For myself the word that summarizes the best advice here so far is "introspection." A lot of people have mentioned burnout, work/play balance, languages, complexity of modern frameworks, and more. I think it's all constructive, but needs to be interpreted in a personal context.
When I was a kid programming promised to allow me to make incredible things. It was harder than it looked. I mostly abandoned it as a teenager, and then took it up again in college for the same reason. I've been doing it professionally ever since, for over 15 years.
Personally, the joy of any given task is mostly commensurate with how much effort and frustration is directed at the goal, rather than the technology that is supposed to help me get there. This is a big problem with software, because the medium is so complex, but it applies more generally. If I'm making something in the wood shop, it's one thing to be frustrated because I split the end of a board. It's much more deflating to find out that the power saw is broken.
It's partly practical: if I'm in a wood shop, I have the means to deal with a split board. I often do not have the means or the knowledge to fix the power saw. But just as importantly, it's about my own attitude. What would my 12 year old self do? My only choice was to grab the rusty hand saw, make a wobbly cut, and get on with it. Now that I'm older (I can drive and I have money) I'm more at risk of stopping everything to fix the power tools in the name of quality.
I'm currently working on contract and it has felt like an uphill battle. On reflection, I see that only a small fraction of my time is spent making the software that I was hired to build. The rest goes into fighting with the stack and the business side of the job.
The hobby project that I have on the back burner is a single page of javascript (which I am learning) with a horrendous 500 line function that draws stuff. It pays no regard to web development best practices. These are intentional constraints that limit what the output can be for the sake of my enjoyment. It's a ragged, broken mess, but it holds my interest. If I can just get it working, my friends will appreciate it! That for me is the childlike spirit.
When I was a kid programming promised to allow me to make incredible things. It was harder than it looked. I mostly abandoned it as a teenager, and then took it up again in college for the same reason. I've been doing it professionally ever since, for over 15 years.
Personally, the joy of any given task is mostly commensurate with how much effort and frustration is directed at the goal, rather than the technology that is supposed to help me get there. This is a big problem with software, because the medium is so complex, but it applies more generally. If I'm making something in the wood shop, it's one thing to be frustrated because I split the end of a board. It's much more deflating to find out that the power saw is broken.
It's partly practical: if I'm in a wood shop, I have the means to deal with a split board. I often do not have the means or the knowledge to fix the power saw. But just as importantly, it's about my own attitude. What would my 12 year old self do? My only choice was to grab the rusty hand saw, make a wobbly cut, and get on with it. Now that I'm older (I can drive and I have money) I'm more at risk of stopping everything to fix the power tools in the name of quality.
I'm currently working on contract and it has felt like an uphill battle. On reflection, I see that only a small fraction of my time is spent making the software that I was hired to build. The rest goes into fighting with the stack and the business side of the job.
The hobby project that I have on the back burner is a single page of javascript (which I am learning) with a horrendous 500 line function that draws stuff. It pays no regard to web development best practices. These are intentional constraints that limit what the output can be for the sake of my enjoyment. It's a ragged, broken mess, but it holds my interest. If I can just get it working, my friends will appreciate it! That for me is the childlike spirit.