I used to build stuff all the time, then I got a job
23 comments
To keep matters short, after an extended amount of time hating the day to day grind of programming I began playing with electronics and hardware again, and I couldn't have been happier.
I have always had a passion for hardware, many will disagree with what I say next but this is a personal thought: software isn't real. It isn't tangible, most code doesn't do anything that has any direct effect other than through people interacting (if that) with the real world. It is a format of making that does not age well as most code fails after a few years, it's all in your mind, and it never interfaces or have a texture outside of a screen or a keyboard. It doesn't have the feeling of a true project.
My suggestion is to start tinkering with hardware. The feeling of accomplishing real world things - even if it's just an LED blinking! Is extremely exciting for someone tired of only imagining physical processes and instead actually witnessing your code doing things in the real, physical, actual world.
I did this, and it opened a whole new world for me. I build robots from scratch, and I've turned it into my full time job. Even if most never go that far (hardware is hard! I don't suggest it in most cases! ) it will still be the best decision you could make for your mental health.
Write some code, see it play out in the real world. Have fun with servos, motors, lights, vibration motors (my favorite, seeing them jump around) , and rekindle that child within you. You'll love all forms of coding afterwards again, and you'll build some cool stuff you can show your friends and family and be proud.
You could be a great hardware hacker in disguise, we need more of them in the world!
I have always had a passion for hardware, many will disagree with what I say next but this is a personal thought: software isn't real. It isn't tangible, most code doesn't do anything that has any direct effect other than through people interacting (if that) with the real world. It is a format of making that does not age well as most code fails after a few years, it's all in your mind, and it never interfaces or have a texture outside of a screen or a keyboard. It doesn't have the feeling of a true project.
My suggestion is to start tinkering with hardware. The feeling of accomplishing real world things - even if it's just an LED blinking! Is extremely exciting for someone tired of only imagining physical processes and instead actually witnessing your code doing things in the real, physical, actual world.
I did this, and it opened a whole new world for me. I build robots from scratch, and I've turned it into my full time job. Even if most never go that far (hardware is hard! I don't suggest it in most cases! ) it will still be the best decision you could make for your mental health.
Write some code, see it play out in the real world. Have fun with servos, motors, lights, vibration motors (my favorite, seeing them jump around) , and rekindle that child within you. You'll love all forms of coding afterwards again, and you'll build some cool stuff you can show your friends and family and be proud.
You could be a great hardware hacker in disguise, we need more of them in the world!
i can see this working, before i got into progaming i got into analog circuits and used to 'code' random logic with transistors and led bulbs. red led bulbs rule.
I got interested in hardware for a brief amount of time. There were so many things I wanted to build. Then I realized that to do anything moderately complex I would need a math ability far beyond my own and had to give it up.
I agree though, that something tangible ends up being cooler than software.
I agree though, that something tangible ends up being cooler than software.
You can do a lot without the need of any higher level math, yes it makes it easier if you know some, but it's not required for most projects!
Besides, people smarter than us have a lot of really great tutorials and explanations, if you need something specific. Be creative!
Besides, people smarter than us have a lot of really great tutorials and explanations, if you need something specific. Be creative!
How would you get started? And did you turn it into your fulltime job?
I started a robotics company, we develop small-scale robotics for different types of consumers.
I'll repost my comment that I made on tildes.net about a month ago:
You can get a lot of the basics down really quickly, low cost, and all you need is a PC, an Arduino, a breadboard, and a few servos! From there you can build a lot of very cool and interesting (and sometimes useful!) stuff!
I also like messing with vibration motors with mine, in fact I hate using LED's on them so I use that for Hello Worlds :)
I dislike tutorials (I'm a hacker at heart) but there are a lot (589) tutorials/projects on the Arduino Robotics project site, a few thousand on the hackaday.io site, or on Hackster.io with a few thousand more!
There has never been a better and more beautiful time to get into electronics or robotics! Keep in mind if an idea requires a 3D printer (and you don't have access to one), you can usually get by with some hot glue and craft sticks (tongue depressors), also have fun and find things around the house, I use a lot of random plastic containers to build shapes for fun DIY projects, and cardboard and duct tape is always fantastic. Don't let anything stop you from building and having fun with it!
I'll repost my comment that I made on tildes.net about a month ago:
You can get a lot of the basics down really quickly, low cost, and all you need is a PC, an Arduino, a breadboard, and a few servos! From there you can build a lot of very cool and interesting (and sometimes useful!) stuff!
I also like messing with vibration motors with mine, in fact I hate using LED's on them so I use that for Hello Worlds :)
I dislike tutorials (I'm a hacker at heart) but there are a lot (589) tutorials/projects on the Arduino Robotics project site, a few thousand on the hackaday.io site, or on Hackster.io with a few thousand more!
There has never been a better and more beautiful time to get into electronics or robotics! Keep in mind if an idea requires a 3D printer (and you don't have access to one), you can usually get by with some hot glue and craft sticks (tongue depressors), also have fun and find things around the house, I use a lot of random plastic containers to build shapes for fun DIY projects, and cardboard and duct tape is always fantastic. Don't let anything stop you from building and having fun with it!
> I build robots from scratch, and I've turned it into my full time job.
Switch jobs, but find it first. Do not go out placing your resume, research various companies and choose one that does what you want. But do not quit until you find the new job.
Contact old friends from Uni, tell them you are looking for a great working environment. Make sure you have clearly defined what you consider essential. Also consider what are nice to haves. Your absolute must list cannot be longer than 3 items.
Good luck :-)
Contact old friends from Uni, tell them you are looking for a great working environment. Make sure you have clearly defined what you consider essential. Also consider what are nice to haves. Your absolute must list cannot be longer than 3 items.
Good luck :-)
Same for me but with graphic design.
Then I discovered coding and it's a perfect escape to fire up a side project and tinker in the evenings rather than have to think about the Adobe software suite.
Whilst coding and graphic design / visual communication are completely different things – both skills supplement each other. I imagine I have a bit of an edge when it comes to UI and UX design, and knowing the fundamentals of various languages also adds a lot of value at work when it comes to collaborating with technical staff.
I'd recommend branching out a bit at home and finding something that tests you (mentally or physically) in a completely different way to your day-to-day responsibilities. If you're lucky you might find a hobby that is different enough to your day job to be engaging and fun but also have just enough overlap to benefit you professionally.
Then I discovered coding and it's a perfect escape to fire up a side project and tinker in the evenings rather than have to think about the Adobe software suite.
Whilst coding and graphic design / visual communication are completely different things – both skills supplement each other. I imagine I have a bit of an edge when it comes to UI and UX design, and knowing the fundamentals of various languages also adds a lot of value at work when it comes to collaborating with technical staff.
I'd recommend branching out a bit at home and finding something that tests you (mentally or physically) in a completely different way to your day-to-day responsibilities. If you're lucky you might find a hobby that is different enough to your day job to be engaging and fun but also have just enough overlap to benefit you professionally.
Pretty much everything makes more fun as a hobby than when you have to pay the bills with it. Do you think working with wood is fun? Sure, if you have to build the same thing 100 times to put food on the table, it is not so much fun anymore.
There was an article I read a few years ago, pretty much in the same boat as you. To put it in words, a professor quit academia to become a mechanic because working with his hands, the results of his labour are self evident, and he doesnt need to constantly explain himself. For bricklayers, electricians and mechanics and other artisans all they have to do to prove their worth is point: look the wall stands, the lights come on, the engine starts.
"Really got into it, hours passed by. I almost had believed I had ADHD, but all that was gone. I couldn't be more focused."
Some ADHD people (like myself) hyperfocus.
I don't get to choose when it happens, I can't use it to do things I find boring, but when I'm really into something it can kick in and hours of incredible productivity fly by.
Some ADHD people (like myself) hyperfocus.
I don't get to choose when it happens, I can't use it to do things I find boring, but when I'm really into something it can kick in and hours of incredible productivity fly by.
To reiterate what others here are getting at, there is a saying that goes something like "Pick your second favourite hobby as your profession", suggesting that doing it professionaly often ruins it. My old flatmate was a very sort-after chef in the city we lived, getting job offers all over the place and he'd come home every night and make himself instant ramen because he didn't want to spend anymore time in a kitchen.
If you're failry young and unencumbered you have a few options ranging from least drastic like: pick up a new hobby, change teams, change jobs within the company or change jobs completely to a new company and variations on those to most drastic: change professions entirely, go to university, pick up a trade doing something that interests you.
If you're failry young and unencumbered you have a few options ranging from least drastic like: pick up a new hobby, change teams, change jobs within the company or change jobs completely to a new company and variations on those to most drastic: change professions entirely, go to university, pick up a trade doing something that interests you.
I think this is true for almost every profession: If you do it as a hobby, it's fun, if you have to build stuff for someone else with deadlines and screaming project managers, it's less and less fun.
The problem is that things that are fun and things that bring in money to survive are not always overlapping. But you could start to think about a fun side project you work on that has the potential to become a product people are paying for while working in your day-to-day job to get money in.
The problem is that things that are fun and things that bring in money to survive are not always overlapping. But you could start to think about a fun side project you work on that has the potential to become a product people are paying for while working in your day-to-day job to get money in.
I did it for years, then I quit and now I'm a happy pauper.
i see
Yeah, I used to love programming, thought I'd like doing it for work, but most of the time it drained my soul. One reason was that quality was never a priority in the professional world. Another reason was that I was working on crap software that would not reach outside the company, and didn't accomplish anything good. Another reason was the crazy deadlines that were usually being pushed.
Eventually, I unsubscribed my way out, and now I'm 5000+ commits into a project I love working on, even if it doesn't bring in any money. I get recognition from other software developers, I enjoy dogfooding it, and it's actually contributing positive outcomes to my life.
Eventually, I unsubscribed my way out, and now I'm 5000+ commits into a project I love working on, even if it doesn't bring in any money. I get recognition from other software developers, I enjoy dogfooding it, and it's actually contributing positive outcomes to my life.
Did you get a non-programming job to sustain yourself?
ADHD doesn't mean you can't ever focus. It means you have much less control over what you focus on. ADHD people can even have a tendency to hyperfocus on things that interest them or give them a constant dopamine drip. Hyperfocus can lead them to forget to eat or stay up very late without even noticing, simply because they're focused so hard on the thing they're preoccupied by.
welcome to the real world.
this is the case for most people, once we do things for pay, we rarely enjoy doing it for hobby. nevertheless, don't let it stop you.
this is the case for most people, once we do things for pay, we rarely enjoy doing it for hobby. nevertheless, don't let it stop you.
I feel similar to you. I miss having agency over what I'm building. It can be extremely demoralizing and frustrating.
For example, I have to fix some "bugs" in my code. Apparently the application that sends us json messages doesn't properly escape double quotes in one of the fields, so I have to fix it. It's another internal application, so I don't see why we can't have them rollback this addition of double quotes that isn't compliant with json standards.
On top of this, that other system is using that field for both business and system data. So we have to string match that field and perform logic if it's true. But the business uses that field to display on the UI so they request updates to it. Why would you architect it this way!
I was building a report a few weeks ago and found out that the report is for operational work, but that we only have the necessary data available in an archive repo which won't contain up to date info. My team doesn't own the data or systems so we aren't allowed to redesign it. Yet they complain that I can't give them what they want. I'm a dev, not a magician...
What are these higher paid architects doing?
For example, I have to fix some "bugs" in my code. Apparently the application that sends us json messages doesn't properly escape double quotes in one of the fields, so I have to fix it. It's another internal application, so I don't see why we can't have them rollback this addition of double quotes that isn't compliant with json standards.
On top of this, that other system is using that field for both business and system data. So we have to string match that field and perform logic if it's true. But the business uses that field to display on the UI so they request updates to it. Why would you architect it this way!
I was building a report a few weeks ago and found out that the report is for operational work, but that we only have the necessary data available in an archive repo which won't contain up to date info. My team doesn't own the data or systems so we aren't allowed to redesign it. Yet they complain that I can't give them what they want. I'm a dev, not a magician...
What are these higher paid architects doing?
Switch jobs. There are interesting programming positions, you just have to be really picky
If you make your hobby your work, it will stop being fun. Same thing happened to me.
Before, every week I'd build something amazing.
Job on the other has me working on others ideas, that they don't even like themselves, with code that isn't mine and person who wrote it for requirements long changed, but you only have time to deliver the new feature & hell with code quality.
Before I'd get excited with thinking of how i'm gonna structure my code and what angle im going to take and couldn't wait to come home and write it out in code and see the creation
Now it's a chore, just thought of having to look at IDE ruins the mood. Programming as a job has pretty much ruined coding for me.
Recently, I got a chance to build something with hands using wood. All the sudden I remembered the rush and thrill of endless creative possibilities. really got into it, hours passed by. I almost had believed I had ADHD, but all that was gone. I couldn't be more focused.
Now that i recall in beginning i hesitated/delayed going into full time job as a developer, but lack of money + good salary as dev made it the choice. also finding any other job was even harder, in programming like an artist at least you can show what you are. don't need as much credentials, shiny work history, etc. Habit of building stuff helped me to have many projects to show skills through.
It's kinda weird I feel I've more of an academic interest in programming, but with interest in staying up to date with latest stuff.
Sometimes I wonder what other roles could I have gotten, i've seen business oriented roles to having it easy. To me they almost look like their entire job is relaying information. Sure I wont be making a tech salary but there would have been much to gain, one of those things would have been leftover mental energy to enjoy coding.
quite a rambling ... what has been your experience.