56 posts tagged with "career"

When I transitioned to full-time remote work ten months ago, I thought I'd simply swap my office chair for a home desk. What I discovered instead was a complete reimagining of how productivity actually works.

First came the necessity - helping my medically fragile son required flexibility that traditional office life couldn't provide. Then Covid-19 hit, and suddenly everyone was navigating this new landscape. Through trial, error, and plenty of late-night reflection, I've distilled eight core strategies that transformed not just my output, but my entire relationship with work.

Three months into my first senior developer role, I found myself staring at my screen at 2 AM, debugging the same function for the fourth consecutive hour. The code wasn't particularly complex, but my brain felt like it was running through molasses. When my alarm went off six hours later, the thought of opening my laptop made my stomach clench.

That's when I realized I wasn't just tired - I was burning out.

Developer burnout isn't just about working too many hours or dealing with difficult stakeholders. It's a systematic erosion of the passion, creativity, and problem-solving joy that drew us to coding in the first place. If you're reading this at 1 AM wondering if your love for development is permanently broken, you're not alone - and more importantly, it's fixable.

You've just finished that React tutorial you've been putting off for weeks. The instructor's voice still echoes in your head as you stare at the completed todo app on your screen. You feel accomplished, maybe even a little proud. But then reality hits: without the step-by-step guidance, you're not entirely sure you could build this again from scratch.

Sound familiar?

Here's the uncomfortable truth about tutorials - they're fantastic for introducing concepts, but terrible for building real competence. The knowledge feels solid when you're following along, but it's actually more fragile than you realize. The real learning happens in what you do next.

Quick Career Assessment​

This is a quiz about career success. It is a short quiz that will help you understand where you are at in your career and some things that you can do to define your definition of success. If you would like to share your results with me: you can take the online version at SurveyMonkey.

Ten years ago, I thought career success meant climbing the corporate ladder as fast as possible. More responsibility, bigger title, higher salary - rinse and repeat until retirement. Then life threw me a curveball that forced me to reconsider everything I thought I knew about professional fulfillment.

When my son was born with medical complexities that required constant attention, traditional career metrics suddenly felt hollow. Working 60-hour weeks for a promotion meant missing critical appointments. That corner office didn't matter if I couldn't be present for the people who needed me most.

That's when I learned the difference between career achievement and career success. Achievement is what others see on your LinkedIn profile. Success is how you feel when your head hits the pillow each night.

If I could sit down with my 25-year-old self over coffee, I'd probably start with "relax, you're going to be okay." Then I'd spend the next three hours frantically trying to download two decades of hard-earned wisdom before the timeline paradox kicked in.

The truth is, past me wouldn't have listened to most of this advice anyway. Some lessons can only be learned through experience, bruised knees, and the occasional spectacular failure. But maybe - just maybe - a few of these insights would have saved me some unnecessary detours and sleepless nights.

This isn't a list of regrets. I'm genuinely grateful for the path I took, wrong turns and all. These are observations from the other side of decisions, relationships, and career moves that seemed monumentally important at the time but turned out to be just Tuesday in the grand scheme of things.

Find your routine​

In a typical office, you are naturally forced into a routine. I need to wake up early, shower, and drive to the office in order to ensure that I am at my desk from "9-5".

Without a forced schedule a typical day can become much less regimented, and you can find yourself working odd–longer hours to overcompensate. That little voice in your head starts whispering, "Since you're saving commute time, shouldn't you be working more hours?" Ignore that voice. It's lying to you.

Surviving Remote Work​

I have been a developer for almost 20 years. During that time I've wandered through countless office environments—from sterile corporate skyscrapers to chaotic startup lofts. I've navigated cubicle labyrinths that would make Daedalus proud and fought for "hot-desks" like they were the last lifeboat on a sinking ship. But starting in December 2019, I began a new chapter—100% remote work. Not by choice, but by necessity. And sometimes, the most profound changes in our lives come from circumstances we never anticipated.