
Ask HN: How to deal with losing interest in your passion? - sun123
I have four and half years of professional programming experience. Two years ago, I was very passionate, always learning, coding etc.,&#60;p&#62;Slowly over the the past couple of years I have lost interest in everything I suppose. i am not speaking philosophy here, but I am feeling tired of everything.&#60;p&#62;I am just 25. I'm too young to say such things. Anyone else have been through this before and "came back with a bang" ?
======
reverend_gonzo
Take a break.

I had the same thing when I was 25. I ended up quitting my job and buying a
one-way ticket to Europe. I didn't think I would ever write code again. I
spent about three months backpacking Europe, then came back and spent a few
more hanging around and doing odd jobs around town. Eventually, I started code
in my free time again, and about a year later, came back into the profession
refreshed.

Now I know what I need to do to prevent burnout again, and it's primarily that
I keep other hobbies, and I have friends that aren't work-related. It lets me
get away when I need to and still stay interested in what I do the rest of the
time.

But that's more maintenance, sometimes you need to shotgun into that stage by
cutting out everything for a lengthened period of time. If you really are a
hacker at heart, and it sounds like you are, you'll start writing code again
soon enough, and you'll know you're back.

You'll also have stories and other life experiences as well, which make you a
better, more rounded person.

~~~
peacemaker
This is the best advice here. I got incredibly fed up with my programming
career after about 5 years or so. I went off and traveled around the world for
a year, met my wife, opened a coffee shop, spent a winter at a ski resort and
freelanced in Tanzania (on Zanzibar).

After all that I found I missed programming, and realized what things I didn't
like about my career choice, such as long meetings, boring projects and so on.
This helped me direct my programming career back to what I enjoyed and has
made me much happier and more productive.

So, get out there and do something different! You've got your education and
experience now and there will always be a job somewhere for you.

~~~
k3n
How did you play it on your resume? I know in some circles, having a lapse in
employment in your resume is about like having a lapse in insurance coverage;
e.g. it's a red flag and can really hurt your chances of getting the job
(economy notwithstanding).

~~~
peacemaker
I put it exactly as it happened. The travelling has never caused me any
problems, in fact it usually is the cause of some interesting discussions with
potential employers.

As for running my own business, I can point to all the skills gained during
that experience as benefits to the company as well. Leadership, discipline,
time management, working under pressure and so on.

The sort of companies that wouldn't like my past experience are exactly the
sort I would never want to work for, so it works as a nice filter for me too!
:)

------
mrcharles
Find a hobby. Something that is completely mindless, and won't use any of the
centers of your brain that you use for programming. If you do love
programming, you may just be burnt out; if you are like me, you spend long
stretches coding for most waking hours. Eventually you'll run risk of burning
out.

Me, I build plastic robot models. It's no brain power at all, just precise
physical motions. It's mindless and enjoyable, and at the end of the day you
have something to show for it.

There's a lot of posts here saying take a break, but you _really_ have to make
sure that you are truly taking a break, and not just substituting programming
with something else that uses the same parts of your brain.

edit: Here's one of the first models I built. Unpainted just to see what it
looks like.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/37553996@N07/sets/7215762298535...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/37553996@N07/sets/72157622985354189/)

~~~
smoyer
I've spent almost 30 years in computer/electronics engineering (both hardware
and software) and I think one thing you will suffer from is a lack of
accomplishment. When it takes months or years to complete a project, you need
to gain a sense of accomplishment from the little victories along the way.

As the parent notes, finding a hobby that's unrelated is useful, but not only
as a diversion ... you can gain that sense of accomplishment in the
preparation of a good meal or in completing a weekend woodworking project.

~~~
mrcharles
Yes, it's the sense of accomplishment, of _finishing something_ that is the
primary benefit of building these little models. You get to do it, it's
relaxing, and you can say "I built that" at the end.

~~~
smoyer
Hmmm ... I missed one other point.

It's much easier to show your friends and family the mission-oak picture frame
you built than some obscure bit of software. It needs no explanation and
you'll be gratified (hopefully) by their response. Explain a low-level library
you built to these same people and their eyes will glaze over while they hope
you talk about something regular humans deem important.

------
krschultz
Passion can be rekindled, but doubling down on the subject is not the right
way to do it. You are probably a little burnt out and a little jaded. Pickup a
hobby far away from programming and use that as your fun time for a few years.
When you get back to programming as a fun thing, you will enjoy it far more.

Snowboarding has been my passion for about 10 years. I snowboard 50+ days a
year, I moved out to Colorado for a time just to snowboard absolutely as much
as possible. I race, I go into the park a lot, I jump off cliffs, I go into
the backcountry, I worked at a ski shop, I read all the magazines, buy the
DVDs, and I watch the weather forecast incessantly.

But I'm burnt out on it. I moved back to the east coast, the mountains and
weather aren't as good, and I'm totally jaded. If its not fresh snow, steep
trails, perfect weather I feel like I'm wasting time and money. Unless I live
at the mountain, I can't get any better than I am now (whereas before I
enjoyed the challenge of getting up the learning curve). So I just decided to
stop.

I picked up surfing instead. I'm terrible at it, but the challenge is
thrilling. Now I can enjoy the learning curve again and I don't need 'perfect'
conditions. It's fun just to get out there and do something.

And I'm sure when I do go back to snowboarding in a few years, it will be far
more interesting.

So for you, I would say make programming your job, and something else your
passion/hobby. Take a couple years off from programming outside of work, and
come back to it with renewed purpose.

------
peteforde
I went through the same thing you're describing, and I came to a very simple
conclusion (in hindsite) that the other commenters haven't touched upon. I
quietly suspect that I'm right, and it makes me sad that it feels like such a
dirty secret.

When I was a kid, I loved coding. From the ages of 6-19 I didn't really want
to do anything as much as hack on cool projects. The only thing that would
make my life perfect — obviously — would be to get paid to code, so that I
could do it all of the time and pay bills, too. I'd be the luckiest guy on
earth.

So, why was I horribly sad (not depressed, btw - that's a disease which you
don't bring upon yourself) as a professional developer at 25? I used to be so
engaged, but then I could hardly concentrate on what I was doing, and it was
very difficult to get started each day.

One day it hit me like a lightning bolt: the reason you do something impacts
whether you can enjoy doing it or not. That's why being a prostitute is not
generally considered the best job ever; I found that coding other people's
ideas was like not getting to choose who, when or how to have sex.

For me, the solution was to gradually move out of coding day-to-day into a
more pure consulting role while reintroducing lots of fun personal coding
projects, which are mostly just as fun as I remembered from when I was a
teenager. 8-9 years later, I simply don't take on paid coding projects.

As a corollary, I'm really into film photography and I flat out refuse to get
paid to shoot, because I have no interest in difficult brides or screaming
babies. I figure that I deserve a passion that isn't corrupted by my need to
pay a mortgage. It's like an endless chain of discoveries and happy accidents
that brings me mental calm and occasionally professional (consulting)
opportunity.

I recently went to the Luminance photography conference in NYC, and during
breaks I met as many people as I could. Every working photographer seemed
stoic and anxious, and all of the aspiring photographers verbally
differentiated between their "arty" work and the stuff they had to shoot in
order to pay the bills. Not one of them thought that there was any hope of
them having fans that would appreciate them the way a painter would. [Granted,
painters often have patrons... but I digress.] I found it all quite sad.

Needless to say, I suggested that they all learn to code as a career so that
they could take photos out of love. I said that if they needed to pay their
bills with their camera, they would develop an increasingly abusive
relationship with photography.

Don't worry about "coming back with a bang". You only live once, so stop
hitting yourself.

~~~
outworlder
This.

From time to time, I say that 'the worst thing I've done was to turn a hobby
into work'.

It it not strictly true, there are worse things I could be doing instead. But
I have lost some of the that initial spark.

~~~
wccrawford
On the other hand, I'm exactly the opposite.

I started learning to program in the 3rd grade. From there, it was a hobby.
Come time for college, I decide I don't want to do that a job because I don't
want to ruin my hobby.

Fast forward 10 years, and I finally decide I need a career, not a job. I look
at my skills and decide that programming is the only one worth doing.

Turns out, I love programming more than ever now! It was absolutely a mistake
for me to try to avoid it. I'm better at it than ever, and I can do more
things than ever.

I still, sometimes, do it as a hobby. So in that respect, yes, it kind of
killed my hobby. But I have _that_ fun at work now, and I get to do other
hobbies at home. It's a positive thing all around.

The key is that my job isn't the soul-sucking variety. I work in a positive
atmosphere and (mostly) on projects that I enjoy. I'm valued, and my employers
prove it by paying me what I'm worth as well as having great benefits.

------
taude
Having worked in software engineering for 17+ years, I've learned a few things
(and gone through at least two-bouts of serious burnout). One was at the end
of the first dot-com boom when getting engineering jobs was nearly impossible,
so it was a forced long-term vacation. I went to Europe for a bit.

1) In my 20s, I worked all the time. Didn't live a very balanced life, this
lead to burnout, especially if you're working in a startup environment where
you think you'll retire at 30.

2) I quit engineering twice (but after 6+ months off, new developments in
technology that stimulated my imagination eventually brought me back)

3) I've learned to manage not working the burn-out dream, that likely in the
long run, your 80 hours weeks aren't going to pay out. It's proven to me that
there's plenty of successful people and companies who work realistic hours.

4) Hobbies. I prefer those where I get excercise (like cylcing). Gives me time
to clear my mind and keep my body fit and invigorated. I also enjoy gourmet
cooking.

5) Managing workload, prioritizing things that are important and recognizing
things that you think are work but really procrastinating.

6) Learn other professional skills than typing text into your favorite
editor/ide. Speaking at conferences/local user groups, managing project
budget, managing teams, managing bigger teams. Doing these other things makes
you appreciate the few hours of coding you have left in the week.

------
campnic
There is a misconception, extremely prevalent on HN and in the startup
community, that you're dead at 35. Really, if you are 25 and not certain about
what you want to do, the real 'risk' you should be taking is trying something
completely different.

Don't set yourself up for a miserable life. Become a well rounded person. Try
something else and see if it clicks for a while.

------
bougiefever
I'm a programmer, 15+ years, and I took up beekeeping. It's nice to do
something so completely the opposite of what I do at work. Bees are
captivating because they are such complex creatures, but they are almost
completely driven by instinct, so they are somewhat predictable. They drive
what I need to do to help them succeed, but I still need to use my brain to
figure out what help they need. It's a nice balance from writing code and
being completely in my head all day.

------
hluska
TL;DR - Aging is weird, but it beats the alternative.

Other commenters are giving you excellent advice about burnout. I agree with
what they say, but want to toss in a different perspective.

When I was in Grade 9, there was a hip hop group called Kris Kross. At the
time, I thought they were great. So great, that I went out and bought their
CD, put it on repeat and listened to it for weekend long BBS marathon.

Today, I'm a little embarrassed to admit I was that passionate about the wack
emcees who wore their clothes backwards. I haven't listened to them in years.
Yet other bands that I worshipped in Grade 9 (ie - Bad Religion, NOFX and the
Dead Kennedys) are still extremely important to me.

I'm 35 now and my passions have ebbed and flowed through the years. They are
more fixed now, but they went a little wild between my teens and mid 20s.
Heck, in high school, I was a straight edge post punk who wouldn't be friends
with people who dared to smoke pot near me. By my third year of university, I
was conducting pharmaceutical experiments on myself at raves.

We ebb and we flow. We change just as constantly as the landscapes that
surround us. We fall in and out of love with new ideas, people, sounds and
pursuits.

Take a deep hard look at whether or not you may be burned out. Try new things,
immerse yourself in whatever seems exciting, and read new books. Learn to
climb. Scare yourself half to death. Write a book. Get tattooed. Your passion
for programming will likely come back. Or, it may be gone forever. Embrace the
changes, my friend, you're going to learn an awful lot about yourself over the
next few months!

Best of luck and remember that smooth seas never made a skilled skipper.

~~~
tymathews
for the original post: there's not much more i can add other than what others
are saying worked for me, too. Got sick of fundraising, moved to marketing.
Got burned out of marketing, took up a side project (print-only diy zine) and
then i discovered the startup scene and my love for marketing came back. im
still at the same organization and love it.

for @hluska: im 27 but as of last year started experiencing the "aging is
weird" phenomenon.

btw, i listened to kriss kross in 3rd grade, in high school became a straight-
edge 70s revivalist (only listened to zeppelin, sabbath, doors and other
typical gateway artists). oddly enough, i then went post-punk and partied my
brains out. i love business and the startup community but still love dk,
misfits, screamers (and canada had a killer music/movie scene in the 80s!)

------
tzaman
I think every developer faces the same problem at one point. What helped me
personally was actually working less and find new hobbies (that don't involve
computers), and one thing in particular: running. It's hard to keep your
enthusiasm at a high level if all you see is work - despite the fact that you
might enjoy it. Go out, meet your friends, eat well and excersize.

EDIT: Recently I was attending a startup meeting and there was this video,
where one developer said _Sleeping and eating are overrated._ What a load of
crap - following this advice is the best way to burn out. We are not robots.

~~~
tathagata
+1 for running. It can do wonders for you. Before I started exercising
regularly, I used to get stressed out just trying to get through my office
work everyday. But since I started running, I don't feel any mental stress
anymore. I now have a lot of free time available, in spite of spending an hour
or so exercising everyday, and I have managed to design and develop a few iOS
apps in my 'spare' time.

------
aleprok
Currently in the same position. I am only 22 and still studying in university
about computers, but I have not touched to vim now for 3 months even though I
used to write few hundred lines of code everyday as a hobby since i was 15 or
something like that.

Most likely my dilemma is that I seem not to be able to decide where to
specialize and programming alone has become quite boring. I kinda want to do
everything and can not decide which is the most fun of games, web, mobile,
desktop or security.

~~~
w0utert
> Most likely my dilemma is that I seem not to be able to decide where to
> specialize and programming alone has become quite boring. I kinda want to do
> everything and can not decide which is the most fun of games, web, mobile,
> desktop or security.

This sounds familiar, I experience the same thing whenever I sit down to do
anything (not just coding stuff) that's supposed to be 'for fun' only, and has
no clear utility value. There's simply too many things I want to do, which
paradoxically has a paralyzing effect on me. There's at least 20 things I
still want to develop, at least 20 books I still want to read, 20 video games
I'd like to finish, 20 things I want to improve around the house, I have a car
disassembled to pieces I still want to put back together, I want to learn to
play the guitar, I want to pick up sports again (tennis, so I'd have to join a
club), I want to travel and spend weekends outdoors hiking and such, etc.

The net result is that every time I sit down to do something, in a strange way
I feel guilty not doing any of the other stuff that's in the back of my head.
This in turn distracts me from what I was planning to do. In the end, nothing
gets done.

One thing that has helped me a little is to try and do one thing of each
activity at a time. In other words: work on only one code project at a time,
not multiple. Read one book at a time, not multiple. Play one video game
completely through, or drop it completely if it gets boring. Pick one thing
you want to improve around the house and finish it completely before starting
something new.

This works for some things, but not all. Travelling more or picking up sports
requires a different kind of discipline, but I'm not sure how to get myself to
actually get moving. It's a character weakness I think.

~~~
aleprok
Yeah I kinda try to complete one project at a time, but mostly the projects
get shelved when I lose interest in it because I keep thinking about other
stuff and find them more interesting.

Currently I am trying to complete one small project without putting it aside.
Though I am still thinking other projects, but luckily at the moment those
projects in my head require cash which I don't have, so I can't drop this and
start the next.

------
endymi0n
It gets everyone who's really passionate from time to time. I'd recommend
Richard Feynman, who (as a Nobel Laureate) also completely lost interest in
physics at a time - here's an abstract about the subject, but the whole book
is gold and funny as hell on top:
[http://loooongway.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/my-english-is-
ver...](http://loooongway.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/my-english-is-very-good/)

For me, it's about composing and IT. When I studied musicology, I couldn't
compose anymore and just wasn't creative. Then I changed to studying physics
and soon burned my interest in the same way. Both of them definitely came
back, and by now, I try to keep my interests more balanced!

------
nasmorn
I wanted to quit computers several times but always gravitate back to them
eventually. I even did a whole masters program in economics to find something
different. I personally am just the type to cycle between workaholism and
hedonism. After putting too much into work I get really appalled by it and
need to spend time travelling and just generally living life. Every time I
spend 6 weeks not working I have a burning desire to do and learn again. Maybe
you just did too much. The hardships of travelling are vital for me because at
first everything is so great and you really need to do it until it isn't
anymore. Eventually you will long to get back to your passion.

------
personlurking
Another angle unfortunately without a solid solution.

If I told people to associate me with one word (a subject), pretty much anyone
who knows me would say the same word. I've spent over 10 years learning about
it but I've become jaded because just like any subject, you can study about it
and you can do it. It's the doing it that has made me jaded and that has
effected my will to study it as well.

My best theory is that I simply never defined it for what it is and has been:
a goal. In effect, I summited and now I just feel like I'm at the top looking
at the view. The solution, it seems, will inevitably be to search out another
mountain to summit.

~~~
Tomis02
What was the word they associated you with?

------
rossjudson
I went through this a lot later in life, and what worked for me was "going
academic". I hit Lambda the Ultimate and started challenging myself to learn a
lot of really advanced stuff. I'd pick out papers that were hard to understand
and go through them step by step, as many times as necessary.

I'd also recommend learning to do something complicated in your personal life,
like flying, or diving, or fixing cars. Complexity doesn't exist just in
software; it's all around us. Embrace it in your personal life and it will
balance what's in your professional life.

~~~
AutoCorrect
ugh, if only it were that simple. I've been in technology for almost 20 years,
I build cabinets, fix cars (currently swapping engines in an RX-7), garden,
etc. I'm just burned out - I'd love to take a 6 week break, but need the money
(5 kids, a wife, a mortgage, a car-payment).

------
chris_wot
I'm no psychologist, but is it possible that you are suffering from a bout of
depression? I have found that my depression caused me to lose interest in most
things. It came back, but it took a while...

------
helen842000
TL:DR - Stop, be ok with taking a break. Give yourself chance to discover
what's left.

The thing to remember is that it's ok to have changes in interests. If our
interests never changed we wouldn't make progress.

It sounds like you've got to a point where you are super comfortable with what
you know.

Personally after I finished my CS degree I took a big break (2 years) from
technology, building things and fixing things. Actually I felt like I hated
all of it and that worried me a lot. I wanted to let all the learning settle &
see what interest in the field I was left with - if at all.

After two years I made the decison to go into the applications support side of
things as I realised I still loved the people part of it. Being the bridge
between customers & developers, fixing things & I'm still doing that now. Even
my interest in development has come back and I'm building things in my spare
time again.

Also my partner & I have transitioned from taking photographs as a hobby, to
professionally. I find that each time we get a photography job there's a
little 2 month cycle where it goes from being great fun to just being 'done'
with it. At that point we take fewer personal photos.

After a little time, the interest comes back we start photographing for fun
again and then we get another job and it goes full circle.

I think you can only force creativity so long before it becomes work with
obligations etc - that's when the interest fades.

------
steve8918
After graduating from college, I completely immersed myself in computers,
programming, networking, system administration, etc. I taught myself how to
program, got a job programming, learned just about everything I needed to
learn. I would work, and then when I came home, I would sit in front of the
computer learning. It got to the point where if I didn't spend time learning,
I would feel guilty.

This helped me immensely, because I accelerated in my career and knowledge
really quickly. But then, after about 10 years, I had gained about 50 lbs, and
suffered through some personal issues. I was completely and utterly burnt out.
I stopped being curious about technology, and couldn't bring myself to even
turn on a computer after work, except to play games or online poker. This
period lasted for about 5 years.

What rekindled everything for me was that I found something new to be
passionate about, namely algorithmic trading. The entire topic absolutely
fascinated me and continues to fascinate me, and that's where I regained my
passion. I've been spending a lot of time on this topic over the last few
years.

My advice to you is just take a break. You're probably burnt out. Give it some
time, and you'll probably go back to doing it, or you'll find something new to
be passionate about.

~~~
pav3l
Do you mean you now use algorithmic trading to make money, or just interested
in different approaches, algorithms, etc?

~~~
steve8918
Yes, trading using algorithms to try to make money. Emphasis on the word
"try".

I love it, regardless of my level of success in it. My friend is a day trader,
and he gave me one of his setups for trading. I didn't believe him, so I
downloaded the data, wrote the code to simulate it across a few years, and
then all of a sudden, this became a computer problem that I could try to solve
through programming. I've been hooked ever since. There are a lot of much
smarter people doing a lot more successful ventures than me, but for a hobby,
I really do love it, and it completely reinvigorated my interests in
programming.

~~~
pav3l
Yes, I always thought I could use my math/CS skills to _try_ to make some
extra cash on the side, but not even sure where to start (working in
healthcare now). I was always under the impression you have to be "close to
the market" to be able to trade effectively, i.e. pay a lot of money to have
direct access to the latest information, trading API's etc.

~~~
steve8918
No, I think you mean High Frequency Trading, which is a specialized form of
algorithmic trading. Algorithmic trading just means you use a computer to
execute trades based on algorithms that you define.

It can be as easy as "buy at market open, sell at market close". Or it could
be much more complicated, for example, the stuff that quants do. I'm much
closer to the former than the latter. You can definitely pay for things like a
real-time data feed (less than $100/month) and trade real time, or you can
choose to expand your time frame and do swing-trades with daily data which you
could probably get from Yahoo.

And believe me, it's very, very hard, to the point where I almost don't think
it's possible. But I still love it.

~~~
pav3l
Thanks, how would you recommend learning about trading platforms. Say I can
write a basic trading program in Matlab and Python, who should my program be
communicating with?

------
domokun1979
Similar story but unlike the brave travellers in this thread, I switched to a
related profession instead.

I was a Search Engine Optimser and worked for several large companies and
agencies, leading teams and getting results. Over the course of about 12
months, I felt my passion fade, wither and then die.

I (wrongly) decided to keep focused on the money and was able to extend my
career by about 18months. 18 miserable, unsatisying months.

Knowing that I like the web and feel like I know what works, over the course
of several months I developed a sideline in WordPress development. I then
slowly built this sideline into an income that would help me ditch SEO for
good. It's now what I do full time.

So my advice is this: Be truthful to yourself, if you don't have the passion,
don't stick it out hoping it'll come back. Change track, take a break, do
something unexpected to give you a refresh/restart If you have
responsibilities, try to develop a side project, or several, to give yourself
a new direction

------
Kurtz79
Make programming a mean, not the end.

There are countless fields where what you have learned over the last 5 years
can be of use, and feel fresh again.

Let's say you have spent the last years learning programming for web
applications. Find a job (or star a personal project) where programming is
applied to embedded systems, or medical devices, or videogames, or finance, or
whatever.

And do not think that because you have been learning about "programming" you
have to be a "programmer" if you don't want to. Try to have an experience in
sales, management, design. You might lack specific knowledge in the role, but
will have much more knowledge in the technical details than other people with
specific experience in the role.

If you have been working just on private projects (say, a start-up), find a
job as an employee in a good-sized company. Or the other way around, if you
have some savings.

You are so young there is plenty of time for finding where you want to set, do
not feel constrained by what is expected of you.

------
gdonelli
Short answer: Take time off (a few months) and then work on your project.

Long answer: I worked for 4 years at Apple as a software engineer and I
exactly felt like you. When I quit to find my passion again, I could not touch
a computer for more than 3 months. It was really hard. I loved engineering and
design so much. It felt like I lost the most important thing in life.

I was seriously burned out. I spent time with family, travelled and started
appreciating life again. After 5 months off, I was eager to get back in
technology. I am now working on my own thing (<http://beta.shoeboxify.com>)
and love my life again.

------
outworlder
It could be temporary. As others have commented already, this could be
burnout.

There are other angles that you should consider. Is it only affecting your
job, or are you apathetic on other things too ? If it is the latter (specially
since you said 'everything'), it could indicate depression.

In my particular case, a mild form of depression always sets in whenever I am
sleep deprived. This can go on for months if left unchecked. Go out, have some
fun, sleep a lot and see if it helps. Have your health checked (physical and
mental).

If everything checks out, you might just need a change of scenery. Another
city, another job, a slightly different area, etc.

------
alexrbarlow
I found a break and then working on what I only found interesting (playing
around with weird languages, open sourcing things etc) was the trick, it got
me really excited again about what will always be my life

------
unobliged
Grad school is a popular choice, and many would favor candidates with 3-5
years of work/project experience. The application process also helps you
reflect on what your goals are, why you did what you previously did, and so
forth. Taking an exam like the GRE/GMAT/LSAT/etc can also be good mental
exercise and give you something mindless to do in between introspection for
essays/apps.

Alternatively, it can also be cathartic to do some volunteer work. It
certainly would put a smile on someone's face and perhaps provide some
different perspective on life.

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chrisbennet
The "take a break" is spot on but I think a lot of burnout/loss of passion is
related to what sort of work you are doing. If you are "paying your dues" in
job that doesn't interest or challenge you it's going to be hard to stay
excited. I look forward to going to work (almost) every day and I've been a
software developer as long as you've been alive. At one point I was getting
burnt out doing C++ and then C#/.NET came along and all the "newness"
reinvigorated me. Maybe you need to change jobs or technologies?

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SatvikBeri
There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding exactly how passion works and
what causes people to enjoy their work. Cal Newport wrote a very good book
that dispels many of the myths surrounding the idea of passion and loving your
work that might help you diagnose what's bringing you down and how to get past
it: [http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-
You/dp/145550912...](http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-
You/dp/1455509124/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0)

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3amOpsGuy
Been through the same too, it was about your age at the time too - wonder if
that's a common theme.

I fixed it with a change of direction. I'd been tackling a bunch of stuff that
my heart wasn't in, figured out what i did still like (turns out i wasnt doing
_any_ of it day to day), engineered a change of circumstances at work and
popped out the other end feeling happy again.

End to end about 4 months. Did involve a fair amount of persuasion - what i
wanted to do didn't fit with the organisation at the time.

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troels
In my early twenties I got tired of programming and started studying history
at the university instead. I lasted about two years, at which time I had so
much freelance programming work that I couldn't focus on the studies enough to
pass tests. So I dropped out and got back into programming.

Not only did I regain my passion for programming, but I actually like to
believe that the skills I learned there made me a better programmer to boot.

TLDR; You're young - Try something different for a while.

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ionicwalrus1
Last time I felt like that I had a serious vitamin B12 deficiency. Not that I
agree with all the responses here but you could also get you annual medical
checkup

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nsheridan
I lost interested in everything for.. a while, right around when I was
diagnosed with depression. After eventually getting on the right brain
medicine, I found my desire to work on the things I enjoy came back with a
vengeance. Now I just need to make sure it doesn't happen again :)

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realrocker
I dated a Biochemist for a while to get out of my burn out. The effects were
chemically soothing.

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justinhj
Change is as good as a rest. I've certainly found that to be the case when
these sorts of feelings manifest. Working on a different team, a different
project, a different boss or company down the street often completely
refreshes your outlook.

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epo
Youthful enthusiasms subside, tastes evolve, you mature. Programming is cool
as an unpressured activity, less so with bosses and customers demanding
results. Do something else, you may not come back to it.

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bretthardin
You need to take a vacation/sabbatical where you don't touch anything
electronic. Get your head out of the game, your passion may return.

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orangethirty
Take a vacation from it.

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rkthkr
I started Scuba diving, now I got two passions..

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rex_mundi
Read Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson.

