There is always some question that plagues my mind from time to time:

  1. How could someone actually hate math?
  2. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
  3. Why do some software developers wind up hating their jobs?

Today I’d like to talk about the latter. What makes a software developer hate their job? Do they find it too difficult? Do they just lose interest, enthusiasm, and pride in their work? Honestly, it’s probably a combination of all these things and more.

One thing I’ve noticed in myself is that enthusiasm, pride, and belief in the overarching purpose for what I do will drive my love for my job. I think the same can be applied to most people.

Believe in What You Do

I’ll start with one’s belief in what they do. This sort of goes back to an existential question everybody asks themselves at some point in their lives: Why are we here?

Why do you spend forty hours a week working at your current job? Is there anything fulfilling to you about what you do? I struggled a little with this at my previous job. I didn’t exactly find any fulfillment in helping a corporate entity sell groceries. Why spend twenty years doing this when there is so much more that can be done in the world?

If you can believe in what you do, then pride in your work and enthusiasm for your craft will follow.

Take Pride in Your Work

Have you ever been forced to produce garbage because deadlines were approaching and management was putting on pressure? You knew your code could be better. You knew the current suite of tests was insufficient. You knew there were probably bugs scattered throughout, but you had to submit it anyway.

This will destroy one’s pride in their work. You cannot practice TDD or clean coding principles. You are asked to just hack your way into a working solution and hope it works. It doesn’t matter what the code behind the scenes looks like or who will have to manage it in the future.

The ability to submit a work of art and proudly say “I did that” is a priceless quality in the workplace. Being encouraged by your peers to produce quality work is an even better trait.

Code with Enthusiasm

This is the love/hate point in your job. Do you have genuine interest in coding? Are you ready to take on the next story? Does your boss find different ways to make your job more interesting? You probably love your job. If not, you probably don’t like your job.

Of course, if you find purpose in what you’re doing and take pride in your work, then you’re probably already enthusiastic about your job. Your boss probably doesn’t need to do anything extra because everything there is to love about a job is already there!

But even with a poor purpose and no pride in your work, there can still be some enthusiasm when you code. How can you get yourself excited to take on the next task? What are you doing in your free time to improve your skills?

Remember:

  • Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture behind what you do (you became a developer for a reason).
  • Write code that you can take pride in. Would ma be proud?
  • Get excited about writing code already! You’re in the coolest profession ever!