I came across an excellent tweet last night by Twitter user Amycruz:
This is such a great point. I see many devs talking about how hard it is to cope with the insane amount of information online. On the one hand: it feels a little bit competitive. Who can learn the newest framework the fastest and build a super cool app and start making money? On the other hand: it's hard to choose which things to learn in what order because you're scared of falling behind.
Let's start by acknowledging we'll never learn everything. First of all, it's impossible. Second of all, it's not necessary. Learn the skills you need for the job you want. Then, you can fill in the gaps as needed. However, all of you learnaholics like myself might be wondering how to fit your extra learning into that mindset. The answer is balance.
You must balance learning with other activities. Without balance, you risk burnout, as is the case with most things. So, find some hobbies! I personally enjoy knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, and reading memoirs. Creative hobbies are very beneficial. You can meet new people who share the same hobby, have interesting things to talk about yourself in job interviews, and clear your mind for a while from stressful things.
Have any non-code hobbies you'd like to share? Drop a comment! :)
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Top comments (48)
I'm a massive bookworm! There's nothing as nice as curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee.
I also love photography, which helps when I need pretty pictures for a side project but is also one of the most calming things in the universe.
My newest hobby is actually belly dancing! It makes me feel great, have much more confidence in myself, and gives me a fun activity that gets me out of my chair.
I can relate, LOVE photography too!
Nice work. You're kinda into that B/W thing ain't you? Me too. 🤩
Yes! Some of them are analog, developed by me. But that was years ago, it's a quite expensive hobby nowadays so only digital now and a few analog rolls.
I used to play with my mother's developing kit, but digital is just so efficient and much more forgiving of my mess ups. :P
This makes me reflect on my own photo taking adventures. I am always in a hurry. I usually snap whatever I see that is good.
It seems to me that I have to take my time to really get some good photographs
I love a good book and coffee. Drinking decaf for a while, but hey, I can still make it taste pretty! ;)
Hey, decaf is still coffee! It totally works!!
I've been getting into woodworking lately, and am currently building a coffee table for my wife.
Inspiration
Plans
Progress
Tabletop
Barn Doors
Awesome! What a beautiful pony. :) I rode a loooooooooong time ago and it is so fun.
I also like knitting! Mostly crochet. I also like hand-sewing a lot. You may think it's super slow, but it isn't. It definitely takes longer than machine sewing, but I really enjoy it.
And cooking. I absolutely love it and I'm lucky I can do that a couple times a day. It requires a lot of attention and care, so it really helps take the mind out of the code for a while.
I play on piano
I hope to play a musical instrument again someday! It can be a really peaceful experience.
again ? Uh , maybe u was playing on guitar , yah?
I played clarinet once upon a time and really enjoyed it. 😌
I am absolutely addicted to playing music. I play the guitar, the trumpet, the piano, blues harp and have taken up singing pretty recently. I still spend a lot of my free time reading about new coding concepts and all, but as you say, it's important to mix it up with other activities. I also have the advantage of being able to learn new technologies on the job, so that's a big time-saver.
In terms of completely non-computery based activities I like to grow my own chillies and veggies 🌱 and maintain a couple of little greenhouses (even that I've had urges to integrate arduino/pi tech into), I also enjoy cooking. Inside the realm of computer based stuff I also have the nerd prerequisite cliché hobby of gaming 🎮.
Edit: I forgot guitar!🎸
Video entertainment. Both the interactive (video games) as the non-interactive (films and series). I prefer the ones with strong stories.
My reading is mostly IT related. So that doesn't count as different hobby, but it does fuel my creativity.
And when there's a cool new LEGO Idea's set out, I build that.
Crocheter, Knitter, Spinner, etc...if you can do it with yarn, I pretty much do! I am enjoying your posts, Ashlee, and you make a very good point. Burn out happens when we neglect our needs for other things like work, care-giving, etc...(the list is very long). I am a caregiver, so I have learned the hard way how important it is to spend time with friends and family, practice a hobby, basically do all the things for ourselves necessary to support life like eat, shower, shave, exercise, etc...Thanks for the reminder and thanks for voicing how overwhelming it feels to think you need to learn every new language, framework, etc...to be an employable web developer...that's been really bugging me. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Nothing super exciting in terms of hobbies or stuff outside of work. Just going to the gym, swimming lessons, snowboarding in the winter, reading (although most of the reading I've been doing lately has been programming related 🙃) and the usual hanging with friends. I must admit, I enjoy OSS and contribute whenever I can.
Rugby was a big part of my life for a long time, but I stopped playing in 2006.
Since then I've tried other sports such as dragon boating, ultimate Frisbee and soccer but I must admit, they all pale in comparison to rugby. I had a bad calf injury last fall which prevented me from playing indoor touch rugby last winter, but now that I'm all healed, hopefully I can lace up this winter to run around with my old teammates.
I work out, read fiction and autobiographies and watch a lot of tv.
I've been watching a ton of Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Hulu lately 😬
Me too
Almost over 😭
I've been a fan since the start. It's awesome 😄
Right now I'm binging 30 Rock. Also hilarious!
I collect foto with strange things on the street. Like that:
Woah! That's a really cool pic. Thank you for sharing. :)
This is absolutely correct. I used to play the drum but couldn't be doing it since I moved to study. Also, it is true that the amount of study is chasing and hinder me doing anything else, but I think it will be eating me alive someday if I keep doing it like this.
Will volunteering and meetups be counted? It's the only activity I am doing other than study. Thank you for the great article.
Well, aside from being a full-time dad to two beautiful handfuls, and a husband to an equally beautiful wife, I do like to dabble in card games. Magic: the Gathering and Vampire: the Eternal Struggle being the two weapons of choice.
Having young kids and openly enjoying quality time with family puts things into a different perspective.
Other than that, I enjoy photography and occasionally find me totally immersed by endless Lightroom sessions.
Cooking gives me back mental energy as well. 💯 The fact you'll have to eat anyway in combination with enjoying to "deliver" it is a huge win. 😜