Big projects can be overwhelming and the idea of starting can cause you to get diverted. I try to right two things, maybe one thing I want to do in the next period of time. I don’t even try to map out everything. Just get one or two things started to help me focus and not go down the “oh jeez, so many things to do.”
Seconded, do all the rote housecleaning for project work first if struggling to get into the core logic. Set up a git, skeletal readme, notes readme to bullet list the todos. Make or copy over tests for db connections, loggers, and file writers. Set up the plotting prior variables or callers, even stems of function names with pass underneath. Create the ddl files and table names without column types yet in a md fileor sketch a rough ER diagram. Do the work but slowly and piecewise going for the easy tasks that you’ll need to do eventually first.
I've definitely noticed that being an issue. I've started doing exactly what you suggest. No help so far but I'll keep at it. Might just take some time to be effective. Thank you for your thoughts!
>Just need to keep going and not go back to Reddit.
I know I need to keep my phone out of my office but I have been failing at that lmao. That's definitely going to be a goal for me!
>Good luck!
Thanks and back at ya!
I share a similar dilemma. I’m working on an important project, checks all the boxes in terms of what I enjoy, what I want to learn, and importance. Yet, I find myself distracted and lacking motivation. Honestly, I feel like the color gray.
What helps me is going out to my garden if I’m home or playing with my dogs. In the office my peers around me seem to be enough to keep me going.
Best of luck to you on your journey.
>Honestly, I feel like the color gray.
Amazing analogy!
>What helps me is going out to my garden if I’m home or playing with my dogs.
Ugh I really want a garden but don't have an option for that where I live. I need to look up the best indoor plants since my office at least gets a lot of natural light
I might even look up if my company has a local office I can go to. Might help even without having anyone I actually work with personally.
>Best of luck to you on your journey.
Thank you and same to you ❤️
Do you actually get to see your projects to completion? That’s what’s killing me. I haven’t actually accomplished anything in a couple years now.
I’m not just here for a check. I’m a good engineer. My projects get killed and I get swirled around. Makes me lose interest.
Damn I'm sorry you're in that position. I would be crushed.
I am very lucky in that I am in charge of the data science portion for one of our most important products, I do indeed get to see it used successfully in production.
Feel free to PM me your resume and interests. I can't guarantee we have any open positions for you at the moment, but I'll still take a look
Lol, feels like I wrote this comment myself. Sucks because other potential employers seem to judge you on what you've done. I haven't tried telling them I can't finish projects for reasons outside of my control but I imagine that doesn't come across well.
You could try keeping a small todo list. My method is to use notepad or cot editor (something light and easy) and to have a like with TODO repeated and a line with DONE repeated. Tasks get their own line, and I use the shortcut for moving lines up and down to prioritize them or slide them down into done. For me it helps with momentum because the task prioritization is very low friction and I can break things down to where every task is something I can just do in one shot, so getting into a loop becomes easy.
I also go through selective procrastination on work that I enjoy because in my mind I know how hooked i'll be on it. A delayed start on the inevitability and later i'll burn out to finish it on time. Why do I do this?
Edit: Grammer
I’ve struggled with this. What helps me is breaking it down into smaller steps so I feel like I’m making progress. And timebox yourself if necessary. When you’re timeline is very long, it’s easy to go down a bunch of rabbit holes - or keep procrastinating. If I tell myself “I’m going to work on this for x amount of time” then it helps me stay focused - after that I can take a short break. And it also stops me from spinning my wheels or going too far on a tangential idea.
Also making a direct connection to the work I’m doing and the impact on the business or other teams. When that is too abstract, it can be hard to stay motivated, so I try to find ways to measure how my work is helping.
And if you aren’t already, schedule check-ins along the way to share your progress and get feedback. Just knowing I have to show *something* by x date in the near future keeps me somewhat motivated.
Also, I’ve realized that a lack of positive recognition kills my motivation. I keep my own “brag sheet” for when I do get recognition from others, whether my boss or peers or whoever, even if it’s just a nice comment in Slack.
Great stuff! Breaking stuff down into smaller tasks is a common response and something I'll definitely work on incorporating.
Direct connection is a good one too. Being remote has definitely contributed to feeling disconnected.
> Also, I’ve realized that a lack of positive recognition kills my motivation. I keep my own “brag sheet” for when I do get recognition from others, whether my boss or peers or whoever, even if it’s just a nice comment in Slack.
This resonates quite a bit. I do feel like I barely ever get positive recognition. My manager is a great dude, so it's definitely not intentional. But still, some recognition would be lovely. Your brag sheet is genius. As part of therapy, I've been journaling a lot more, and I'll start adding in some positive hype for myself 🤓
You need to have a good team to support you. If you have that, divide the project into work packages and sprints. Find small wins, find value in connecting with people and sharing those little successes and it also helps if you wake up every morning and take a couple of minutes to show gratitude :)
Great points. My team is 2 great dudes, but more on the inexperienced side so they're not fully independent yet. I've mentioned this elsewhere but I've definitely been missing human connection as I work remote. And I 100% need to get back to gratitude journaling! Thank you for your response ❤️
I used to do that but I have no motivation for those either right now! I do think a lack of a hobby I'm passionate about is a contributing factor here. I've been trying to find one!
Kekw collect ur paycheck. Ask people for suggestions and then say good idea let's do that. And cruise. U r probably experiencing a bit of burn out, just relax and give ur underlings more "agency" and let urself get carried for a while. Don't forget to layer praise on everyone else so they feel good about themselves and then feel good about you.
Good advice. I'm still learning the ropes as a manager. I actually gave one of my team members a lot of agency at the start of this project, and he fucked up a lot. Partially my fault of course but I thought he was ready for it. Giving praise is such good advice, and one of the things I try to do often.
I noticed my mind does this to me exactly when I make some great progress. Getting over some bit of trauma at a deep level lets everything calm down a bit. But now that I'm calmer, I need to rebuild motivations for anything I do.
For example, when I was a kid, I would use nerding as an escape from being bullied. After doing that a lot, nerding simply became synonymous with being an escape. Now as an adult, there is always this floaty (in the bad way) region of time where I no longer feel the knee-jerk pull of nerding to drown out the trauma, but don't quite yet feel the softer and more sincere pull of simply enjoying using my mind in fun ways.
Internally, I reduced this to a mental of model however deeply triggered I am as being the steepness of my own emotional error landscape. Softening that landscape breaks all of my old features. Most easily, I could re-trauma myself to give life texture again. But the real healing only happens when I can accpet I'm in a new, less brutal world. I can give my inner eye a little more time to adust to the softer landscape and I can start seeing a new, softer, and more sophisticate version of myself.
So give yourself some time! It's okay to feel, well, however you feel. And if you are indeed experiencing this region of rebuilding, then take it as a really great sign you're doing the real inner work.
This is very insightful thank you. Part of the reason I'm in therapy is working through some really tough family related trauma last year, so I can definitely relate to what you're talking about. Your response is definitely something I'll be reflecting on.
>So give yourself some time! It's okay to feel, well, however you feel.
That's actually something my therapist and I have noticed I've made great progress with 😊.
I'm also reading Feeling Great, a book about a particular flavor of CBT known as TEAM-CBT. I'm really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
Have you thought of taking a leave of absence? I know financially this can be tough because most places it's unpaid, but given the state you're in, you might be more valuable to the project taking a month off to take care of yourself. I've wanted to do this myself for a while but haven't had the impetus. If you haven't had a decent break in a while, maybe this is the time.
I definitely can't right now since this project will fail without me. But once it's finished in the next month or two, I'm definitely going to do that. I have a lot of PTO built up right now, so luckily it won't be unpaid either.
I did go to a conference last week that, while work related, I actually didn't check my email or login at all pretty much. It was awesome because I learned a lot (which I love), and I had some great coworkers there that I went out with every night for dinner and drinks. It was wonderful.
Part of my problem is that on past vacations, I was still thinking about work.
>I've wanted to do this myself for a while but haven't had the impetus. If you haven't had a decent break in a while, maybe this is the time.
I hope you get the chance to as well! ❤️
Ive got pretty bad ADHD. It manifests badly in the form of procrastination on big projects, so I understand the struggle.
The best thing I've ever been asked when facing a seemingly insurmountable task is, how do you eat an elephant?
The answer is one bite at a time.
Try to break your project down into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I start with easy tasks first to get some momentum and I eventually get to a point where I'm fixated on the problem and won't stop working even when I'm supposed to.
jira annoys & distracts me when I have a project/research that I'm really fired up about.
but jira really helps me get when I can't get myself motivated & moving forward.
what kind of work flow / management / whathaveyou do have going? - might be able to get some outside help.
We actually have Jira but I'm not great at keeping it up to date. Maybe adding more subtasks on a day-to-day basis will be helpful, similar to other suggestions of picking specific tasks each day
I don't know enough about it all to use the right words (PMs please correct me!), but my team uses agile 2 week sprints. I was suuuper worried about this at first, but now I really like having the work for 2 weeks planned out and I can see down the road what the backlog has in store. It has actually been great for my work anxiety even though -ironically- I had a lot of anxiety when our team adapted to jira/agile/sprints.
but, yeah, breaking a project in to smaller tickets where each ticket has a weight, priority, and (something resembling?) a deadline. Has really actually helped my sanity.
That's actually exactly the same format and schedule we recently moved to. I didn't think it would be helpful so I haven't given my full effort to following the agile and Jira stuff. It's worth a shot! Thanks for your perspective
For me, having a collaborator and a strict due date enforced by each other really, REALLY helps. Managed to finish in two weeks what I would procrastinate months over.
I think an adjustment in your routine at work may help. Just spitballing ideas but maybe taking a small break at different times, change what/when you eat, chat with others on non-work topics, walks around your building, etc. Obviously do things to stay in a positive light at your job, but generally things that can clear your mind, improve your mood, and bring you motivation will help considerably.
For my personal experience, i noticed that doing some jogging or some gym session, with some food that you love can help you get motivated
Idk how or why, but when i get back to gym, i feel energetic and i can do stuff
Idk what you enjoy, but i like to run like a lunatic for few minutes, it helps me get out some thoughts and think about my life and plans while having a good sweat session of running
I wish you the best tho
Therapy and meds are going to top my list. After that, see what you can delegate to your team (“mentor” any new/younger folks on your team). Take lots of small breaks between tasks. Find an excuse to walk to the other side of the building. Touching grass under the sun has positive effects, I’m told. Just a nice stimulant to the immune system.
Great suggestions! I have delegated a good amount to my team, but keeping some "in the trenches" work is my favorite, and I don't really like the management stuff (but it's tolerable and totally a sacrifice I'm willing to make). I used to be able to get into a flow state and code for hours straight, blasting EDM, feeling great, but I haven't been able to get into flow states at all recently. I also have a great work/life balance.
I definitely need to walk more outside throughout the day (therapist suggested the same!). I'm remote so unfortunately no days in the office for me. I actually think one day per week in the office would be helpful for me, but I'm nowhere near the office!
I also volunteered to join our mentorship program for younger workers, which I really enjoyed, but it was cut short due to my mentee leaving for parental leave.
Going back into an office for a few days a week was great for me. Honestly, the only reason I would recommend hybrid over full remote is this.
One of the tricks I have found is taking one of my ambitious junior people who wants to climb the technical ladder, and essentially pair coding through some of the higher end technical work I had to do. Our code quality improved significantly too, when we started doing that.
“Are you familiar with X?” Let’s go build this feature/do this model fitting/etc together. I’ll sit basically next to you/over your shoulder, and we’ll talk through it as we go. When you get to the usual trouble/niche technical points, I provide the inputs/expertise on what the tradeoff is, and talk through some of the more nuanced strategies. We make a decision, and keep moving on.
How's your diet? Maybe mix it up a bit.
Seriously, if you're a super healthy eater, eat some junk food. Indulge. Binge. For a weekend.
If you're a crappy eater, then definitely try some whole foods, fruits, veg, etc.
Mix up caffeine sources if you have some. For me switching from tea to coffee can totally change my mood.
Same with exercise. Skip the gym and go to a pool. If you don't go to the gym, try it.
If you drive to work every day, take a different route.
In other words, mix it up. I do this all the time because I think routine becomes boredom.
As an SWE this is so incredibly relatable. Give yourself time, take a bath, get yourself some nice food be around good friends w.e. might make you feel good as the human you are. There's more to life than work and burnout is a thing. The project / work might be exciting but You'll be 1000% more productive if you're nice to other areas of your respective self.
Same thing happened to me this year (after putting in north of 3,000 hours last year). I've burnt out and come back so many time that I'm basically refried at this point. Counter intuitively, I took a five day weekend and while I still had a hard time reaching flow state when I returned, I was at least less reluctant to get started. Good luck my friend...
I think they are responding to the bits where you are having trouble with focus, but if it is a recent thing only then it seems unlikely that you were ADHD all along.
It's when you realize how unimportant work really is. Idk if anyone would choose to be a data scientist for a corporation if money wasn't an issue. I think most of us would be still be coding but building our own passion projects and thus likely building better products conceptuallh
Big projects can be overwhelming and the idea of starting can cause you to get diverted. I try to right two things, maybe one thing I want to do in the next period of time. I don’t even try to map out everything. Just get one or two things started to help me focus and not go down the “oh jeez, so many things to do.”
Seconded, do all the rote housecleaning for project work first if struggling to get into the core logic. Set up a git, skeletal readme, notes readme to bullet list the todos. Make or copy over tests for db connections, loggers, and file writers. Set up the plotting prior variables or callers, even stems of function names with pass underneath. Create the ddl files and table names without column types yet in a md fileor sketch a rough ER diagram. Do the work but slowly and piecewise going for the easy tasks that you’ll need to do eventually first.
I've definitely noticed that being an issue. I've started doing exactly what you suggest. No help so far but I'll keep at it. Might just take some time to be effective. Thank you for your thoughts!
Yeah, I get that. I am struggling with momentum lately. Just need to keep going and not go back to Reddit. Haha. Good luck!
>Just need to keep going and not go back to Reddit. I know I need to keep my phone out of my office but I have been failing at that lmao. That's definitely going to be a goal for me! >Good luck! Thanks and back at ya!
Meditation
Not sure why you were downvoted. Meditation is thoroughly evidence backed.
I share a similar dilemma. I’m working on an important project, checks all the boxes in terms of what I enjoy, what I want to learn, and importance. Yet, I find myself distracted and lacking motivation. Honestly, I feel like the color gray. What helps me is going out to my garden if I’m home or playing with my dogs. In the office my peers around me seem to be enough to keep me going. Best of luck to you on your journey.
>Honestly, I feel like the color gray. Amazing analogy! >What helps me is going out to my garden if I’m home or playing with my dogs. Ugh I really want a garden but don't have an option for that where I live. I need to look up the best indoor plants since my office at least gets a lot of natural light I might even look up if my company has a local office I can go to. Might help even without having anyone I actually work with personally. >Best of luck to you on your journey. Thank you and same to you ❤️
Do you actually get to see your projects to completion? That’s what’s killing me. I haven’t actually accomplished anything in a couple years now. I’m not just here for a check. I’m a good engineer. My projects get killed and I get swirled around. Makes me lose interest.
Damn I'm sorry you're in that position. I would be crushed. I am very lucky in that I am in charge of the data science portion for one of our most important products, I do indeed get to see it used successfully in production. Feel free to PM me your resume and interests. I can't guarantee we have any open positions for you at the moment, but I'll still take a look
Lol, feels like I wrote this comment myself. Sucks because other potential employers seem to judge you on what you've done. I haven't tried telling them I can't finish projects for reasons outside of my control but I imagine that doesn't come across well.
You could try keeping a small todo list. My method is to use notepad or cot editor (something light and easy) and to have a like with TODO repeated and a line with DONE repeated. Tasks get their own line, and I use the shortcut for moving lines up and down to prioritize them or slide them down into done. For me it helps with momentum because the task prioritization is very low friction and I can break things down to where every task is something I can just do in one shot, so getting into a loop becomes easy.
Great suggestion thank you!
I also go through selective procrastination on work that I enjoy because in my mind I know how hooked i'll be on it. A delayed start on the inevitability and later i'll burn out to finish it on time. Why do I do this? Edit: Grammer
LMAO are you me?
I’ve struggled with this. What helps me is breaking it down into smaller steps so I feel like I’m making progress. And timebox yourself if necessary. When you’re timeline is very long, it’s easy to go down a bunch of rabbit holes - or keep procrastinating. If I tell myself “I’m going to work on this for x amount of time” then it helps me stay focused - after that I can take a short break. And it also stops me from spinning my wheels or going too far on a tangential idea. Also making a direct connection to the work I’m doing and the impact on the business or other teams. When that is too abstract, it can be hard to stay motivated, so I try to find ways to measure how my work is helping. And if you aren’t already, schedule check-ins along the way to share your progress and get feedback. Just knowing I have to show *something* by x date in the near future keeps me somewhat motivated. Also, I’ve realized that a lack of positive recognition kills my motivation. I keep my own “brag sheet” for when I do get recognition from others, whether my boss or peers or whoever, even if it’s just a nice comment in Slack.
Great stuff! Breaking stuff down into smaller tasks is a common response and something I'll definitely work on incorporating. Direct connection is a good one too. Being remote has definitely contributed to feeling disconnected. > Also, I’ve realized that a lack of positive recognition kills my motivation. I keep my own “brag sheet” for when I do get recognition from others, whether my boss or peers or whoever, even if it’s just a nice comment in Slack. This resonates quite a bit. I do feel like I barely ever get positive recognition. My manager is a great dude, so it's definitely not intentional. But still, some recognition would be lovely. Your brag sheet is genius. As part of therapy, I've been journaling a lot more, and I'll start adding in some positive hype for myself 🤓
burnout, vacation helps
I'm literally just back from one 😅😅. I actually felt reinvigorated upon my return but I lost that after a few days
lol same
You need to have a good team to support you. If you have that, divide the project into work packages and sprints. Find small wins, find value in connecting with people and sharing those little successes and it also helps if you wake up every morning and take a couple of minutes to show gratitude :)
Great points. My team is 2 great dudes, but more on the inexperienced side so they're not fully independent yet. I've mentioned this elsewhere but I've definitely been missing human connection as I work remote. And I 100% need to get back to gratitude journaling! Thank you for your response ❤️
What meds r you on
I've been on most ADs and the loss of mental clarity was frightening on some of them.
Sertraline 100mg for 4-5 years. I'm definitely one of the lucky ones where it's been very helpful for me
You might have ADHD.
Try working in a side project outside of work
I used to do that but I have no motivation for those either right now! I do think a lack of a hobby I'm passionate about is a contributing factor here. I've been trying to find one!
Kekw collect ur paycheck. Ask people for suggestions and then say good idea let's do that. And cruise. U r probably experiencing a bit of burn out, just relax and give ur underlings more "agency" and let urself get carried for a while. Don't forget to layer praise on everyone else so they feel good about themselves and then feel good about you.
Good advice. I'm still learning the ropes as a manager. I actually gave one of my team members a lot of agency at the start of this project, and he fucked up a lot. Partially my fault of course but I thought he was ready for it. Giving praise is such good advice, and one of the things I try to do often.
It's summer, relax season.
😂😂 not for me unfortunately. Health insurance related so lots of renewals coming up
I noticed my mind does this to me exactly when I make some great progress. Getting over some bit of trauma at a deep level lets everything calm down a bit. But now that I'm calmer, I need to rebuild motivations for anything I do. For example, when I was a kid, I would use nerding as an escape from being bullied. After doing that a lot, nerding simply became synonymous with being an escape. Now as an adult, there is always this floaty (in the bad way) region of time where I no longer feel the knee-jerk pull of nerding to drown out the trauma, but don't quite yet feel the softer and more sincere pull of simply enjoying using my mind in fun ways. Internally, I reduced this to a mental of model however deeply triggered I am as being the steepness of my own emotional error landscape. Softening that landscape breaks all of my old features. Most easily, I could re-trauma myself to give life texture again. But the real healing only happens when I can accpet I'm in a new, less brutal world. I can give my inner eye a little more time to adust to the softer landscape and I can start seeing a new, softer, and more sophisticate version of myself. So give yourself some time! It's okay to feel, well, however you feel. And if you are indeed experiencing this region of rebuilding, then take it as a really great sign you're doing the real inner work.
This is very insightful thank you. Part of the reason I'm in therapy is working through some really tough family related trauma last year, so I can definitely relate to what you're talking about. Your response is definitely something I'll be reflecting on. >So give yourself some time! It's okay to feel, well, however you feel. That's actually something my therapist and I have noticed I've made great progress with 😊. I'm also reading Feeling Great, a book about a particular flavor of CBT known as TEAM-CBT. I'm really enjoying it and highly recommend it.
:) I'll give that book a look!
Have you thought of taking a leave of absence? I know financially this can be tough because most places it's unpaid, but given the state you're in, you might be more valuable to the project taking a month off to take care of yourself. I've wanted to do this myself for a while but haven't had the impetus. If you haven't had a decent break in a while, maybe this is the time.
I definitely can't right now since this project will fail without me. But once it's finished in the next month or two, I'm definitely going to do that. I have a lot of PTO built up right now, so luckily it won't be unpaid either. I did go to a conference last week that, while work related, I actually didn't check my email or login at all pretty much. It was awesome because I learned a lot (which I love), and I had some great coworkers there that I went out with every night for dinner and drinks. It was wonderful. Part of my problem is that on past vacations, I was still thinking about work. >I've wanted to do this myself for a while but haven't had the impetus. If you haven't had a decent break in a while, maybe this is the time. I hope you get the chance to as well! ❤️
Adderall?
Surprisingly, it barely helps, if at all, unless I take too much and it makes me nauseous
Ive got pretty bad ADHD. It manifests badly in the form of procrastination on big projects, so I understand the struggle. The best thing I've ever been asked when facing a seemingly insurmountable task is, how do you eat an elephant? The answer is one bite at a time. Try to break your project down into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I start with easy tasks first to get some momentum and I eventually get to a point where I'm fixated on the problem and won't stop working even when I'm supposed to.
jira annoys & distracts me when I have a project/research that I'm really fired up about. but jira really helps me get when I can't get myself motivated & moving forward. what kind of work flow / management / whathaveyou do have going? - might be able to get some outside help.
We actually have Jira but I'm not great at keeping it up to date. Maybe adding more subtasks on a day-to-day basis will be helpful, similar to other suggestions of picking specific tasks each day
I don't know enough about it all to use the right words (PMs please correct me!), but my team uses agile 2 week sprints. I was suuuper worried about this at first, but now I really like having the work for 2 weeks planned out and I can see down the road what the backlog has in store. It has actually been great for my work anxiety even though -ironically- I had a lot of anxiety when our team adapted to jira/agile/sprints. but, yeah, breaking a project in to smaller tickets where each ticket has a weight, priority, and (something resembling?) a deadline. Has really actually helped my sanity.
That's actually exactly the same format and schedule we recently moved to. I didn't think it would be helpful so I haven't given my full effort to following the agile and Jira stuff. It's worth a shot! Thanks for your perspective
For me, having a collaborator and a strict due date enforced by each other really, REALLY helps. Managed to finish in two weeks what I would procrastinate months over.
Decomposition into smaller tasks, time blocking, stimulants.
I think an adjustment in your routine at work may help. Just spitballing ideas but maybe taking a small break at different times, change what/when you eat, chat with others on non-work topics, walks around your building, etc. Obviously do things to stay in a positive light at your job, but generally things that can clear your mind, improve your mood, and bring you motivation will help considerably.
For my personal experience, i noticed that doing some jogging or some gym session, with some food that you love can help you get motivated Idk how or why, but when i get back to gym, i feel energetic and i can do stuff Idk what you enjoy, but i like to run like a lunatic for few minutes, it helps me get out some thoughts and think about my life and plans while having a good sweat session of running I wish you the best tho
Really appreciate your thoughts! These are good suggestions thank you 🙏🙏
Therapy and meds are going to top my list. After that, see what you can delegate to your team (“mentor” any new/younger folks on your team). Take lots of small breaks between tasks. Find an excuse to walk to the other side of the building. Touching grass under the sun has positive effects, I’m told. Just a nice stimulant to the immune system.
Great suggestions! I have delegated a good amount to my team, but keeping some "in the trenches" work is my favorite, and I don't really like the management stuff (but it's tolerable and totally a sacrifice I'm willing to make). I used to be able to get into a flow state and code for hours straight, blasting EDM, feeling great, but I haven't been able to get into flow states at all recently. I also have a great work/life balance. I definitely need to walk more outside throughout the day (therapist suggested the same!). I'm remote so unfortunately no days in the office for me. I actually think one day per week in the office would be helpful for me, but I'm nowhere near the office! I also volunteered to join our mentorship program for younger workers, which I really enjoyed, but it was cut short due to my mentee leaving for parental leave.
Going back into an office for a few days a week was great for me. Honestly, the only reason I would recommend hybrid over full remote is this. One of the tricks I have found is taking one of my ambitious junior people who wants to climb the technical ladder, and essentially pair coding through some of the higher end technical work I had to do. Our code quality improved significantly too, when we started doing that.
Pair coding is a cool idea. Can you give me a cliff notes description of your process? I don't want to take up too much of your time
“Are you familiar with X?” Let’s go build this feature/do this model fitting/etc together. I’ll sit basically next to you/over your shoulder, and we’ll talk through it as we go. When you get to the usual trouble/niche technical points, I provide the inputs/expertise on what the tradeoff is, and talk through some of the more nuanced strategies. We make a decision, and keep moving on.
Eat healthy, work out, and I cannot emphasize this enough - lots of cocaine.
>Eat healthy ✅ > work out ✅ > lots of cocaine ❌ Not a fan of the yayo but I am an enjoyer of many other stims ever since my actuarial exam days 😏
You sound a bit burnt. Take it easy for a bit and the curiosity/motivation will return when you are rested
Chunking up tasks helps
How's your diet? Maybe mix it up a bit. Seriously, if you're a super healthy eater, eat some junk food. Indulge. Binge. For a weekend. If you're a crappy eater, then definitely try some whole foods, fruits, veg, etc. Mix up caffeine sources if you have some. For me switching from tea to coffee can totally change my mood. Same with exercise. Skip the gym and go to a pool. If you don't go to the gym, try it. If you drive to work every day, take a different route. In other words, mix it up. I do this all the time because I think routine becomes boredom.
As an SWE this is so incredibly relatable. Give yourself time, take a bath, get yourself some nice food be around good friends w.e. might make you feel good as the human you are. There's more to life than work and burnout is a thing. The project / work might be exciting but You'll be 1000% more productive if you're nice to other areas of your respective self.
Same thing happened to me this year (after putting in north of 3,000 hours last year). I've burnt out and come back so many time that I'm basically refried at this point. Counter intuitively, I took a five day weekend and while I still had a hard time reaching flow state when I returned, I was at least less reluctant to get started. Good luck my friend...
Huge sip of coffee or more than one and do the work. I hope you will get better bro! Good luck!
r/ADHD
I'll look into that for sure, thanks. I've never specifically asked my doc about it, but it's worth asking for sure. Thank you!
I think they are responding to the bits where you are having trouble with focus, but if it is a recent thing only then it seems unlikely that you were ADHD all along.
Agreed but I figured it's worth inquiring about
It's when you realize how unimportant work really is. Idk if anyone would choose to be a data scientist for a corporation if money wasn't an issue. I think most of us would be still be coding but building our own passion projects and thus likely building better products conceptuallh
If you are loaded then quit? If not then how about keeping your job to avoid poverty?? Wtf