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Discussion on: Longtime devs: Have you rekindled your love of coding after losing the spark at any point in your career?

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Stephen Belovarich • Edited

Many times over. After twenty years I keep the flame alive by diving into spec, learning how things work, building something interesting or useful with the latest features coming to browsers. Maybe there is some part of ECMAScript I haven't looked at yet, so I go for it.

I rarely feel overloaded because I’ve learned to pace myself. When I’m blocked, I take a walk, go to the gym, or have coffee with my colleagues. In other words, I maintain a healthy work life balance. The time away from code is as important as when I’m coding. The most interesting solutions pop into my head when I’m least expecting. It look me awhile to figure out the grind isn’t worth it.

I’m fairly passionate and that helps but it also hurts because some people misread passion for aggression or naïveté. Miserable people look at me like I have two heads or limit and dismiss things I say despite all the experience and genuine interest in helping others. I just keep on keeping on. The drive is real. I don’t know where it comes from and honestly wish I could teach others how to have it, but think it’s more likely someone learns how to be ambitious, have confidence, and be inquisitive very early in their development.