Comments on: Do you have to be a passionate developer?

By: felixt

felixt — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:54:01 +0000

Hi Marion,

Thanks for sharing, I am actually love development and programming and passionate about it – however I am lately starting to think through what does it mean by passionate and what does it take to continue being passionate.

I could definitely relate to your pain, before working in web development I was working in various roles that I don’t particularly passionate about. It seems to me that you don’t like web development at all. Most of the developers that I met are people who actually don’t mind doing development but it’s just not their passion in life.

I think if you can find a way to do something that you really love, you should work towards that bit by bit – it might not happen in 1 or 2 years time but you can always move towards your goal. Perhaps you can do a part time course while working? Or talking to people who are in the field that you like? Joining interest group etc2. There are lots of ways that you can explore as long as you keep your mind open.

Don’t think that you’re stuck – there is always a way out

By: marion

marion — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:07:36 +0000

Hello Felixt and Nadel

I am in a very strange situation which are similar to your posts. I’m a software developer for two years now, and i dont see the point. I’m not at all passioned by this domaine, and i want out. Why ? because, you spend your day fighting to find out why your sql query wont work out, why the connection to the web service is failed, etc etc…things that don’t passion me. And i come to your question Felixt :

“why not give up development and pursue the things that you really like?”

The reason that i dont do this, is because i have only a M.Sc degree in computer science; nothing else ! so i cant do what i really like (which would be communication, or human relations), because they always ask for diplomas (at least here in France where i live). I’m stuck in the computer world and i can’t seem get out…

By: Ben Nadel

Ben Nadel — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:58:19 +0000

To me, it comes down to how much you want to enjoy your life. You spend a large majority of it working; even if you don’t do any extra effort for work, you still spend 5 days a week working and commuting for decades upon decades. If you are not passionate about it, I think it almost doesn’t matter what you do in your spare time, your life is going to be less enjoyable.

As far as being burnt out, let me share a masterful piece of logic my father shared with me when I was younger:

“Things always suffer more from disuse than overuse.”

You might feel burned out or stressed… but imagine your life without something to be passionate about? I fear my mind would turn to pudding.