[LansanaCamara]

I'm in a similar boat as you. I just turned 22 and have been working as a software developer for the past 3 years as well (interesting coincidence).

I noticed that I get the feeling of "burnout" when I'm doing things I don't enjoy. For instance, I can spend a couple months straight working on fun personal projects of mine all day every day, like the Medium.com clone I built, but if I'm spending two weeks straight fixing other peoples bugs at work I get extremely bored and am always watching the clock, looking forward to going home. I don't enjoy programming in those moments.

I would err on the side of caution when calling this burnout, though, to be honest. I think we are too young and haven't been at it long enough (no matter how dedicated we are) to really feel true burnout. We're just fatigued, demotivated, unexcited and a little annoyed (in my case).

I think a change of pace might help you, as it always helps me. Try doing something really challenging and thought-provoking. Entrepreneurship might be for you! Have you ever considered making your own startup? Got any ideas you've been neglecting? Take one of them on! You never know what might come of it. :)

Lastly, if you think programming in general just isn't for you anymore, but you love technology and would still like to be in the space, another thing you may want to consider is creating content of value for others to use and learn from. For instance, you could start a YouTube channel and talk about tech, crypto, AI, startups, etc.

Good luck!

[bambataa]

I also would not call that burnout. It sounds like you're realising that work sucks.

Going to work is fun the first few months when you're all 'look at me going to my big job!' and you probably feel richer than you have ever done before.

Then after a while you realise you're not loaded after all, the novelty wears off the work and you find yourself repeating tasks again and again. The challenge then becomes to work out what it is you value - do you want your work to test your limits, or do you want to just pay the bills and find fulfilment elsewhere, etc, etc?

I like your advice to do something challenging and thought-provoking, but don't be afraid to think outside the tech sphere. Basically, the way I look at it is that you have your 20s to work out who you are and what you value. You should expect your value system to change substantially (which is where college is useful, to link to the discussion above).

In the grand scheme of things the gap between birth and death is really small. Don't waste it doing things that you don't enjoy.

[LansanaCamara]

Thanks for this. I agree with your statement about the value system. Mine has already changed dramatically. I went to college for two years while working full time, and eventually dropped out. It just wasn't for me; already knew what I was being taught, and ultimately got denied entry into CS major cause of poor high school grades. And ironically enough, I was working in the marketing department on the school website at the time they denied me. Go figure.. >.>

School, for people like me, is just a waste of time and gets you in needless debt. I learn better on my own anyways.

As for doing things outside of tech, I also dabble in many other things. I have been bodybuilding since I was 18 and an an avid gym goer. I'm also big on philosophy and science (quantum mechanics really excites me). There are plenty of things I am interested in...the hard part for me is figuring out which of them I really want to dedicate my time and effort to, so I can take it to the next level. I lack the ability to make that decision right now, and as a result I'm just sort of a generalist.

But you're totally right. Spending time doing things I don't enjoy will now produce a happy life. I'm growing more and more aware of this every day.