Comments on: Five years is enough

By: 6 Career Tips From An Old School Programmer | WebDevLounge | design, development, SEO and wordpress | articles, discussion and community

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:02:34 +0000

[...] competitive. If you find yourself becoming disillusioned with what you’re doing currently, consider learning one of the newer skills, particularly [...]

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:13:39 +0000

Keep working and studying and things will come around. I was much in the same boat as you were a year or so ago, but I used my spare time to continue working on programming projects in technologies that I enjoyed and working towards different certifications. It eventually helped me land a job in a field I enjoy. If I had just been complacent at where I was, chances are I would still be there and miserable.

By: alex

alex — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:13:30 +0000

I hear you… but I’m going to try and and survive it for now. I’ve only just hit the 1 year of being a paid PHP Developer.

By: Vitor Almeida da Silva

Vitor Almeida da Silva — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:22:41 +0000

I am in the same position as you. My advice: build cell phone apps or some kind of embedded software (microcontroller programming?) if you want to continue programming.

Perhaps you can have a hobby, play an instrument, make exercises, martial arts, something to give a broader scope of some other things.

Good luck.

By: Sean Nieuwoudt

Sean Nieuwoudt — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:27:18 +0000

I understand your frustration (we’ve all been there), but there are thousands of people that would kill for you skill.

Why not try and put your focus on building a business or company off one of your sideline projects? It’s more than possible, it would allow you to experiment with different technologies as you build and improve the business and you could make a decent living. This will also give you a sense of pride in what you are doing.

Goodluck with it!

I agree with some of the guys above who mention taking up Python in your spare time.

Sean

By: Tristan

Tristan — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:28:56 +0000

leave programming. PHP destroys the brains ability to think in any rational way. you need to go through rehab and de-tard yourself.

I really hate php.

By: Steve A.

Steve A. — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:33:06 +0000

Hey man,
I can agree in only one part, well some times, and that is changing the field names.
But seriously if you are thinking of changing “career”, I reckon you are not a true coder.
Code is a life style, you think – you create. You talk it.
I suggest you take another look at it, don’t copy/paste, see how you can make it even perfect. Think on the code.
It’s all about creating.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:45:13 +0000

All I can suggest is to get a hobby, work on your own side projects, learn flash, do something different or new.

By: Don Strawsburg

Don Strawsburg — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:32:27 +0000

At some point in everyone’s life, the work gets monotonous. Whether you are a nurse, truck driver, computer programmer or a porn star.

I’ve been at this for 20 years, at least with programming we have options, we can learn a new language, some new skills, technology is constantly changing, and the constant change can become monotonous.

So whenever I think, I just can do this anymore. I stop and consider the options and remember what I did before programming.

McDonald’s is always hiring, construction is mighty cold or hot depending on your location, and you will be physically wore out at the end of the day. There are a ton of options, employers would love to have an intelligent, logical employee working for $15 a hour.

Try volunteering at the local soup kitchen, and get a first hand look at some folks that would literally, give their right arm to have your skills.

Then go back to your PHP job, and thank God that He blessed you with the ability you have.

It’s all a matter of perspective..

Don

By: Carl McDade

Carl McDade — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:26:44 +0000

I feel exactly the same way as you about my career right now. In the last couple of weeks I have been going back and forth with two things that I think will satisfy me for a long time. First I will not be just doing web programming with PHP. Instead I will do the high percentage of the work using c language to developer PHP extensions and study the internals. This is also my back up to finding myself creeping back into PHP web development. Second, I am going to through myself into ASP.NET MVC.