That's how I'm feeling about programming right now. Here are indicators that lead to this conclusion:
I've been unemployed for the past 2.5 years, and with my job seeking process I'm just going through the motions. Even though I applied to nearly a thousand jobs in the past year, and gotten through interviewing at ~20 companies, I have no offers. I tend to just wing it with interviews. I don't like to rehearse, so I seldom rehearse. This all sounds like not enough interest and motivation to build my career on my part.
I actually still don't mind much programming on the job, but I don't like to treat the interview and job seeking stuff as work. Building a network and maintaining professional relationships feels draining, too. And I'd like follow the mantra of feeling like never working a day in your life if you enjoy your work enough.
On the other hand, I still find it enjoyable to write programs for personal interest. I have ongoing projects that I started this year. They probably have no impact on my ability to interview, given that I still have no offers.
But I feel like I'm over the idea putting on a front to be a developer just to earn an income. That works for a lot of people, but not me.
Financially, the only difference between recent graduate me and current me is I replaced my college debt with another kind of debt. My net worth hasn't really changed much.
I want to enjoy myself, and turning programming into a career felt like a big waste of time because my life and finances have not noticeably improved.
I've been unemployed for the past 2.5 years, and with my job seeking process I'm just going through the motions. Even though I applied to nearly a thousand jobs in the past year, and gotten through interviewing at ~20 companies, I have no offers. I tend to just wing it with interviews. I don't like to rehearse, so I seldom rehearse. This all sounds like not enough interest and motivation to build my career on my part.
I actually still don't mind much programming on the job, but I don't like to treat the interview and job seeking stuff as work. Building a network and maintaining professional relationships feels draining, too. And I'd like follow the mantra of feeling like never working a day in your life if you enjoy your work enough.
On the other hand, I still find it enjoyable to write programs for personal interest. I have ongoing projects that I started this year. They probably have no impact on my ability to interview, given that I still have no offers.
But I feel like I'm over the idea putting on a front to be a developer just to earn an income. That works for a lot of people, but not me.
Financially, the only difference between recent graduate me and current me is I replaced my college debt with another kind of debt. My net worth hasn't really changed much.
I want to enjoy myself, and turning programming into a career felt like a big waste of time because my life and finances have not noticeably improved.