Ask HN: Bored at my dev job. Don't know what to do
I've been working at this company as a developer for a few months right after graduating. Company is great, it has many perks, and people there are great. But I am just bored doing stuff that I do. At the end of the day I just come home and realize that I did absolutely nothing useful. I just want to feel alive or something when I am trying to solve something interesting and important, like applying some algorithm to solve some problem (like in uni assignments), or just believing in something that could make an impact on the world (like developing my hobby projects, but I haven't had any new ideas in months). I can't really quit, because I have no social skills to find a new job, especially something really good and interesting. I have no ideas on my own (if I had something I believed in, I would quit the next day). I am in UK now. And I believe I am a quite good developer, been developing since 13 years old. What should I do? Days just seem to pass so fast because of this boredom and monotony and it seems I am wasting my time doing nothing... I am 23. I don't care about money, I don't even care that much about working overtime, I have so much energy, I want to help change the world or make an impact on it, or at least have a slight chance doing that.
19 comments
I think when you're a developer across a product, it can seem like you're just building features / fixing bugs with no real human connection to the "why" of your actions.
I don't know if you can ask your management, but as a total outlier solution, you could try to spend some time listening to CS calls that come in. You didn't even have to participate on the call, just listen.
Ive found this greatly increases motivation as you actually start to see the need of why you're doing what you're doing. Most products / businesses are not really going to change the world that much, but hearing how something you built is actually helping someone's life can be very rewarding.
I don't know if you can ask your management, but as a total outlier solution, you could try to spend some time listening to CS calls that come in. You didn't even have to participate on the call, just listen.
Ive found this greatly increases motivation as you actually start to see the need of why you're doing what you're doing. Most products / businesses are not really going to change the world that much, but hearing how something you built is actually helping someone's life can be very rewarding.
Your are in a great position. You have a stable source of income and a prestigious job title for the modern times.
You already kind of seem to know the solution: Work on your social skills.
Read this http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/06...
Sign up for internet dating and go on dates with strangers. You will soon discover everyone is awkward and it is all okay.
Or go to tech meetups. Ask people about themselves and just listen to what people have to say. People love to talk about themselves and you can learn a lot about them and yourself.
It will be hard It will be awkward It will feel really strange at first
But being really good at connecting with other people is vital to getting the jobs you want. Having hard skills is important too, but you seem to already have those.
Good luck.
You already kind of seem to know the solution: Work on your social skills.
Read this http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/06...
Sign up for internet dating and go on dates with strangers. You will soon discover everyone is awkward and it is all okay.
Or go to tech meetups. Ask people about themselves and just listen to what people have to say. People love to talk about themselves and you can learn a lot about them and yourself.
It will be hard It will be awkward It will feel really strange at first
But being really good at connecting with other people is vital to getting the jobs you want. Having hard skills is important too, but you seem to already have those.
Good luck.
Quoting verbatim from jlcfly's excellent advice from another AskHN:
"Teach them to be better than you. That may seem counterproductive. I have a type A personality, and I have decent coding skills. I've been in your situation a number of times. I also know there's these mythical expert developers out there that I can't seem to find (or afford). So, what to do? A few years ago I realized that if I continue down this path, I'll end up with some serious health issues due to the stresses that come along with having a reputation for being a really good developer. So, I decided that instead of searching for developers better than me, I would teach developers I work with how to BE better. It's taken a lot of patience. And it's taken me quite a bit to LET GO of my way of doing things. I had to take my ego out of the picture. (VERY hard to do.) Nowadays, I realize that developers don't have to BE better than me. I simply have to ALLOW them to do what they do without being so obsessive about it. Turns out, even junior developers really CAN do good work. They just need a little guidance that only comes with experience, and then they need me to get out of their way."
Specifically, I would suggest volunteering to teach those who traditionally don't get the opportunities to learn coding.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8649415
"Teach them to be better than you. That may seem counterproductive. I have a type A personality, and I have decent coding skills. I've been in your situation a number of times. I also know there's these mythical expert developers out there that I can't seem to find (or afford). So, what to do? A few years ago I realized that if I continue down this path, I'll end up with some serious health issues due to the stresses that come along with having a reputation for being a really good developer. So, I decided that instead of searching for developers better than me, I would teach developers I work with how to BE better. It's taken a lot of patience. And it's taken me quite a bit to LET GO of my way of doing things. I had to take my ego out of the picture. (VERY hard to do.) Nowadays, I realize that developers don't have to BE better than me. I simply have to ALLOW them to do what they do without being so obsessive about it. Turns out, even junior developers really CAN do good work. They just need a little guidance that only comes with experience, and then they need me to get out of their way."
Specifically, I would suggest volunteering to teach those who traditionally don't get the opportunities to learn coding.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8649415
You're describing nearly every job I've ever had. Here's how I coped with various instances.
1. Left the job. 2. Got involved in other teams' projects. 3. Colluded with other employees to break off and form our own company. 4. Accepted it and collected the paychecks (that dwarfed the combined amount of what my parents made at their peak salaries).
You're not going to get what you want out of your job unless you ask for it. If it isn't feasible or possible for your workplace to accommodate you, then that leads you to finding it outside of work. Like mentioned in other comments - there's open source and charity organizations that might need something. If you don't have ideas of your own, you might want to find a business type person and help solve his problems. However, that will likely be quite similar to what you're doing now.
Consider doing something other than programming as well, or something where the programming is secondary. I, frankly, have lost a lot of interest in programming itself because I've been programming since I was 6 (>30 years) and I've learned over a dozen programming languages since then. It's lost its lustre for me. Changing the focus to the non-programming part helped.
The last thing to consider is getting involved in a university project. Those generally have enough difficult programs without the time crunch involved in industry.
1. Left the job. 2. Got involved in other teams' projects. 3. Colluded with other employees to break off and form our own company. 4. Accepted it and collected the paychecks (that dwarfed the combined amount of what my parents made at their peak salaries).
You're not going to get what you want out of your job unless you ask for it. If it isn't feasible or possible for your workplace to accommodate you, then that leads you to finding it outside of work. Like mentioned in other comments - there's open source and charity organizations that might need something. If you don't have ideas of your own, you might want to find a business type person and help solve his problems. However, that will likely be quite similar to what you're doing now.
Consider doing something other than programming as well, or something where the programming is secondary. I, frankly, have lost a lot of interest in programming itself because I've been programming since I was 6 (>30 years) and I've learned over a dozen programming languages since then. It's lost its lustre for me. Changing the focus to the non-programming part helped.
The last thing to consider is getting involved in a university project. Those generally have enough difficult programs without the time crunch involved in industry.
A lot of people feel this way, especially when they are developing on legacy systems or doing standard line of business apps.
I would suggest finding an open source project you are passionate about. There are some really cool open source software applications popping up that need passionate developers like you to get involved.
That's how you make an impact - get involved and do something that benefits the community, and that you can be proud to have put your name on!
It might not help so much with your day job, but it will certainly open up new opportunities for you, improve your skills and look great on your CV. Plus it's a lot of fun!
Do a search in GitHub, or if you program in C# come take a look at what we're doing (yes, you can change the world!): https://github.com/Warewolf-ESB/Warewolf-ESB
I would suggest finding an open source project you are passionate about. There are some really cool open source software applications popping up that need passionate developers like you to get involved.
That's how you make an impact - get involved and do something that benefits the community, and that you can be proud to have put your name on!
It might not help so much with your day job, but it will certainly open up new opportunities for you, improve your skills and look great on your CV. Plus it's a lot of fun!
Do a search in GitHub, or if you program in C# come take a look at what we're doing (yes, you can change the world!): https://github.com/Warewolf-ESB/Warewolf-ESB
I'll add to that; if you program in C# and functional reactive programming on a single codebase across all native mobile phone platforms sounds of interest then take a look at https://github.com/reactiveui/ReactiveUI and send me an email. I'll get you up to speed / invited into Slack. Contact details are on my HN profile.
Your claims as I understand them:
1. Lack of social skills.
2. Lack of ideas what to do with your spare time (at least I see it this way).
3. Lack of challenges and meaningful tasks in your current work.
The 1. is only a problem if you pay close attention to it and refuse to go out because of it.
The solution I see is to find a hackerspace (or similar association) nearby and just drop in to hang out with others. You'll get socialized, you'll find new areas you can look at and most probably it will give you an inspiration and new ideas, all at the same time.
This could solve your 1. and 2. problems pretty quickly, and in the long run, either 3. will become unimportant or you'll find a better job.
1. Lack of social skills.
2. Lack of ideas what to do with your spare time (at least I see it this way).
3. Lack of challenges and meaningful tasks in your current work.
The 1. is only a problem if you pay close attention to it and refuse to go out because of it.
The solution I see is to find a hackerspace (or similar association) nearby and just drop in to hang out with others. You'll get socialized, you'll find new areas you can look at and most probably it will give you an inspiration and new ideas, all at the same time.
This could solve your 1. and 2. problems pretty quickly, and in the long run, either 3. will become unimportant or you'll find a better job.
Have you felt like this for long? If it's been months, then maybe a big change could be needed. Sometimes I get these lows for a few weeks, and it's almost more about me than my job/surroundings. You may find your enthusiasm just gets reignited all on it's own.
In the meantime, start trying to think up ideas and write them down, even half baked ones. Idea generation is a muscle. At my peak I write down a new idea every few days. Sometimes that slips to once a month. Regardless, you'll find that if you start doing this, you start getting excited about those ideas which leads to....
...moving forward. Either to a new job, an open source project, learning a new skill set, approaching your boss with an idea, or a new geekup meeting or whatever.
In the meantime, start trying to think up ideas and write them down, even half baked ones. Idea generation is a muscle. At my peak I write down a new idea every few days. Sometimes that slips to once a month. Regardless, you'll find that if you start doing this, you start getting excited about those ideas which leads to....
...moving forward. Either to a new job, an open source project, learning a new skill set, approaching your boss with an idea, or a new geekup meeting or whatever.
My advice would be as follows:
1) Take a deep breath and relax. What you are going through is normal. Your whole life up to a few months ago has basically been spent working towards this ultimate goal of getting a college degree. It is normal to feel a bit of a let down coming off this achievement high.
2) Realize that developing an elite skill set is the key to finding exciting and meaningful work. For more on this check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/145550912...
3) Get to work honing your craft.
1) Take a deep breath and relax. What you are going through is normal. Your whole life up to a few months ago has basically been spent working towards this ultimate goal of getting a college degree. It is normal to feel a bit of a let down coming off this achievement high.
2) Realize that developing an elite skill set is the key to finding exciting and meaningful work. For more on this check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/145550912...
3) Get to work honing your craft.
I can understand you. If I were in your position, I would think I'm lucky to have a job, get a paycheck, buy things I want and get bored as well. There are many people who don't know whether they're gonna have a meal today, they don't know if they can get a job to pay their kids school fees and the list goes on .... enjoy being one of the lucky people on earth.
Take your job as an opportunity to learn (good or bad things). If you don't like it, quit. Life is too short to waste ... make your decisions fast, Fail Early !!!
Companies devote so much time, money, and energy to recruiting good engineers; but then dump them on projects which slowly suck their will to live. Ideally, a company should have as a mantra, "We will not bore you." If you have a lot of excess energy and time, why not enter a competition? For example, OpenCV is sponsoring a contest to improve the library in one of ten or so major areas. If you succeed, you could win a little cash, plus gain some cred for finding a more interesting job.
Do something different.
What would you do if you knew you only had a year left to live, a month, week, day?
Get a remote job, travel the world. Join an exciting startup or start your own. Take a step back and think about the bigger picture, break the mundane system, you're in a unique space and time to do so. Do what makes you feel alive, if you don't know, experiment. Whatever you choose to do don't settle, you only get one chance...
What would you do if you knew you only had a year left to live, a month, week, day?
Get a remote job, travel the world. Join an exciting startup or start your own. Take a step back and think about the bigger picture, break the mundane system, you're in a unique space and time to do so. Do what makes you feel alive, if you don't know, experiment. Whatever you choose to do don't settle, you only get one chance...
I don't feel like the "what would you do if you had a year/week/day left to live" is a very useful question. If I had a day left to live, I'd try LSD, heroin and probably pick a fight with someone I didn't like, not try to learn a new technology.
You're sure you'd spend your last days being completely unlike you? Then maybe you aren't living that honest a life.
I'd spend my life as a person who re-evaluates priorities given new data.
I don't do heroin now because I would (likely) be trading decades of health and happiness for a temporary bliss, followed by crippling addiction and the loss of my family, friends, and job.
(Also, I beg HN not to let this thread turn into an argument about drug policy, responsible drug use, etc., etc. There are probably people out there who can use heroin responsibly; I almost certainly would not be one of them.)
I don't do heroin now because I would (likely) be trading decades of health and happiness for a temporary bliss, followed by crippling addiction and the loss of my family, friends, and job.
(Also, I beg HN not to let this thread turn into an argument about drug policy, responsible drug use, etc., etc. There are probably people out there who can use heroin responsibly; I almost certainly would not be one of them.)
Possible the best advice I can give for your current position is to get into the habit of starting and FINISHING personal projects. Doesn't matter if they're unique, or whether you think it can profitable, or whether you think anybody but yourself would use it. Do it anyway and make it a habit to finish. Then, when a good idea comes along that can change the world, you'll have practiced persistence.
Your salary is now seed funding for your next startup ;)
This... 1000 times this. Use the opportunity to work on your social skills too but most importantly save money and figure out what's next. In the future it will let you take risks you otherwise could not like, for instance, trying changing the world for the better. If I had a time machine this is the number one piece of advice I would try to convince 23 year old me to follow. And sure, get involved in some open source thing perhaps too - it could help get you into a more interesting job down the road and expand your network.
Find someone who is doing something that interests you. Find them at meeting of an interest group, or at a school, or by reading about them, or by learning the name of a person who works at company, club, or non-profit that interests you.
Send them an email introducing yourself. Explain why you are interested in what they are doing. Explain what your skills are. Offer to help.
Send them an email introducing yourself. Explain why you are interested in what they are doing. Explain what your skills are. Offer to help.
If you are bored of your job first figure out what interests and motivates you. Maybe you are in the wrong profession?
Zubair, NemCV.com
get involved in some interesting open source community, and more specifically in a popular project.
this will do two things - one, it will let you write code that keeps you engaged, without needing to come up with ideas for something to write from scratch, and two, working on a large and active project with multiple contributors, mailing list, irc channel, etc. will be helpful with social skills (at least as far as interacting with other developers goes) and might even act as a form of networking (i've seen several job posts made directly to community mailing lists, especially if the job is for a non-mainstream language or framework).
if you can list some of the things you've found fun or exciting to work with in the past, we can help make more specific suggestions of areas to explore.
this will do two things - one, it will let you write code that keeps you engaged, without needing to come up with ideas for something to write from scratch, and two, working on a large and active project with multiple contributors, mailing list, irc channel, etc. will be helpful with social skills (at least as far as interacting with other developers goes) and might even act as a form of networking (i've seen several job posts made directly to community mailing lists, especially if the job is for a non-mainstream language or framework).
if you can list some of the things you've found fun or exciting to work with in the past, we can help make more specific suggestions of areas to explore.
[deleted]
Learn new skills, both technical and biz. On the biz side, learn product management, project management, Agile, scrum, etc. Play with new tools and try out new things. And yeah, welcome to the real world kid :-)
Let me know if you want to work for our team in Dublin! We build distributed databases - pretty much as high tech as it can get :)