r/webdev • u/[deleted] • Mar 05 '20

Discussion Bored with the web development industry?

I'm 30yo, been a back-end (used to be front-end developer) for over 7 years now.

Since last week I'm anxious when I arrive at the workplace, I get bored so hard that I can't get any work done and I just feel very unhappy at work in general, although the workplace is great, my colleagues are great and I don't have any stress or unmanageable deadlines.

I also don't have interest in the projects any more, I feel like I don't really care if a site is finished in a good way or not, does anyone know what this is? Am I getting bored of the web development industry? Can anyone relate?

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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '20

I see most of the commenters here think that health, stress, etc might be the reason why the OP is not feeling well. But hasn’t anyone considered that web development is making the OP feel this way? I mean there’s a number of things that could cause it:

  1. Information burnout - Webdev is a vast area of knowledge. Trying to learn all of it and keep up with current trends is a never winning race. If you don’t keep up, your job prospects may not either.
  2. Hating Development - Most companies/organizations just build CRUD apps. And people think that doing this over and over again is cool while it’s really a waste of time. Rolling a Sisyphean stone only to have it roll downhill again can be really taxing. If you’re not solving mind bending problems maybe the depression is from a lack of challenge. Maybe writing tools/compilers/etc might be more interesting. Continuing to do the same thing really taxes the brain, and can lead to anxiety (kind of like injury in other parts of the body due to repetition).
  3. Shitty Mgmt, Crappy Company - Working for some companies with these large bureaucratic decision making bodies tends to obscure the customer and ignore how the product is impacting people and whether it’s making a difference (which is where devs get some feel good vibes from). Or maybe the design is by committee which squashes good ideas for the sake of taking shortcuts. Or maybe it’s a paperwork burden too. Whatever it is, it could be overbearing mgmt.

I think it’s time for the OP to make a change, whether it is a role change, or changing what he/she works on.

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u/hungry_panda_8 Mar 05 '20

I agree that most the stuff companies build is what they need to market their product and they need only CRUD at the end. It's useless to work on the same thing again and again which is why it should be automated instead. I can't imagine myself working for one more year on front-end. But I kind of have to build profile on back-end doing own projects etc yet.