How to get through loss of interests
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I used to code a lot before some weeks (prolly 20-30 days) and suddenly, I lost interests, passion on coding. I don't wanna code nowadays. I just play games and spend whole day. I am not professional coder (completed HS) and it is just my passion to code and help others to make things easier. I used to have some lows before too but just not more than a week. This time I am not wanting to code at all. I myself try to do other things. Probably, I haven't coded at all in these days. Expecting your thoughts on how to gain that myself back. Lots of people are really experienced in the field so how do you manage it.
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Hi,
Well, nothing is wrong with changing interests.
If it's something that you somehow miss, then did you consider joining a community like KDE ? Lots of a great and friendly people. They are not all programmers and there's a lot of other things you can do (doc, graphics, translation, etc.)
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When things get easy it loses the challenge a bit. Look into learning advanced subjects like algorithms, data structures, and design methods. Also, work on projects that solve a problem. You can look into programming new devices like microcontrollers. Then you can control real world things or monitor the world. Coding can be fun, but once it becomes less challenging it is time to raise the stakes and find new challenges. It sounds to me like you just plateaued.
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Unless it's your job it's ok to just stop and not feel bad about it. It's not like you have to. There's no point in forcing yourself to do something you don't want to.
But if it's a case of a temporary burnout and you do want to keep coding but just don't have the motivation right now my advice would be to first take a break, get some rest and try not to think about it too much. Then look around for a challenge. You said you like to play games. Have you ever tried to code one? I'm not talking about a big AAA game project but just simple stuff like tetris or some mario-like side scroller that you can do in couple of days.
If you lack self-motivation and need a bigger kick to do something then how about taking part in a game jam? Those give you a theme/goal, short time window, awesome community support, peer motivation and absolutely no pressure or expectations weighting on you. Everything one needs to start the creative juices flowing again.
itch.io is one of the great communities for such personal micro projects and lists a lot of interesting jams you can take part in. And if you do good then who knows, might accidentally start a career too. -
Thank you for giving your thoughts ππ€
@SGaist
It isn't like that. I didn't get new interest but just lost one which I had from almost 2-3 yrs
Sorry, I have heard of KDE but not of KDE community. What is KDE community? Is it like this forum?
Are you talking about this one? https://webchat.kde.org/#/register@fcarney
Yes I will try this but I haven't learned much on the topics that I am now too. Used to use NODE JS, C++ and flutter(just was learning). I don't like DSA specifically. I am more into making something which will help/make work easier so I learn DSA while solving the problem. Yeah, its awkward but I feel kinda depressed when I sit to solve only DSA.@Chris-Kawa
I really don't wanna lose my interest so I am trying to get but just in mind. I haven't really tried any method to get it back. Before, when I got burnout, I used to go to park/sit alone/ play games, then something would really push me to go and code again. Now, its not like that, I have gone to park, went to morning walk, nothing helped. I just like to play games, I don't wanna code it.π I also had thought on getting to unreal but nah I stopped.It happened because I dropped my one project(website) because it was too large and I couldn't find peoples who would work on it and I am not familiar in some topic in that project.
Got an Idea, is there dark theme plugin for QT forum? If not I will try to do one
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It's not just a forum, KDE is an old wide project that has gathered a lot of people. You can join the talks of specific librairies or applications (like Krita, gcompris, Kate, KPIM, etc.) see if there are meetups around you (not just KDE) so you can network with other people that may motivate you.
You have to dig a bit, the web chat is a starting point, get your curiosity running. You will be able to do work not just for the desktop.
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@fcarney I am really bad at socializing unless it is my close circle or that person approaches me. Kinda Introvert. I don't feel like depressed but I may be incorrect. But I do feel like I am not doing what I need to. Its quite vast topic so I myself am not sure about this. But I will look on thisππ
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I can't say much about coding (my experience is limited to html and CSS), but I do have "loss of interest" episodes. Just make sure you are doing other things you enjoy and talk to at least one friend about what is going on.
As suggested, it is indeed a good idea to set a goal or join a project.You can also make use of this "pause" to think about what you really care about and how you would like to go forward with it.
Hope you find your passion again :)
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Thank you lovely peoples. At least, now I feel like I am doing something that is interesting. Having something as goal helps for me.
When things get easy it loses the challenge a bit.
Yeah @fcarney sir, maybe it was problem too. Now, I am learning quite new and interesting things.
talk to at least one friend
@Pedro I am person who doesn't message unless another person starts. prolly, It must be reason that I don't have that close friend. Just sitting whole day in front of laptop and enjoying whole day on laptop either playing games, or coding or watching videos. Previously, I don't used to like music and movies but now I like music but not much movies. π
I go to local programmer meetups.
Unfortunately, in country where I live, there are no meetups like that. I am not that much exposed in group. As I said I am kind of introvert and I love to be real when being anonymous(like I am here No one know me here in real so I can be real ππ I haven't posted anything for more than 1 yrs in social media but I come here frequently)
Built couple of things mostly not related to QT though. I am enjoying more than what I used to feel those days. I have shared one related to Qt topic here. here Now, atleast I don't have to see this forum in white theme π
It is awesome life
Again thank you to all of you for your thoughts. -
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