It's a sign of burning out. I've felt the same way many times during my career. I started making websites when I was 15 (I'm 33 now) and moved to a management role. When I wasn't coding for the last few months, I realized I missed building stuff. I just quit my job this month and now looking for contract/freelance work.
One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending time in front of a laptop. Go find a hobby: Travel solo, read books, learn to play some sort of musical instrument, learn to cook. Anything helps.
If you like talking to customers, find a developer evangelist job somewhere. You'll get to talk to customers and developers. Else, think about moving to a product management role. Start reading books about product management. You can also fast track your learning by taking some kind of formal education in product management.
This is a great reply. I really recommend the learning to cook suggestion - there are a bunch of parallels with programming (it's creative but in a process-driven sort of way; there are loads of different styles and techniques; great sense of accomplishment when you finish something complex; you can delight others with your creations; gentle learning curve; etc) in addition to (possibly modest) health benefits and a general sense of de-stressing.
It's also applied project management, as in hard to hide the fact that some component of the dish is not yet ready when everyone did show up at the table already.
Cooking is a great suggestion. Especially if you live with someone else (family, spouse, housemates). Making something delicious for other people to eat brings a great sense of accomplishment. If you have kids and you can make food that they love (that is still healthy), then this feeling of accomplishment will put you in the clouds.
You will also be able to set yourself challenges in the kitchen that are not unlike some "itches scratched" by programming. i.e.
- How can I make this dish in a simpler way and still have it taste great?
- What delicious thing can I make using only the ingredients I happen to have laying around?
- What is the most delicious thing i can make with the fewest ingredients?
i often try to explain programming to a layperson with a cooking analogy. Programming is like cooking with a recipe. You've got your ingredients at the top (input data, variables etc). Then you've got the processing (slicing, cooking, stirring etc). Eventually you pull all the ingredients together for some final output (a dish).
Here's a list of books I have compiled as a fairly fresh PM (just getting started with the reading). The intention with this list is to built up a good mental tool box to succeed in product management (coming from SW+chip design).
PM:
- Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love
- The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback
- Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
- What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Service
- Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age
Marketing:
- Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
- Brand Identity Breakthrough: How to Craft Your Company's Unique Story to Make Your Products Irresistible
UX
- Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
- The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition
Organization / Business
- Originals: How Non-conformists Change the World
- Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
- Lovability: How to Build a Business That People Love and Be Happy Doing It
- The Thank You Economy
Personal
- Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
- TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- How To Win Friends and Influence People
- Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
- Thinking in Systems: A Primer
- Thinking, Fast and Slow
Also, blogs:
- Rich Mironov's Product Bytes
- Aha! Blog
- Inside Intercom
- Mind the Product
- PMHQ blog
- Silicon Valley Product Group
- The Accidental Product Manager
- The Product Bistro
- The Product Guy
- The Secret Product Manager Handbook
This question and your answer are so relatable.
I now realize I was close to burning out, without me knowing it at the time.
I've changed jobs recently and this made me so much happier; still programming full-time but working in a new domain, new language, new but positive people renewed my joy in building stuff.
I was always curious how someone with a developer/freelancer background transitions to product management or developer evangelist roles? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to do this transition internally rather than as a new hire?
Disagree. I dislike coding at work, because it's boring infrastructure stuff I have to code. I am 26, I work 32 hours a week and work pressure is very low and there's just no way I'm burning out. A lot of coding is just boring, and if you have been programming for over a decade, you see through the fads that commercial companies hype.
Thanks for the reply. In fact I have been considering moving into product management as it feels like a more stronger fit. However, I am scared if this is the right choice or if I might regret leaving coding.
One thing I realized very late was I needed some kind of hobby outside writing code and spending time in front of a laptop. Go find a hobby: Travel solo, read books, learn to play some sort of musical instrument, learn to cook. Anything helps.
If you like talking to customers, find a developer evangelist job somewhere. You'll get to talk to customers and developers. Else, think about moving to a product management role. Start reading books about product management. You can also fast track your learning by taking some kind of formal education in product management.