I've been "Doing nothing" at work for a couple of weeks now, and it's freaking me out. Yes, I have asked for tasking, but the guy in charge is ... I just don't know.
I love having no task assigned. Means I finally have time to do code maintenance. Upgrading dependencies, fixing bugs (there are always some), clearing TODOs left in code, improving performance, improving dev tooling or monitoring configuration, cleaning up unused code, improving documentation, ...
And the best part is that since it's not an assigned task, nobody is waiting for it, so I'm under zero pressure.
Sadly it doesn't happen that much as we're always pushing for more new features out.
In SCRUM though if that stuff isn't in the sprint you'll probably get backlash from QAs as it needs testing etc, or questioned why you're bringing in that stuff.
Majority of the things I've mentioned don't need QA. Improving performance of an existing code is fine as long as it passes the existing test suite. Dev tooling / Monitoring is for devs only. Unused code is unused, just needs review from another dev to confirm. Documentation is for devs only.
And I work on the backend in a smaller company these days. Our backend code doesn't pass through QA, we just write tests and another backend coder reviews the tests if new tests are written. QA only handles frontend.
Why? The moment you touch the code you become responsible for it. Can't count how many times I fixed something on a goodwill and then became responsible for it.
The testers have the latest build, and have not reported any bugs. I don't even know if the project I am working on is even going to be funded after a few more months. I am just in this sort of limbo that really sucks.
I would try to learn some new tech. Definitely not something you can do in a vacuum with no goal for months in a corporate setting, but e.g. learning more about a programming language you already use, or some libraries, some tooling, you can easily spend a few weeks.
After that, yes it'd make sense to find something else.
As someone who's been there and let their skills atrophy and had his career slide backwards...act on that freaking-you-out feeling sooner rather than later.
And the best part is that since it's not an assigned task, nobody is waiting for it, so I'm under zero pressure.
Sadly it doesn't happen that much as we're always pushing for more new features out.