How Do I Get Back a Passion For Programming?

bigsexyjoe writes "I am a somewhat experienced software developer who is pretty much an office drone. I used to enjoy writing code. I even enjoyed writing routine code before it became routine. But now I just come in day in and day out. I work for manipulative jerks. I don't care about the product I create. I don't enjoy coding anymore. I'm not great at interviewing. I don't have an impressive resume. I stick in more advanced stuff into my code when I can, but that is always on the sly. So my question is how do I get back the enjoyment I used to have writing code?"

Comments

Sucks to be you!

[Q-Hack!]

How about getting out of your comfort zone. Get your resume up to date. Have people review it for readability. Start looking for a new job. You may not enjoy your current employer, but find one that peaks your interest and the joy of coding will return. Also, it helps if the projects have an overall goal in mind that you agree with. For some that may be the Defence industry, others may prefer coding for the Medical industry. Industries that have a meaningful goal will help you to achieve that missing passion.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[Moryath]

I work for manipulative jerks.

This right here tells me it's not about your passion for coding. It's the fact that you dread going in to work each morning to face the manipulative jerks.

Either go above the heads of the manipulative jerks and report what's making a hostile work environment, or start brushing up your resume, practice interviewing, and start looking for a new job.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[dkleinsc]

Either go above the heads of the manipulative jerks and report what's making a hostile work environment, or start brushing up your resume, practice interviewing, and start looking for a new job.

If you're going to do the first one, going over the heads of manipulative jerks, do the second one as well, because chances are the manipulative jerk's superiors are manipulative jerks who are more invested in your manipulative jerk bosses than they are in you.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[s73v3r]

Second: Start a project on your own that is fun. (in my case: Make games!).

This can be a good suggestion. But before that happens, he needs the inspiration to actually go through with it. Wanting to do some programming, but not having a single idea of what to do is an awful feeling.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[s73v3r]

Yes, in this economy. Programmers are one of the professions that are almost untouched by the recession.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[Grishnakh]

Exactly. I've worked in a several different companies, and basically shit rolls downhill: if your bosses are jerks, then the people above them are going to be even worse. I've been in companies where my immediate bosses were OK, and the management above them not too bad either; one place where my immediate boss was cool, but as you got up the chain they got exponentially more horrible (incompetent, stupid, etc.), another place where my boss sucked, but the ones above him were far worse. People are frequently a product of their environment; at that last place I think my boss might not have been so bad if he had always worked in a better company than that one, but he had always worked there, so he was firmly invested in the place and its dysfunction.

Trying to go above your boss's head is always a losing proposition, as far as I'm concerned. If you don't like where you are, get out and find a new job. That tripe about "change coming from within" is good in some other contexts, but not in corporate employment. You're just a hired gun, nothing more, and the people calling the shots are the sociopaths at the top, so if you're not satisfied with the environment they've set up, you need to go find some place where the grass is greener. Even if the new place isn't any better, a change of scenery will make you feel better for a little while, and give you time to find a better position.

Re:Sucks to be you!

[xmundt]

Greetings and Salutations....
          Ageism has been, and continues to be, a serious problem in the IT profession. It does not apply to just coders either, as it seems that being over the age of 50 is a kiss of death for system administrators, DBAs, analysts, etc. I suspect that the issues that control this are (in no particular order)
          1) Folks doing the hiring assume that anyone over the age of 50 is so stuck in their rut that they are out of touch with the newer technologies. Actually the cut off age here seems to be closer to 30....
          2) The younger a hire is the cheaper they will be for the company. Most companies would rather pay a kid $40K a year and not worry about the fact that it might take him a week to do what a $100K a year hire could do in a day or even a few hours.
          3) Again, because of the incorrect perception that IT people are an expense rather than an asset, HR hires the kid who knows how to do ONE thing, instead of the older, more experienced person that knows how to do a dozen things, and can likely apply that knowledge to find a way to make the company more efficient, using the excuse that the older hire is going to be "too expensive".
          I will agree that, in the short term, the older hire requires a larger check...but in the long term, is likely to more than pay that back with the increases in efficiency and the savings he or she can bring to the company. This makes no difference, though, because these days, short-term profit is the only goal that companies can look for.
            4) most management knows that the older hire is going to be more of a pain for them, because experience brings understanding of exactly how poorly most management runs things, and, a considerably lower tolerance for that sort of nonsense. The "fresh face" just out of school is willing to put up with a lot more crap that we, with that experience, are not. The kid actually believes management's vague, hand-waving promises of great rewards later on for 80 plus hours of work now!

Projects

[Bucky24]

Start your own projects on the side. Or if you don't have any ideas, join an open source project. Unless you're amazingly good at programming you'll probably learn something either way, and, at least for me, that's what makes it fun.

But like anyone else I can only really give you suggestions that would work for me or I know worked for someone else. you have to really discover it again on your own.

Good advice .. but check your contract

[Anonymous Coward]

Start a project on your own that is fun.

That is a really great idea.. probably one of the few things will get him to love programming again. He puts more advanced code into projects for his employer for no reason (not a good idea IMO), when all that effort should be put into his own project.

BUT he needs to check his employment contract first. Very common for the employer to say they own everything you create, even if it's not on company time. And if he works for jerks, I wouldn't assume they won't take the project from him when he leaves if it has any value at all.

Re:Good advice .. but check your contract

[ATMAvatar]

Even if you do sign away all rights to your code, there is a small handful of states whose laws override those contract provisions.

For example, I live in Kansas, and Statute 44-130 explicitly states that employment contract provisions about code I write on my own time using only my own resources are null and void. There are a few limitations to that, of course - the coding I do has to be unrelated to my workplace and not derived from work I do at the office, and I have to disclose to my employer what those projects are.

This was covered a little more in-depth in a question on OnStartups, one of the StackExchange sites.

There is actually a club...

[Yold]

"There is a club for people who don't like their job, it is called "EVERYBODY"; they meet at a bar".

-Drew Carey