[sly_g]

Wrote perl web apps since 1998. Now I'm seriously considering "selling everything and living on a beach in Thailand or Belize for a year". Programming altogether, regardless of the language, lost it's magic touch for me. Sometimes it almost as funny and interesting as it was, but it's just glimpses from the past. Suppose this is what mid-life crisis looks like. Or maybe it's what "burning out" looks like. Worked for my project for the last 8 years now and had too few holidays. Or maybe people do change and I need to do something completely different from now on. I just have to figure out, what exactly I wish to do. It's unpleasant and scary situation with no one to get help from.

[muraiki]

See if you can find a way to try out other things. After working in IT for many years as a sysadmin, I too thought about baking. I have a friend who works at an established artisan bakery, so he let me come in and work for a bit (payment was in bread, which I had no problem with!) I quickly realized that it wasn't the right path for me and that I had things going quite well for me after all.

A few years passed and I began to become bored with being a sysadmin. So I started programming and took on some small side projects. I had a much better experience there, so I've been pursuing that path. I've also started taking some stats courses and realized that I love playing with and learning about data. It's something that satisfies my natural sense of curiosity.

So what it came down to was making the time to try these things out. It's cost me a bit in terms of my social life, but I think that it will pay off in long term happiness. :) It doesn't hurt to explore, and you could either discover that your job isn't so bad after all, or you could find something new.