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I'm a new developer and still learning, but I feel a bit overwhelmed by the amount of things to learn and it seems like coding is taking over my brain. While sometimes I enjoy getting sucked into it all, other times I feel like I can't escape it and haven't really figured out how to turn it off.
Meanwhile, when reading posts on communities like this one (DEV) and other developer-focused sites, it feels like everyone is "on" all the time. I imagine developers leaving their day jobs and coming home to write more code or write about coding and, to be honest, it freaks me out. I feel like I'm not doing enough.
If I want to be a developer, must I spend all of my waking hours practicing and thinking about code? Is it okay for software development to just be a job or should it effect my whole lifestyle?
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It just be a job it does not have to be your whole life. Some people like to shut off from work when they are not working there is no obligation to be on 24/7.
Everybody here seems to be civil about the topic (and thank the heavens for that!), but this usually is a touchy thing to discuss. Not because of the folks who actually believes that coding can just be a job and not a lifestyle, but because of the other spectrum of the discussion, those people who believe that a "good programmer MUST be programming and learning all the time, even outside of work, otherwise you are just mediocre" - which seems bogus to me, by the way.
So, yes, definitely you can treat it like a job only. No problem with that. The only caveat I see (and that's from personal experience as a not-so-active-programmer) is that you will just take a little longer to learn and be updated about things, but that's that. If you are okay with that factor, then it will be okay.
First, breath.
I feel this is something we all go through when staring out, especially when breaking in. I know that for me I felt exactly the same way when I made my pivot to web development and spent a lot of hours beyond the 9-5 sitting in front of my monitors typing away and always feeling like I was behind or missing something.
Slowly but surely those feelings subsided and I think it came when I stopped worrying about learning the languages and frameworks and returned to why I made the shift in the first place - to solve problems.
Once I did that it was much easier to set aside the work of the day, close the code editor and not worry about it. I do work on code items from time to time when not at my job, but it's because it's something I want to puzzle out. I don't worry about being 'on' or 'off' anymore, my job is to solve problems and sometimes the best way to do that is just walk away and come back later after doing something unrelated.
Every job will have an impact on you. This is perfectly normal
Coding can actually destroy your life and your sanity if you create a whole identity around it. I was there, coding all the day, I became good at it but it doesn’t worth the price. Go out, enjoy reality, just do your job and get paid for it.
There are consequences to any job "just being a job".
You spend a significant amount of your waking hours (of your life) tending to your employer's priorities.
Ideally you'd like to end up in the "I can't believe I get paid for this, I'd do this for free" position. Some are fortunate but most people will never get there. But perhaps that's not the point.
"Your work" is a pretty large part of your life to write off to support the rest of it. Sure, work won't be rainbows and unicorns all of the time and there will sometimes be significant intervals of drudgery usually spent in the hopes of later arriving at an improved state.
But your job will limit your experiences to what your employer directs you towards. You have to spend your own time to explore other avenues to find pursuits that possibly engage you more which may lead you to change to a direction that doesn't coincide with your current employer's path. And this process is an iterative one and continues throughout your life.
In Cal Newport's "So Good They Can't Ignore You" there is a "Passion is Dangerous" chapter. What it boils down to is that in the majority of cases "passion isn't followed" but "passion is built". At the beginning you try various things that bring value to others that you could be (mildly) interested in.
Eventually you come across something that stands out that is worth putting work into. If you find this work engaging (often enough), you may very well be building your passion. This is how your work can become more than a job.
And keep in mind that people's interests change throughout their lifetime so this is a process that needs constant tending to and it has its own ups and downs; there is no way of always getting it right.
It's not unusual to be at times overwhelmed by what's ahead; at the same time you will never "arrive" and you will never "be done"; software development is a field that is constantly renewing itself which is why I tend to encourage people to focus first on fundamentals, principles and practices which tend to endure in the long term rather than products which tend to have a very short half-life. Ultimately it is your own curiosity that has to keep pushing you forward through the inevitable periods of uncertainty and doubt.
Also most of the time writing things down either privately (personal journal) or for public consumption (blog) is an effective means capturing, processing, and advancing your own experience.
I work as a developer, but in free time I make japanese bamboo flutes and practice zen. As human being I identify more as a latter.
Yes, it can be “just a job”. To me, being a dev also consists of time to rest, relax and focus on things that don’t require any brain work. As for the feeling you should know everything: I’ve been doing this for 20+ years and still google the most basic things. It’s not about knowledge, it’s about knowing how to find the right knowledge and asking the right questions.
I really wouldn't want to do something every day that was "just a job". I also wouldn't want to spend all my waking hours doing just one thing.
As others have said, when starting out or when changing development area, there is a lot to learn and you will need to put in more time. While I think development (or other engineering work) is seldom strictly 9 to 5, I think you will be a better developer if you spend time doing other things.
Software development can be somewhat solitary, and it can be very sedentary. Outside interests involving other people and physical activity can be very beneficial to your physical and mental health, and it can help you be a better developer. I have always found that happy and energetic developers can accomplish more than those that are tired and burned out.
Remember, software development is about a lot more than coding. Getting started, you might be spending all your time on fairly routine coding tasks. As you gain experience, you will need to spend your time thinking about alternate ways to solve a problem. I have found that good problem solving skills in both the technical domain and in the organizational domain can be more important than coding skills.
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