What Do You Do When CS Isn't Fun Any More?

wonderless asks: "Long ago and far away, I thought that I was going to be a Great Geek, and that I was going to provoke a revolution in the computer industry--and indeed, the world--with my mastery of technology. I could hardly wait to throw myself into an intense, highly technical curriculum and shine. But as I said, that was long ago and far away. Now I'm one semester away from graduation, with a 3.5 average overall and a lackluster 3.0 in CS, and I'm liking it less and less every day. I used to be able to say that at least it pays well, but now I can't even take solace in that. I drag myself to classes and through projects, and it all seems really pointless--I'm just implementing what's written in the book, and eradicating the countless off-by-one bugs is nothing short of mind-numbing. I'd like nothing better than to recapture the feeling of joy I used to get out of doing this, and to once again be able to say I'm doing what I love. What do you do when it isn't fun any more, but you'd like it to be?"

Comments

Wrong Motivations

[Courageous]

"...at least it pays well..."

That's not a good reason for going into C.S. It reminds me of a trend in medicine, where folks want to become doctors because of the money. Only, somewhere along the line they figure out that they really don't like medicine; this is often after a substantial investment in medschool, which can leave crushing, mortgage-sized debts. Careers should be selected for love of the art, not love of money.

All that said, you're making a decision too early. You're in SCHOOL; the challenges you're facing there are nothing like what you'll be facing on the job. You'll learn more in your first year on the job than you did during the entire time you were in school. You'll face programming efforts with 50,000 lines of code or more in some cases. College C.S. is a good theoretical basis, but it really doesn't show you what you're going to face at work.

You don't have enough experience yet to be jaded, so stop puttin' on those jaded airs. :)

C//

such ennui at such a young age

[butocabra]

It'd be a shame to call it quits before you've really begun the game. The complexities you'll encounter once you really start working will make whatever you've done in school look like a two line gw-basic program written on an ibm pc-at. The joy of working in cs projects transitions from the drugery of fixing minutae to solving larger, systemic problems. I urge you to take your good gpa, get a job, and really give it a chance.

Broaden your horizons!

[dead_penguin]

I think the problem isn't that you're losing interest in CS, but that it has taken over your life. If you spend almost all of your time doing a single thing, you *will* get bored and frustrated with it, and eventually lose all motivation. You need to "diversify your portfolio" a bit. There's a bunch of things you can do to do this:

Academics: Take an extra year and do a minor. Chances are you've already got most of the prerequisites for something way off your field, like biology or english. You'll learn something new and interesting, and possibly even pick up a new skillset. Besides, it sounds cool to say that you've mastered two completely unrelated fields.

Time Off: Take a weekend, week, month or year off; whatever you can afford to get away for. In that time *DON'T TOUCH A COMPUTER*. Don't even bother with email. It also helps to get away from where you're doing most of your work. This could be a trip to another continent, or just to the next town over.

Hobbies: Non-geeky hobbies are great for "fixing your head", I've found, especially if they're somewhat physical. Get a bike-- mountain biking is a brilliant quick fix if there are trails near where you live, or since winter is coming, go skiing. Hell, even a quick run (as much as I hate running) will put things into perspective sometimes, especially if done on a cool, crisp fall evening.

Of course there's always the weeklong bender of booze and drugs, but that's just not that healthy...

Now go! Turn of the computer and get away from Slashdot! There's hope for ya yet!

Re:It doesn't get any better

[Xerithane]

I hear that same sentiment a lot, and quite frankly I think it's bunk. I have never put myself in a job that I would call mundane or boring.

It's called being selective of the job you want, and not taking the first job you get an offer letter for. Everyone that I know that goes, "Man.. IT sucks! Coding sucks!" took a job too quickly. Any developer who has been in the field for more than 2 years can be selective, and take a job that is fun.

If you are burned out, I would say it is definitely a "bad decision that you have to live with" because it was your decision to take that job. You're 28, so you have probably been in the field for a while. Even the way the economy is going, I managed to find a great contract (I prefer consultancy, get to work on a new project every 6 months is even better) at a great environment, with great people. My previous contract was quite similar, but a bit absurd.

My advice to anyone who claims burnout without being in the field: Go work on an open source project and write real code. Not silly book examples, not fixing stupid bugs (And I'm sorry, if you are a senior an getting off-by-one bugs then you should either pay more attention or should choose a career and make other developers lives easier).

Re:Go do something else, maybe

[mstyne]

You do college radio. I honestly think that I'd have dropped out of school a while ago if I didn't have something to occupy my free time other than learning about old technology and studying automata. Automata!!

Yeah, I can really see a potential employer asking me about Turing machines... or to code them a little application in Prolog. Another misconception my CS program makes is that all CS majors want to be programmers. I *hate* programming. I'm much more interested in the hardware/network/administration aspects of computer systems. Coding up a Java application to simulate an ATM is like pulling teeth.

Maybe that's just the CS program here at SUNY Binghamton. What's it like elsewhere?

I can honestly say I've garnered myself more experience / knowledge setting up and administering the network in my *house* than I've learned in any classroom.

Right now the objective is to finish up my degree and get out. Like a co-worker suggested to me a couple summers back (I should have listened) -- your degree -- and 75 cents -- will buy you a cup of coffee at 7-Eleven. And as was mentioned earlier, the declining job market/salaries isn't much of a motivator either. That's why I have a job at one of the local commercial radio stations here (in addition to working at the campus station), -- it NEVER hurts to have a backup plan.

Solidarity, my brothers and sisters in CS suckiness...

Mike

Re:Go do something else, maybe (OT)

[BLAMM!]

CS and Archaeology. It's interesting that you combine those interests. A few years ago I was going though the process of leaving the USAF. I was attending a transition assistance class designed to ease the change from military to civilian life. They gave a test to help you discover your interests and what careers would be good for you. It was based on selecting a series of skills and activites that gave you satisfaction. After doing this a number of times and refining the list, a computer used the results to generate a satisfaction rating for different career possibilities. My high ratings were in computers(big surprise), electronics, and archaeology. Apparently they use similar skill sets. What was really funny was my dead last, bottom-rung, bore-me-to-tears career. The military.

Anyway, here's my last ditch effort to make this on topic. I left the military after 14 years because it simply wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. The path I was taking was crystal clear and I wanted nothing to do with it, so I left and I am doing well in my new compu-centric career. It's never too late to change your mind. If you don't like it, leave and find something you do.

Fall in love!

[T1girl]

Rolling in the leaves and sin and ecstasy will take your mind off all your other problems, and the resulting emotional cross-currents will create new ones that will absorb much of your attention. Yessirree, a mad, passionate affair right about now is guaranteed to give you a new lease on life, take up all your spare time, fill your head with new ideas and add new complications to your existence. You'll still be dragging yourself to class all right, but only because you'll be so worn out from rockin' the night before. You'e a senior now, for crying out loud, you should be at the top of the social pecking order. Try to hook up with senior girls; the same ones who wouldn't spit on you when you were both freshmen may be a lot friendlier now that they've been upstaged by new waves of younger, cuter freshmen.

Stick your head outside the computer lab. English lit. and anthropology majors are a good bet. They spend their whole academic careers focusing on stuff like "Psychosexual imagery in the religious poems of Robert Herrick" and "mating rituals in Samoa." This may be your last sojourn among thousands of unattached young ladies in a carefree, party-centric college environment. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. (And if you knock one of them up, boy, will you ever have a motivation to get a job and start making money.)