Ask HN: How do I become a more productive, high executive function engineer?

2 points by totemandtoken 1 year ago | 5 comments

I'm not looking for advice on time management or anything like that. It's more that I see these developers with portfolio sites with all these projects and apps and cool stuff and I wonder how to become a developer like that. They seem so productive and capable, and I feel like I can't finish anything. I get that I'm comparing my livestream to their highlight reel so to speak, but I really feel like my development/programming skills are very subpar compared to most developers. I've been programming for 5 years and I can't think of any functioning, well-crafted piece of software I've shipped that I'm proud of, in my work or in my personal life.

Some of this is that I'm feeling demotivated at my current job, I've gotten some negative feedback, some of it is office politics, but some of it is fair. The thing that I think is fair is that I can't seem to actually deliver or ship anything and be truly productive. IDK, how do I enter the flow state and start making software I'm proud of showing off? Either in my work or in my personal projects?

Jemaclus 1 year ago |

If I can repeat back to you what I just read, I heard "I see other people finishing things, and I can't finish anything. How can I finish things?"

No snark intended at all -- I'm in the same boat! -- but the solution seems patently obvious: finish something, anything. It really just comes down to perseverance.

The beginning of a project is really really fun. It's setting things up, it's exploring new technology, it's trying new ideas to see what works. But the closer you get to the end, the more tedious it gets. It's harder to find fun in integration testing and making sure this button is pixel perfect and this API is returning the right fields and running migrations with no downtime.

At your job, this seems like a reasonable list of things to do, but that's for a few reasons. One, you're being paid to do it, and two, it's literally your job to do it and you don't have much choice. But for side projects? Why write dozens of integration tests when there's a shiny new project over there that looks fun?

So to reiterate, the solution is to finish something. Finish it. Put it out there. Then and only then move on to the next thing.

All of that said, you are also missing some less concrete components of these people that you admire. Maybe they're hyper-fixating. Maybe they're using coding as an escape from something in life. Maybe they find those integration tests really, really fun! Also, some of these people are truly experts in some areas that seem esoteric and complex to you. I have a number of friends that have PhDs in particular topics and they don't know how to dumb things down for the layperson. To them, quantum physics is as easy as basic algebra is to you and me! Phil Eaton, for example, can write a lexer blindfolded with one hand behind his back -- he's written dozens of lexers! I've written a couple, and I still stumble through each one. But I can run 10 miles on a dime!

It's worth remembering that prolificness doesn't mean anything other than they're prolific. It doesn't mean you're not good, it doesn't mean they're amazing. It just means they're prolific.

Hope that helps. :)

totemandtoken 1 year ago | |

I think the issue is that I can make something simple, say a timer app or todo app, but I don't put it out there because I don't think it's necessarily unique nor signals technical talent. It just shows baseline competency (if even that these days).

But I appreciate your last couple of points. I do admire prolific people, but it is just a trait like any other. A very Mob Psycho 100 take. Thanks for that

createaccount99 1 year ago |

Sounds to me like you're closing in on burnout, possibly w/ impostor syndrome. I would rather take a step back, here. You're not actually just looking for a success story "in programming," but something more. Take a moment to cognitively restructure (ask chatgpt to help, it's _very_ good at it) so that you feel at peace. Do that so your creative mind has space.

eternityforest 1 year ago |

Do you have a wheel reinvention habit or a tendency to focus on interesting algorithms over the boring crud screen type stuff needed to actually ship?

Do you use the debugger, the linter, AI autocomplete, popular libraries? Do you make effective use of Git branches?

Are you physically tired due to excessive time spent on personal projects or programming study? Do you use automated testing?

totemandtoken 1 year ago | |

I do not use automated testing, that's probably something I should learn, so thanks for that. I think often for me it's less about reinventing the wheel but more that I easily get stuck in tutorial hell. But good questions