Prerequisites for 'the zone' (why not call it flow? isn't it the same thing?):
a) You have to be interested and eager to get started. If you're not happy with the project, if anything else going on in your life is taking your attention, you will not experience it.
b) When you experience it, you feel like you're a 'real' engineer, like that is your true identity now, your imposter syndrome disappears. So ultimately, if you don't identify as a programmer, as opposed to identifying as someone who programs because it pays well or view it as just a temporary phase of your career until you do management or become a startup CEO or something, you may never experience it.
c) After you experience it, your brain goes "whoaaa" and needs to recover. You won't be able to experience it for at least another 2-3 days, in my experience.
a) You have to be interested and eager to get started. If you're not happy with the project, if anything else going on in your life is taking your attention, you will not experience it.
b) When you experience it, you feel like you're a 'real' engineer, like that is your true identity now, your imposter syndrome disappears. So ultimately, if you don't identify as a programmer, as opposed to identifying as someone who programs because it pays well or view it as just a temporary phase of your career until you do management or become a startup CEO or something, you may never experience it.
c) After you experience it, your brain goes "whoaaa" and needs to recover. You won't be able to experience it for at least another 2-3 days, in my experience.