A lot of this resonated with me. Thanks for posting it. I've been struggling in my career as a software engineer for several years now. I used to love it and didn't need any "tricks" to get myself to do the job. I have countless theories as to what happened but don't know for sure.
I certainly struggle with the dopamine hit problem. I have a little will power in the morning and then things drop off rapidly. I can force myself to do urgent things like meetings or something like fix production going down. Anything else though is very difficult to chug through. I won't let myself play video games or watch movies during work hours out of some deep seated moralistic responsibility. This doesn't help me work though. Instead, I'll let myself procrastinate on things that I find "acceptable" for people on work hours (but for far less time than what I do them). This is primarily browsing news sites and eating. I can't stock snacks in my home or my desk at work as I will just compulsively devour them if I have resistance to the task at hand. I then also like you say, feel energy drained after something like browsing the web compulsively.
It then sucks seeing other engineers in the field, with far less experience than myself, just pumping out code hour after hour. I've tried different industries, jobs and even moved cities in an effort to fix things. If I don't like programming anymore, I don't know what else I would do that pays even half as much. I've tried engineering management which is a lot more urgent timed stuff with more admin like work. I was able to force myself to do the job but not super well and I faced weekly negative feedback for mistakes I was making which would also zap my energy to perform.
I find a lot of the "tricks" posted in this thread however to be gimmicks. I know that's a bit cynical but to explain, I try them out to keep an open mind, but then within days or a week, they seem to stop working. It's as if my brain is sabotaging itself. Like it's saying -- oh that technique worked yesterday, we can't have that, so you should just not have the will power to do it today --. Makes it feel like there's a deeper underlying issue that needs solved but no amount of contemplation on this seems to help.
I like to think that the right programming role exists for me somewhere, but it's super hard to study for interviews after a day's work. I feel like I have 100 will power points a day, I spend 200 of them trying to force myself to work, and then have nothing left for when the day is done.
Sorry for the long rant but it was refreshing hearing your story and seeing that I'm not the only one with these symptoms.
I certainly struggle with the dopamine hit problem. I have a little will power in the morning and then things drop off rapidly. I can force myself to do urgent things like meetings or something like fix production going down. Anything else though is very difficult to chug through. I won't let myself play video games or watch movies during work hours out of some deep seated moralistic responsibility. This doesn't help me work though. Instead, I'll let myself procrastinate on things that I find "acceptable" for people on work hours (but for far less time than what I do them). This is primarily browsing news sites and eating. I can't stock snacks in my home or my desk at work as I will just compulsively devour them if I have resistance to the task at hand. I then also like you say, feel energy drained after something like browsing the web compulsively.
It then sucks seeing other engineers in the field, with far less experience than myself, just pumping out code hour after hour. I've tried different industries, jobs and even moved cities in an effort to fix things. If I don't like programming anymore, I don't know what else I would do that pays even half as much. I've tried engineering management which is a lot more urgent timed stuff with more admin like work. I was able to force myself to do the job but not super well and I faced weekly negative feedback for mistakes I was making which would also zap my energy to perform.
I find a lot of the "tricks" posted in this thread however to be gimmicks. I know that's a bit cynical but to explain, I try them out to keep an open mind, but then within days or a week, they seem to stop working. It's as if my brain is sabotaging itself. Like it's saying -- oh that technique worked yesterday, we can't have that, so you should just not have the will power to do it today --. Makes it feel like there's a deeper underlying issue that needs solved but no amount of contemplation on this seems to help.
I like to think that the right programming role exists for me somewhere, but it's super hard to study for interviews after a day's work. I feel like I have 100 will power points a day, I spend 200 of them trying to force myself to work, and then have nothing left for when the day is done.
Sorry for the long rant but it was refreshing hearing your story and seeing that I'm not the only one with these symptoms.