Lack of motivation (SW developer)

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Hello all,
I have worked as a software developer for 10+ years. During the first part of my career I really loved my job. The problem solving part of it was really rewarding and I enjoyed helping people solving their problems. I have shifted between a few companies, the most recent one being a small startup with one other AS person and a few NTs, building administrative systems.

Lately, however, I have suffered from a severe lack of motivation. I simply can not find the joy of the trade anymore. It is like I wait for the motivation to come to me, but it never does. Some days I can get into "the zone" and gets lots of work done but most days I have to struggle to write a few pages of code.

I have considered taking one day per week off to pursue other interests, but am a bit afraid of the reactions from my coworkers (silly, I know). I feel like I'm burnt (bored?) out and am hoping for the day off to raise the motivation the other 4 days.

I consider myself a good programmer, and have been thinking about getting into the gaming industry (have taken a distance course in game development) as I am very interested in games. But right now it feels like all I really could cope with is part-time employment, and there aren't too many part-time development jobs in my neck of the woods...

I have also considered starting my own business but I fear that my network is not large enough and that I would be more isolated. My social skills are not very good.

Any ideas?
p.s. my first post here

Welcome to WP! (maybe time for a vacation? summer is coming up...)

Welcome to WP!

A vacation could never hurt if you could swing it. I find sometimes taking a day off to goof off on something I enjoy doing can help with mental blocks sometimes.

Good luck!

Same here. If I didn't need the money I'd quit tomorrow.

If you hate work, coming back from vacation can be worse than not going on vacation at all

Aw, I saw the abbreviation SW and hoped this thread would in some way have to do with Star Wars.

But I hope I can still contribute.

I'm also really good at my job, love the work itself, but am totally burned out on the environment and the process. I get that way often. Vacations are great and all, but you can only take so many of them per year. And vacations end, and you come back to the same sooty feeling you left two-weeks-ago-that-feels-like-yesterday.

So I usually switch it up a bit. Every three or four months I get myself changed to a different shift, working different times/days, maybe switch departments every year or two. Make a few little, long-lasting changes. It's not a cure, but it helps some.

And also I wish you luck with your job and possible business!

Thanks for the replies!

I should have been more clear that by "lately" I mean the past half year or so (it feels like it has been a gradual process).

It used to be that way that by coming back from a vacation I was full of new energy and very motivated. But not so anymore. I agree that coming back (almost) feels worse than not going at all right now.

Switching it up is difficult in my current job, there is very little room for these kind of changes. Sounds like great advice otherwise though.

I guess most people in my position would simply take a different job. Had I been more social that would not have been a problem for me. But things are the way they are and I must work around them the way I can, somehow...

im a programmer too. i went though a similar phase once and ended up doing 3rd line tech support, it was still very technical and challenging but without the grind of churning code out. it wasn't very long before i missed the programming though so wasn't long before i was back in a programming job. in hindsight i just hated the programming job i was in so took the first opportunity to get out thinking i wanted a break from writing code

maybe you just need a break

Welcome to WP - I think you'll enjoy it here.

I've been a software developer for over 30 years; good career for an aspie overall but it hasn't been easy. The two biggest issues for me are time pressure / stress and having to understand and modify ugly code created by others. Some of the programs in our shop make me ashamed of my profession.

A few years ago I just quit to take a year-long break. Then for my new job I found a position with less stress (not on call as often and we don't get too many calls at night). If you can swing it financially this might be a way to reenergize.

Thanks!

I relate to both of your biggest issues. Understand/mofiy others code is definitely something I hate. I'm not saying the people I work with are bad coders, they just think very differently from me. I work best when I write and maintain something myself, then I feel like I have total control of the code and can fix bugs (yeah I write those too ) and add new features very quickly. When others start modifying the code base I can no longer get the overview I need. I guess I'm really not much of a team player in that regard.

I have started working on a hobby project while decreasing my working time, I will see how much that helps. It feels like a good start at least.

Even though I may not be knowledgeable about things, but all I can say is don't give up on whatever you do. I am trying to get my act together in school as a college student and I am not giving up on finish my degree no matter what and no matter how long it takes. You scored yourself a really top notch career and you should be very proud of what you have accomplished. Just stick through it and don't give up.

As a youth, I would spend my days writing software and games. The joy was presenting myself with a problem, and finding a creative way to solve it. My skills as a programmer were very high.

I failed as a software developer because I was not productive in the real world. I seemed to lack motivation. Looking back, my programming style required a few things that hindered me:

--Complete control over the big picture (as opposed to responsibility for a small section of a program)
--Following my own tangents (as opposed to staying on task due to time pressure)
--Solving problems (as opposed to executing on a previously thought out solutions)
--Finishing when the program suited my purposes (as opposed to polishing up a program for others to use)
--Striving towards brilliance/perfection (as opposed to good enough)

Basically, I can solve complex problems, but I cannot perform easy tasks. This was a constant source of frustration and difficult to get people, including myself, to understand. I tend to think in terms of overall systems and if I don't agree with or have enough information to understand a system developed by someone else, then I cannot perform the simplest task.

I needed my work to fit harmoniously into a larger software project. If I didn't see that larger project as being harmoniously developed, then I couldn't write code (even for a small well-defined subroutine) because there would be no harmonious result. How do you write code to fit perfectly with an imperfect system? Even if the main project was properly developed, if I didn't have the complete big picture and couldn't see how my code would harmoniously integrate with the whole, then I would not be able to even start.

Beyond a project, I would also get hung up on problems witin a company. Becase I focus on the big picture, if I don't see the company doing well, then everything else becomes hopeless. What is the point of fixing an inconsequential piece of code for a piece of software that will never be released because the company will not be around?

I ended up switching careers, but ran into the same problems.

I can really relate to just about everything you write. You describe the core of the problem well.

I was lucky a number of years back, that I more or less stumbled upon a project at work that was well suited for me. I was software architect in a small team for an application that solved an interesting business problem. For at least a year it felt like a dream job coding everything from scratch. However, as more and more people got involved in the project, my joy decreased. Soon it became a mess that just involved bug fixing and limited new development.

I also focus too much on the problems within a company and the business decisions that are taken. That's why I'm thinking that I'd be better off in my own company.

It would be interesting to know what career you switched to, if you'd like to share it.

I too relate to much in this thread. "Software engineer" making a computer game in my spare time. Talk about burnout. Damned if I don't, damned if I do.

Thanks for the encouragement. I don't really plan on giving up on software development, I want to do it in one form or another. I really love the problem solving.

My problems lie more in the area of team work where I feel that not everyone are working towards the same goal. My perfectionism makes it hard for me to work with people that don't meet my requirements. Especially when those people get most of the credit (usually it's quantity more than quality that is premiered in this business).

I write patents.

People management. All the engineers I worked with appreciated management who understood the technical aspects and challenges of their field. Timelines slips, bugs develop and the initial requirements were crap. A good manager can help explain and provide a buffer. Sometimes people only become management because they think it's a stepping stone up the career ladder (WRONG), but sometimes they need a break and do it for a short time. A good environment gives you the latter and avoids the former.

Release/Process Management. A variation on the trade, you can develop tools for efficiency and problem detection. Don't like how you're merging code or building? This generally is the team you want to be on.

Configuration Management. Usually a part of release/build management, you're expertise in the product life cycle can help the company grow globally. Plus you know the problems and challenges in a day-to-day development environment. In the CM arena's I've been in, you get to play networking, troubleshooting, process design, and infrastructure admin.

QA/Project management. Never saw a SW engineer happy who went into this area. I'm sure they exist, but nope.