I became a manager. This didn't, in and of itself, make me rediscover the joy of programming. But it did free up the mental energy I needed to program outside of work, for fun.
As a 9-5 programmer, I often found myself too mentally exhausted to do any coding outside of work. This meant that over the years, programming became just a job, and nothing more.
But once I changed career tracks, I found that I had the energy to write code after work. It actually felt like taking a break. I went from "I need to get away from the computer and go talk to people" to "I need to get away from people and just write code". And when I was writing code on my own terms, without any project managers or other people telling me what to do, it became fun again.
I'm not necessarily saying you should move into management too. I'm lucky that I enjoy the people side of the job, unlike a lot of programmers. But I think that if you put yourself in the same situation as you were in when you first discovered the joy of programming, you'll be able to rediscover it.
I have been coding for almost a decade and I don't think I have come home any day and felt like, "oh, today I will code this!". Nope. I always leave work at work - coding, studying, learning about work. It's not really a discipline, or an attempt to keep work and life separate. I just don't feel like it.
After work it's just reading, films, walks, sports etc for me. I used to get bothered by it seeing other people code and learn tricks, tools, and paradigms at home. Thinking whether I am in the wrong profession, or I am doing it wrong. But now I have accepted it as this is who I am.
>I don't think I have come home any day and felt like, "oh, today I will code this!". Nope. I always leave work at work - coding, studying, learning about work. It's not really a discipline, or an attempt to keep work and life separate. I just don't feel like it.
I'm in the same boat. I've been coding for over 15 years, and since I've been doing it as a career, I can't bring myself to work on very much outside of work like I used to. I have a github full of projects that I used to work on but when I'm home I want to do something that I enjoy. I don't think I've made a significant commit to any of my projects in over a year. Almost makes me want to go back to being an electrician so I can find renewed passion for what used to be my hobby.
One of the criticisms of management path is that it just blocks your mind with anxieties, since you are dealing with lot of unknowns and things which you don't control ...
If you are truly able to switch off after work (as a manager) and still devote your energy on programming pursuits, then I guess you really have a good team and a really good job.
I would be interested to hear your experiences after you work with good number of teams which you inherit (not build them from scratch), and still feel the same way.
Wow, I'm have just started trying out the management track in my company, and your post is very motivating. As in, I thought I would lose out on the programming part, but if I end up with the same experience as you, I will make up for it by doing hobby projects again.
As a 9-5 programmer, I often found myself too mentally exhausted to do any coding outside of work. This meant that over the years, programming became just a job, and nothing more.
But once I changed career tracks, I found that I had the energy to write code after work. It actually felt like taking a break. I went from "I need to get away from the computer and go talk to people" to "I need to get away from people and just write code". And when I was writing code on my own terms, without any project managers or other people telling me what to do, it became fun again.
I'm not necessarily saying you should move into management too. I'm lucky that I enjoy the people side of the job, unlike a lot of programmers. But I think that if you put yourself in the same situation as you were in when you first discovered the joy of programming, you'll be able to rediscover it.