversities sake" thinking?

I don't care if I'm in a room with nothing but all _ race or _ gender. If
they're interesting people, with an interesting perspective, thats what
matters.

~~~
Arizhel
Maybe you like being in a frat-like sausagefest. I don't.

------
typetypetype
Burnout is the other side of the coin of spending too much time on
meetups/hackathons/blogging/opensourcing/lectures. Sometimes staying motivated
means stepping away from writing code and clearing your head.

------
dagenleg
After reading this I threw up a bit in my mouth. This feels like it was
written by a marketing person.

~~~
stpe
Indeed. I believe "Content Marketing" is the term.

------
SloughFeg
I've found the biggest thing for me being able to continue to be motivated is
to have the freedom to really craft the software I'm working on. Nothing is as
soulcrushing as having to pump out a substandard delivery.

------
HillaryBriss
> _Now, you probably dream of working in a start-up ..._

whoa. i don't.

i know many others have had wonderful startup experiences, but my experience
with startups has been characterized by long hours, unnecessarily difficult
work environments, mission confusion, stress about funding, dysfunctional
working relationships and ultimate company/business failure.

~~~
codr4life
Don't forget mandatory surfing lessons and having to listen to how AWESOME
everything is while watching your dorky boss stumble around in five fingers. I
figured I'm better of starving...

~~~
HillaryBriss
never had the surfing lessons. that's a whole new level.

we went bowling once.

------
debt
Stay motivated by your love of writing software! It's a blast! Tests and
tickets! Organizing the code! Fun! All you need is a passion for sitting for
hours at a time every day at a computer and writing code! Weee!

It's all about passion for code! And hit your deadlines!

That last part is very important.

~~~
deathanatos
Your post is in the uncanny valley of Poe's law.

> _And hit your deadlines!_

In past jobs, my deadlines were impossible to hit, mostly b/c they were set by
my pointy haired manager. The estimates given to product/project/program
managers were met with looks of "that's nice but I already told the higher-ups
a different, sooner figure".

> _Organizing the code!_

This is literally the last thing to be prioritized. Pay down technical debt?

~~~
debt
I was being mostly sarcastic as that is the actual "life" of a software
developer so it's not shocking to me why many wouldn't be intrinsically
motivated.

------
elorant
The greatest way to stay motivated is to publish something and see it succeed.

~~~
lotyrin
I always felt this way about the "Autonomy" "Mastery" "Purpose" thing... Like,
Autonomy and Mastery, when applied to Purpose lead to Achievement, and that's
the real deal.

Do stuff that matters, stop doing stuff that doesn't matter, make sure all
parts of the team and management know what does and doesn't matter, and why.
People will be happier, more productive, and they'll things they produce will
be more important for business, everyone wins.

But instead, lets beat the drums, sail into the wind seeking the white
whale... which turns out to be some petty ego-driven nonsense that
customers/users won't buy into (since it's not made for them, just at them)
and won't still exist two years from now.

Pat yourself on the back, pat each other on the back, when your significant
others ask "how'd it go" you can actually have something to say "I made a
change to our checkout page that boosted sales by 5% +/\- 1% and got a little
bonus out of it, lets go get that dessert you love at that place you like."
instead of "I sat in a meeting arguing with Salesforce admins about how many
weeks it will take for them to add a new field to the object that backs a form
on a landing page that gets a few tens of visits a year, then another meeting
with business about why their new field doesn't exist yet."

------
jayeshsalvi
This is an advertorial. No real answers.

------
zeal-technology
It is time that companies start to recognize that they need to measure and
address Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Companies need to listen to their
internal people as much as they listen to their users and develop more
personalized improvement programs. I feel that a lot of us are just hired to
fill a single task or role by the company and are expected to stay that way
when in reality people need to grow with new experiences in order to be happy.

------
jheriko
Author is not that passionate about programming clearly ...

------
notliketherest
Motivation comes and goes. Discipline is what counts.

------
cLeEOGPw
So the author says the obvious, what motivates developers is autonomy, mastery
and purpose. But he didn't say a single tip on how to overcome demotivation
when all these are denied, as is in majority of corporate job positions.
Communities won't bring you autonomy, mastery or purpose to your job.

It might bring these things to some side project you are doing, but you are
still as shackled by higher ups, as denied of personal growth and as
purposeless as it was before joining the community. So money is the only real
answer. Money and a threat of being fired because of bad performance, which
would result in very bad economic situation.

~~~
Bahamut
I have a VP who told me the same thing about autonomy, mastery, and purpose -
do you have any material where the three words are used and in more detail?

~~~
cLeEOGPw
I think author got it from this book: [https://www.amazon.com/Drive-
Surprising-Truth-About-Motivate...](https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-
Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805)

I haven't read it, but at least for me it seems like common sense that these 3
things have positive effect on motivation.

If you have autonomy over how you complete your tasks for example, you will do
it in, according to you, most efficient way, and that will make you feel
satisfied. Mastery is from the same desire to be as efficient as you can.
Purpose is something different, but you can clearly imagine how much more
willing to do your best you are when you know that the thing you do will be
seen and used by other people and how it will make people's life easier, for a
primitive and simple example.

Compare it to my job - software is bloated, something I myself would never
use, our customers are actually forced to used, almost nobody, except the
people who earn money from it at the management, likes it, and often you find
out that some bug that existed for a year and that completely disabled some
functionality was never noticed because no one, not even testers bothered to
check those parts of the system. Combine that with heavy restrictions on what
can be done, both by time restraints on tasks and by accumulated technical
debt that makes any improvements economically not viable, and add the natural
tendency of such systems to resist to anything new and you get individuals
with gradual decline in motivation over time.

I understand why there's such an ageism "problem" in the industry - the only
way to make these companies with these systems afloat is to hire only young
people who aren't worn out from these things yet to keep it alive. From my
experience, I don't know how it was a couple of decades ago, but it seems like
younger and younger people are getting their motivation destroyed by such
environments.

You don't often see occupations where people are already sick of their job in
general by late twenties to the point of considering switching profession that
would pay considerably less.

