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When the game you are playing is boring, take an extremely close look at what you can do to alter the game in subtle ways.
Look Very Closely
I've found that if I look very closely at a specific technology and the more I understand it the more I can find things I am interested in. Many things become more beautiful when you really understand what is behind them and how they are made. Put all of your focus on the thing you don't like so much and you'll probably begin to like it more. And for the boring repetitive parts you can begin to automate those things using a tool (alternate programming language) that may help you enjoy the work better also.
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Find another job, but while you're at your current position, do the best job you can with the tools at hand.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Refuse -- politely -- when possible.
As long as I have enough work which I _do_ enjoy, I see no point in taking on work which I would not. Let them hire someone who wants to do it.
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I take jobs that interest me, so I'd not take a web development position. I would take work that involved a little of it, but not where I was the primary.
I've done my time working on jobs I disliked when I was younger. I earned my way out of that mess - at least that's how I see it.
I mean, not that I only do things I like for work. Work is work, otherwise it would be play. But the job itself has to catch my interest.
Real programmers use butterflies
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honey the codewitch wrote: I mean, not that I only do things I like for work. Work is work, otherwise it would be play. But the job itself has to catch my interest.Real programmers use butterflies
I've had the enormous good fortune to virtually always having no distinction between the two.
I always wanted to be a Chemist or Scientist - and so I was (or am, it never goes away).
I taught myself to code and just spent oodles of time it in, eventually combining it with the Chemistry (instrument automation and Monte-Carlo modeling).
Occasionally, there's been a project (with the latter) I didn't think much of at all - but then, that thing I've said before, somewhere or other, comes into play - and someone else came up with it long before me: "It's the journey, not the destination"
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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For the most part it has been that way for me, but I've had some bizdev stuff that i didn't enjoy. Mostly CRUD garbage and that sort of thing.
Real programmers use butterflies
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My suggestion is to be born rich - then do what you want.
I, unfortunately, had no one to give me such advice and so, well, here I am. Endowed abundanly with the Three C's: Charming, Clever, and Cute will only get you so far without that forth C: Cash.
So, as you decide your best route to rage against the machine, remember where and when your problem started out.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Depends. Are you independently wealthy? Do you like macaroni?
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Sorry for late reply.  hehe lol
modified 3-Jun-21 21:01pm.
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Just quit. You're not a slave.
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I flatly refused to get involved in ML, python and web development in my final contract. I was too productive doing what I was proficient at for them to sack me, lucky I guess.
It will depend on your financial/family position, a developer with a young family does not have the flexibility of and old fart with decades of experience.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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I have programmed for 23 years in the domains desktop, server and web. In the desktop domain, I feel at home, especially when working with WPF, whereas I consider server and web interesting challenges, but nothing more. In my last 2 jobs, I was working as an ASP.NET web developer, trying to get used to the thought that desktop programming is out of fashion and I will not find a job where I can do it anyway. But that didn't work out. I was so discontent that I had to find a new job both of the times.
Now I found a job as a WPF desktop developer, and I feel much better now. So my recommendation: Go find a new job. That's not as big a deal as you might think, even if you're already older. The software developer market is currently very employee-friendly.
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Do you change your job/ wait for another job oppotunity or do you force yourself to work in that environment anyway?
i would try to switch the job immediately and will work for minimal wage it the case were my job is what i do in my spare time.
in case where i cannot find a job that also suits me as a hobby, i have no problem in doing a dull mechanical job for an average salary especially if it has some spare time to wonder your thoughts.
anything is better that programming what you don't like in an environment where you have opposite philosophies and culture.
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You can try to bend the current job to your preferences: I once took a VB.NET job because I was working in C++ with no prospect of getting any real hands on experience of .NET. Within 18 months, my new employer switched to C#, partly because of relentless promotion of C# on my part  I've always found that the key thing isn't to say how awful you think the work you're doing right now is, but to just get on and find a way to make it better. Build test tools using your preferred tech. Demonstrate to other people on the team how much less tedious their jobs are with your funky new tools. This also breaks up the grind a bit too. Bored with that dull or tricky problem? Go and hack your tooling for half an hour to break things up a bit.
Or, you just wait it out until the right job comes along: I moved from the job above to my current employer after being touted as an ecommerce expert (no, just no) and railroaded into using a product called Actinic, which at the time was a dinosaur and a train wreck of a product. I hated that 3 month project so much that I left at the first opportunity when a contact from a previous job got in touch.
Generally though, if it's programming with a decent toolset, in a C like language, then it's all good. Apart from when there's a toxic office environment, but that's another dimension entirely!
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Find the fun in what you're doing or lower your expectations.
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You grin and bear it.
They don't pay you because it is fun, they pay you to come back and do it again tomorrow.
Pragmatism is a necessary survival tool.
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It's not just some environment/language you don't like. Sometimes idiotic new management comes in, the company moves to a new location, whatever.
Don't stay at a place which you hate to go to. Life's too short, jobs are disposable. Just go get another one where you're more likely to be happy.
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I immediately thought of the Crosby, Still, and Nash song, “Love the One You’re With”
Having a job - paying the bills - is obviously a priority for most people.
However, if the task you’re assigned is so onerous that you’re repulsed to your core, or the job is so far off from your career path that it’s just not worth it: find a different job.
If, however, you can bear down, and just do the job, perhaps you can find something in those technologies that you can learn to appreciate, and perhaps learn some useful techniques.
Life is learning, sometimes learning about things outside yourself, sometimes about yourself in particular.
Good luck!
Time is the differentiation of eternity devised by man to measure the passage of human events.
- Manly P. Hall
Mark
Just another cog in the wheel
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wow that's me.
I used to do a bit of embedded professionally in one of my past jobs, I loved it so much that I was looking for a new job to just be doing that, and keeping it as a home hobby also. But couldn't find work nearby for that, and not in a position to move either.
Now I'm doing Web Development, it pays well and has great benefits but I miss the days of hooking up a jtag debugger to an embedded device and stepping through the instructions and figuring out how much data I can pack into a single int for flags and such, and where every byte and every instruction counted.
Web dev is okay, and I'm helping people directly which is nice, but it's not just as interesting to me as embedded work. This might be my last career move, at my age I'm more concerned about bulking up my retirement and making sure I have great healthcare for my family. But once or twice a year I still build something for myself in the embedded area, to kind of keep track on what's going on there and not completely loose those skills
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If it's just a change for the duration of the project I'll stay. If it's going to be what I'll be doing for the rest of my carreer I'll start looking for a new place to work.
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I basically love programming. And paycheck dollars spend the same if they are from embedded development or web programming. Also, since C++ is my tool of choice, it tends to point me toward interesting jobs.
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Sorry for the late reply but I was busy studying. This is actually what I was wondering... If there are, let say 1000 jobs for a java developer and few for c++, do you only look for jobs where c++ is used or you start to learn a language that you never used and don't like?
modified 3-Jun-21 21:01pm.
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Yeah, I have a few things to say about that.
If it's Java versus C++ today, it's 1,000 Java jobs to 400 C++ jobs. If you're any good at C++, you can specialize on the tool you like, even if it is not the most popular tool.
But if it's Java versus FORTRAN, perl, or haskell, there are 1,000 Java jobs and just a few perl jobs. You have to recognize that the world has moved on, and most people think your favorite tool is no longer useful, even if you are deeply in love with that tool. In this case, it is your love for an obsolete, obscure, or highly specialized tool that is the problem. It's holding you back, and you need to learn one of the two or three most popular tools, and keep working with it until you come to love it.
The trick is telling these two cases apart when your own mind may be clouded. I guess one way is to look at the TIOBE index of most popular programming languages. If your favorite tool is in the top 5, don't worry. If it's down around 15, and there are languages on the list that are more popular than your favorite, and that you have never heard of, or maybe think are dumb tools, then maybe it's time to move on.
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You are right. I started to be aware of that. I think learning basics of c++ has widen my horizons and helped me progess in my java programming but I understand why java took over. I wanted to learn how to program GUI but in c++ it's a nightmare. The other thing is memory managamenet. I didn't even touch it yet... Otherwise I wouldn't write a single line in c++. Thank's for your insights. I focus on my java now. I'm just frustrated by the java books. They are so badly written, but I got a nice advice from another forum user to read oracle documentation and it really helped me a lot. I regained my faith back 
modified 3-Jun-21 21:01pm.
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