9 ms·

It's interesting to see multiple people in their 30s here mentioning the decline in interest of learning. I'm young 30s and I'm literally quitting my job becaus

It's interesting to see multiple people in their 30s here mentioning the decline in interest of learning. I'm young 30s and I'm literally quitting my job because I can't do it anymore - I can't be bothered to learn new stuff I need for a new project. I'd literally rather quit. I feel so broken because of it and I know my next job is going to be a third of what I'm paid now because it won't be software.

dudul 6y ago
Don't hear me wrong, I should have been more specific, but the reluctance to learning is specific to tech and programming. I learn a lot of new things during my spare time. Even in the field of pure computer science there are a lot of interesting programming theories to learn. After decades in the field, I feel like I'm mostly always doing the same thing. Grabbing data from here and there, making sure I rate limit and fail gracefully, serialize shit and deserialize a response, or vice-versa. Writing software is just plumbing and it's infuriating when people just keep changing the size and shape of the pipes just for the sake of it. That's why to me the actual product being built is more important than playing with tech just to play with tech.
- fl0wenol 6y ago
  ... same I went to school for CS and ended up being a data janitor. I get paid FU money to do what is essentially ETL in many fancy and various forms. All the excitement is gone. Got half a mind to switch to interior design.
  - dudul 6y ago
    That's funny, I've been thinking about getting into indoor/outdoor painting. I don't know if I'm really serious about it because it would probably divide my current salary by at least 4 or 5, but maybe we need to start a business lol
mjayhn 6y ago
Are you dealing with anxiety from covid/quarantine/everything right now? I think a lot of us are in this same boat, want to get out of tech, etc. I remember what it was like making a $45k paycheck though. I had such little agency in life. Obviously people can get by on that and do much better than I did but I've gotten so accustomed to having the freedom to basically buy anything I want (obviously in reason) when I want. I don't even flinch at a $150/mo gym membership which theres no way I could afford back then. I remember wanting to learn judo and kendo when I was around 23 and being shocked at how expensive it was and I couldn't do it until I was in my late 20s. Do I need any of that or is it worth it? Surely not. But the freedom I feel now making 3x what I did when I worked in retail is something I can't really put into words well.
- dencodev 6y ago
  I agree that going back to $50k a year is going to blow chunks. But it's going to be very different this time versus when I was straight out of college - I have developer skills I can fall back on in the worst case scenario, I have six figures in the bank to fall back on, my student loans and car are both paid off, I'm not moving around constantly, I'm not spending money on expensive dating. I think I will be ok. I've never been an extravagant spender on myself, only on others.
  - mjayhn 6y ago
    Well I'm envious. I want to pull the trigger with 3 months of savings in my account and its terrifying. I absolutely loathe the people I work for right now and how they're treating their employees during COVID. I'm just really worried with the way things are right now I won't actually find a paycheck to take home in those 3 months even with my highly sought after skill. That and I don't have the energy to prepare for FAANG interviews and whiteboarding right now, I feel stuck and I hate this anxiety.
    - dencodev 6y ago
      Sorry if this is a downer, but honestly even if I wanted a new job immediately I think it would take many many months to find one. I'm planning on it taking up to a year. I've been looking at job boards a lot and even for developer jobs, they're really only hiring senior level positions right now and I'm sure the rare non-senior position is extremely competitive. My last two roles have both been senior, but I would very much be junior for anything outside web development (which I no longer want to do).
treis 6y ago
Life happens in your 30s. Meaning you get a spouse, house, and kids. Suddenly work becomes less of a priority and even if it doesn't you have a lot less time and energy to dedicate to it. I also think there's a frustration limit. Like if your spouse is being a jerk, the kids are being dicks, and the plumbing broke you don't want to mess around with a new technology. You want something easy and easy is what you already know. >I feel so broken because of it and I know my next job is going to be a third of what I'm paid now because it won't be software. I would not do that. You're probably just burned out. Take some time off and switch jobs before switching careers. Especially one that will pay 1/3 of what you make now. At least start saving up 2/3s of your salary for a while to see what it'd be like.
- dencodev 6y ago
  The problem is that I've done that before. I took a year off not working at all, just traveled and fucked around, and then got my current job. Also my partner is great and I have no kids or really any problems at all in home life. I've only lasted at my current job for a year (already gave notice). Granted my current job is very similar to my last one - maybe that's the problem. I'm currently saving about half of what I make. Finances will be easier when I'm not the only one with an income and my partner is days away from a very probable job offer. I'm wanting to transition to project management and eventually product management. Product management can pay pretty well ($150k+) once you're established. I can afford to not really save much for 5 years until I'm back into six figure income.
ido 6y ago
Maybe you're just in a shitty job? I thought I was burned out on programming a few years ago, turns out I was just burned out on a specific stressful job.
- dencodev 6y ago
  I mean shitty is relative. Compared to manual labor jobs I'm sure my current job would be a blessing. Six figures, sit around all day, job is easy if I had the mental fortitude to force myself to do it, I can get away with only working maybe 20 hours a week. It's shitty because it doesn't advance me at all, there's no room for growth, no opportunity for learning something that would be meaningful at literally any other job, there is zero social aspect to it since I'm 100% remote and work on projects alone, all my coworkers are on the opposite coast of the country. I have tried using my free time to get more familiar with ML/AI stuff but my brain just shuts down as soon as I begin to try. I would love, in theory, to transition towards AI work but the learning curve feels so steep. But the pay would be great, I think there is an absolute shit ton up upward room to grow, I could probably work on some pretty interesting problems (though I'm sure there's tons of "make ads more effective" ML jobs out there too). Maybe if I take some time off work I can try to get back into it, spend 6 months learning, and try to get an entry level ML job.
  - ido 6y ago
    It can burn you out even if it's "objectively" better than being a coal miner or cleaning toilets.
zimzam 6y ago
Sounds like you might be burnt out rather than broken. If it is burnout there are ways to recover and enjoy developing software again

dudul 6y ago

Don't hear me wrong, I should have been more specific, but the reluctance to learning is specific to tech and programming. I learn a lot of new things during my spare time. Even in the field of pure computer science there are a lot of interesting programming theories to learn. After decades in the field, I feel like I'm mostly always doing the same thing. Grabbing data from here and there, making sure I rate limit and fail gracefully, serialize shit and deserialize a response, or vice-versa. Writing software is just plumbing and it's infuriating when people just keep changing the size and shape of the pipes just for the sake of it. That's why to me the actual product being built is more important than playing with tech just to play with tech.

fl0wenol 6y ago
... same I went to school for CS and ended up being a data janitor. I get paid FU money to do what is essentially ETL in many fancy and various forms. All the excitement is gone. Got half a mind to switch to interior design.
- dudul 6y ago
  That's funny, I've been thinking about getting into indoor/outdoor painting. I don't know if I'm really serious about it because it would probably divide my current salary by at least 4 or 5, but maybe we need to start a business lol

mjayhn 6y ago

Are you dealing with anxiety from covid/quarantine/everything right now? I think a lot of us are in this same boat, want to get out of tech, etc. I remember what it was like making a $45k paycheck though. I had such little agency in life. Obviously people can get by on that and do much better than I did but I've gotten so accustomed to having the freedom to basically buy anything I want (obviously in reason) when I want. I don't even flinch at a $150/mo gym membership which theres no way I could afford back then. I remember wanting to learn judo and kendo when I was around 23 and being shocked at how expensive it was and I couldn't do it until I was in my late 20s. Do I need any of that or is it worth it? Surely not. But the freedom I feel now making 3x what I did when I worked in retail is something I can't really put into words well.

dencodev 6y ago
I agree that going back to $50k a year is going to blow chunks. But it's going to be very different this time versus when I was straight out of college - I have developer skills I can fall back on in the worst case scenario, I have six figures in the bank to fall back on, my student loans and car are both paid off, I'm not moving around constantly, I'm not spending money on expensive dating. I think I will be ok. I've never been an extravagant spender on myself, only on others.
- mjayhn 6y ago
  Well I'm envious. I want to pull the trigger with 3 months of savings in my account and its terrifying. I absolutely loathe the people I work for right now and how they're treating their employees during COVID. I'm just really worried with the way things are right now I won't actually find a paycheck to take home in those 3 months even with my highly sought after skill. That and I don't have the energy to prepare for FAANG interviews and whiteboarding right now, I feel stuck and I hate this anxiety.
  - dencodev 6y ago
    Sorry if this is a downer, but honestly even if I wanted a new job immediately I think it would take many many months to find one. I'm planning on it taking up to a year. I've been looking at job boards a lot and even for developer jobs, they're really only hiring senior level positions right now and I'm sure the rare non-senior position is extremely competitive. My last two roles have both been senior, but I would very much be junior for anything outside web development (which I no longer want to do).

treis 6y ago

Life happens in your 30s. Meaning you get a spouse, house, and kids. Suddenly work becomes less of a priority and even if it doesn't you have a lot less time and energy to dedicate to it. I also think there's a frustration limit. Like if your spouse is being a jerk, the kids are being dicks, and the plumbing broke you don't want to mess around with a new technology. You want something easy and easy is what you already know. >I feel so broken because of it and I know my next job is going to be a third of what I'm paid now because it won't be software. I would not do that. You're probably just burned out. Take some time off and switch jobs before switching careers. Especially one that will pay 1/3 of what you make now. At least start saving up 2/3s of your salary for a while to see what it'd be like.

dencodev 6y ago
The problem is that I've done that before. I took a year off not working at all, just traveled and fucked around, and then got my current job. Also my partner is great and I have no kids or really any problems at all in home life. I've only lasted at my current job for a year (already gave notice). Granted my current job is very similar to my last one - maybe that's the problem. I'm currently saving about half of what I make. Finances will be easier when I'm not the only one with an income and my partner is days away from a very probable job offer. I'm wanting to transition to project management and eventually product management. Product management can pay pretty well ($150k+) once you're established. I can afford to not really save much for 5 years until I'm back into six figure income.

ido 6y ago

Maybe you're just in a shitty job? I thought I was burned out on programming a few years ago, turns out I was just burned out on a specific stressful job.

dencodev 6y ago
I mean shitty is relative. Compared to manual labor jobs I'm sure my current job would be a blessing. Six figures, sit around all day, job is easy if I had the mental fortitude to force myself to do it, I can get away with only working maybe 20 hours a week. It's shitty because it doesn't advance me at all, there's no room for growth, no opportunity for learning something that would be meaningful at literally any other job, there is zero social aspect to it since I'm 100% remote and work on projects alone, all my coworkers are on the opposite coast of the country. I have tried using my free time to get more familiar with ML/AI stuff but my brain just shuts down as soon as I begin to try. I would love, in theory, to transition towards AI work but the learning curve feels so steep. But the pay would be great, I think there is an absolute shit ton up upward room to grow, I could probably work on some pretty interesting problems (though I'm sure there's tons of "make ads more effective" ML jobs out there too). Maybe if I take some time off work I can try to get back into it, spend 6 months learning, and try to get an entry level ML job.
- ido 6y ago
  It can burn you out even if it's "objectively" better than being a coal miner or cleaning toilets.

zimzam 6y ago

Sounds like you might be burnt out rather than broken. If it is burnout there are ways to recover and enjoy developing software again