Sources of motivation

What motivates each one of you to keep going? I’ve been feeling quite depressed for personal reasons lately, and that made me completely stop programming, i barely touched the projects even though i’m close to finishing the front end certification. I thought that i programmed because i loved doing it, the same as i would love watching movies or playing games, but the last few weeks made me question that desire. I have ideologic reasons for programming and obviously i need some source of income, but these don’t seem enough to carry me through hard days either. I feel like i’m motivated by a lot of little things, part joy, part ideology, part because i don’t see myself in any other career. But there isn’t a single strong reason that makes me code every single day no matter what happens or how i feel.

What about you?

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That’s normal. While I was working on Front end certificate, I stopped every now and then to work on my side projects I had in mind. The thing is that writing algorithms all the time is not satisfying (at least for me). It’s nice to see how much you learned after you finish algorithms section, but the thing that keeps me going are side projects.

If you think that you lost motivation, stop for a few days, and work on your side projects in the meantime. I am quite sure you will regain it, since building something from scratch is the most satisfying thing on earth.

Side projects could be anything. It could be improved portfolio where you used and learn new trick, it could be simple website about your favorite dog or whatever. The cool thing about programming is that you can build anything you can imagine.

Personally, I think the idea of people so in love with their craft that they do it every day - whenever they can - no matter what, is a romantization of the ideal craftsman. Its pure fiction.

I suffer from personality disorder, severe depression is a common side effect of that. I’ve been programming forever basically Trying to get anything done and not loathing myself for not being able to in the end was a downward spiral I could not escape from. How could it be that I, not having a job, not having to care for my family, was completely unable to achieve anything, while others not only went to work, took took care of their family and/or household, and then contributed to open source projects or whatever.

I should have known better, and in fact I did. However, it is not easy to not internalize how people have judged you in the past. Or how you think how people have judged you, for that matter. Now that I am broke through the cycle and my inner judges are finally out of ammunition, I can see it clear as day:

Being depressed is hard work. I don’t know if you are actually depressed or just sad, but even a light depression is really tiresome and there is not much energy left to get anything done and deal with your inner demons. Even when you are perfectly healthy it probably is not always easy to deal with frustration and disappointment. That’s life, you can learn to deal with it if you take it slow and reflect on it. Why is it that I am feeling frustrated, inadequate?
The single fact that you are asking this question suggests that youi are constantly evaluating yourself, seeking for approval because you might be thinking that you need it to justify your existence or whatever. Either that or I am projecting :slight_smile: That, too, is very tiresome.
Maybe programming is not for you, only you can tell. But if you feel like you are always coming back to it no matter how much time passes, I’d say you should stick with it.

TL;DR It’s okay :slight_smile:

Oh yes, I forgot, sources of motivation: I love to learn, and learning is best done by doing stuff. That and the feeling of satisfaction when whatever it is I am doing is finally done(ish) and can be used. I often think of this scene in castaway when I’m finished :smiley:

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Well, this thread is starting out depressing, isn’t it.

I would like to know more about why you question your desire to do programming.

As people above have pointed out, some source of motivation could be to tend to your own little “side projects”. But to be honest, that’s not always doing it for me. Often, I don’t want to see any code and rather start a movie or watch a stupid youtube video…
I’m very lazy, so much so that even if I know I’d like to do something (like coding), I don’t want to bring up the mental effort to get started on it. So I lean back and let myself be stupified by something meaningless. It’s procrastination squared.

However, one thing I found that can pull me out of such moods is watching not some pointless bullshit, but instead an entertaining video on programming, or about a new programming technique or framework. Even if I don’t want to do anything with it any time soon, it helps just hearing somebody talk about this stuff.

Check out this guy: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1cgjhGzsSYb1rsB4bFe4Q
He’s this weird Swedish programmer who speaks in this funny accent (even for Swedish people) and talks about various programming patterns and his own musings about the industry sometimes.

Or talks from people about javascript or related stuff (there are new ones almost daily, because there are dozens of conferences going on at any given time).

So that kind of stuff helps me smoothly transition from my “Meh, don’t wanna.” moments, into a somewhat more energized state of mind in which I am then much more likely to open an editor and punch in some lines of code.

To answer your question more succinctly:
I try to immerse myself in the programming industry, watch videos, read articles or newsletters (subscribe to everything you can get your hands on), so that I am surrounded by programming stuff, no matter how much over my head a lot of it might be.
That way you don’t fall completely out of it and are more likely to be carried along and learning a few things even when you’re not much in the mood.

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This will help. https://youtu.be/mgmVOuLgFB0

:moneybag::moneybag::moneybag::moneybag::moneybag::moneybag::moneybag: :grin:

Seriously, I just like learning new tricks and building cool stuff.

I hear you. Sometimes things in life will do that to you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost all desire in things that used to bring me joy, due to some personal event or occurrence in my life. Actually, just very recently, in the last week or so, I broke up with my girlfriend of two years. Hard, to say the least. I had only just begun with the FCC program when we split. Instead of dropping it, like most other things, I instead have been using it as motivation, and a distraction. When I am sat here creating things in a digital world, I find it very difficult for my mind to wander. I see coding and web development as a way to effect real and positive change on my life. I see it as buffer to the parts of my life that I cannot control. In my own personal experience, I have chosen to use my desire to learn this new and exciting skill set, not only to avoid thinking of the past, but to better my future. I know that may be of little solace, as my reasons for feeling extremely depressed are most likely different than yours, however in my experience, I’ve noticed that most feelings of doubt and sadness tend to come from a state of living in the past. Im using FCC to keep me in the now, and the though of an enjoyable career to keep me motivated for the future. This may work for you as well. Good luck, friend.