Find the spark in your work again after multiple years as a developer

You have been a developer for ten years and work on the same project. Every day looks the same, and you are no longer sure how long you happily can sling code? Where do you go from here?

I know this feeling from my own experience. Every day you drag yourself out of bed. You are trying to find a bit of motivation. You don’t want to stop coding as there are still aspects you like ¹. You feel stuck. Especially as you don’t want to take the managerial route. You want to provide value and not sit in meetings all day! So I propose a method to try before you throw the towel altogether.

The first step is to create a written list of all your job tasks. Take a moment and write them down. Make a concrete list of all the tasks you do in your work every day. My list would contain items like developing new features, researching and documenting user stories, tracking down a tricky bug, context switching due to interuptions, fixing bugs all the time.

Now order them by how much you like them. If you cannot find any task on the list, think back to the tasks you used to do. Perhaps there is some assignment from your past that you would like to do again?

The next step is to select the most liked task from your list and brainstorm what you need to change to do it more often. Or reintroduce it into your work life.

I know that executing this last step will not be easy. And it will also need time. So don’t be discouraged when you don’t reach your goal straight on. But the critical step is that you now know what you need to change and how. This method is your way to get back to a better work experience!

You may wonder why I recommend starting with reintroducing the positive item and not trying to remove the most hated task from the list first. I think you are better off having reintroduced something positive in your work life instead of just removing an unliked task. Having something you can look forward to is so much more valuable for motivation and energy than just removing a duty you don’t like. So work first to get some light back into your life. Then work on removing your most hated task from your life. Rinse and repeat until your list is empty.

Now find a piece of paper and a pen and start writing your list. I wish you luck in finding your motivation again!

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