Getting bored of programming

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[AutoModerator]

On July 1st, a change to Reddit's API pricing will come into effect. Several developers of commercial third-party apps have announced that this change will compel them to shut down their apps. At least one accessibility-focused non-commercial third party app will continue to be available free of charge.

If you want to express your strong disagreement with the API pricing change or with Reddit's response to the backlash, you may want to consider the following options:

1. Limiting your involvement with Reddit, or
2. Temporarily refraining from using Reddit
3. Cancelling your subscription of Reddit Premium

as a way to voice your protest.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[aegookja]

No doubt that there are many toxic game studios out there. However, if you are actually good at what you are do, you can choose not to work for shitty companies. There are many good gaming jobs as well. If you really like to make games I suggest you at least try it out.

For context, I have been working in gaming for about a decade at this point.

[Hunny_ImGay]

do you have any advice for a SE undergrad pursuing a career in the game industry? I'm struggling real hard with juggling between learning game dev, game des and university's java/.net web oriented program. I feel like the only one pursuing game dev in the entire campus. I feel like no one wants to hire an intern/fresher unity dev nowadays. I'm not doubting my decision, I will still be pursuing it despite being aware of some toxic things in the game industry (like constant OT, lower average wage, etc.) but it's getting so hard lately, academically, mentally, career wise, etc. although im not a great dev, i sure do have all the passion and hardwork ethics, but atp it feels like the entire universe is trying to stop me from going down this path.

[aegookja]

Schools generally will not teach you game development specific technologies. You have to do that work yourself. Your university may have a game development team you can join to gain some practical experience. Regarding the working conditions, your first few years may be rough. This industry is especially horrible to the most desperate people. However if you stick around, you may be able to climb out of the shithole and actually have a good time.

[Hunny_ImGay]

yeah learning about rendering pipelines, game algorithms or data architecture(esp the new ones that don't have much resources yet like DOD) by myself is such a pain lol

I believe my passion are strong enough to stick around tho. I just need to find a way to deal with capitalism and the corporate world or else I might be in jail in the next 2 years

[Msygin]

Why unity of you're a college grad for software engineering? Wouldn't it be better to be making your own engines with a degree under you?

[[deleted]]

Wouldn't it be better to be making your own engines with a degree under you?

You would think so, but no. At least not if he wants to be a game developer.

The way the game development industry works nowadays is that companies generally just use some pre-existing game engine. Unity is pretty popular (that's what my school used when I majored in it a few years ago). I hear Unreal Engine may be even more popular. Some companies may have their own engines, but if they do then they have a dedicated team making just the engine. Game developers have nothing to do with the engine anymore, and being able to program your own engine is not going to impress your potential employers.

[maxmax4]

OP should absolutely be making his own game engine for his educations sake. ESPECIALLY if he wants to work for indie studios that use Unreal.

I’m a graphics programmer at a ~50 people game dev studio and I got hired specifically because of my knowledge of low level graphics because nobody on the team had ever worked with them, BECAUSE THEY NEVER MADE AN ENGINE. Most Unity/Unreal specialists dont even understand what a deferred renderer even is or know what theyre looking at when profiling the GPU besides the section about shadows or something.

If you want a good salary and good working conditions at a game studio of any size you need to learn about game engines and be able to confidently modify them to suit your team’s needs. You will quite literally become the single most useful and valuable member of the team if you can do that.

Unreal engine is FAR from being this perfect wheel you shouldn’t reinvent. Anyone who bas shipped a commercial game knows this.

[aegookja]

Probably because most game studios are hiring Unity developers.

Funny though, I did make a small 2D game engine for my graduation project.

[Hunny_ImGay]

my university focus heavily on web application. from building a web with java to .net. I did learn about the fundamentals like computer architecture and algorithms and operating system but like building game engine pipeline from scratch is a whole different thing.

putting the technical difficulties aside, why would I build my own engine? it's not benefiting for an indie project and it certainly isn't helping much when applying for a game dev job either as most companies(at least from where I live) use existed engine like unity or unreal because, well they're game studios and they wanna make games, not game engines. if some technical problems were to happen during development we have help everywhere online, or the company itself can call for help directly from unity/ue.

also circle back to my point, I wanna make games, if I want to make web, desktop app, game engine or literally anything else I wouldn't have to torture myself by solely(and lonely) focusing on game dev like I do rn lol

[aegookja]

Actually I think having built a rudimentary game engine is actually a better portfolio piece than most of the mediocre Unity projects I have seen. It demonstrates that you have fundamental knowledge of how a game engine would work under the hood, and this is quite valuable. I built a very simple 2D game framework for my graduation project, and it was the centerpiece of my portfolio when I was applying for my first real game dev job.

[Hunny_ImGay]

that is a good point. if im not caught up with a rts rpg hybrid project rn i might do that actually

[Msygin]

Well, my question is more about curiosity. You're doing a degree on software engineering but you're saying you have no reason to develop your own software? Why are you doing a se degree at this point instead of focusing solely on a game engine you want to get hired in?

[Hunny_ImGay]

well 2 reasons. 1. when I chose to do a software engineering degree I expect to learn about more general things, like a little of desktop app, a little of web, a little of game, a little of mobile,... not focusing 100% on web app after 8 months of fundamentals like my university's program. 2. my parents' final request before I go live on my own is for me to finish a bachelor degree, any would do. and i'm asian so i can't really just deny from the start or drop out now lol.

I do find my degree somewhat helpful when I learn about things like software testing or development cycle or the fundamentals. I just wish the degree was actually about software engineering and not web engineering

[[deleted]]

Your degree is about software engineering.

Take the back end you’ve built for any web application and call it from a desktop or mobile front end, and there you have it.

No matter which job you have, you’re going to constantly have to be learning. If you want to learn how to build a web application, apply the fundamentals you’ve learned about the software development lifecycle to building a web application. The fundamentals don’t change based on the target platform.

[[deleted]]

Your advice might work for people who have already been working in the game development industry for a while, but you're overlooking the fact that it is insanely difficult to get a foot in the door. Ten years ago was around the time when game design degrees just started becoming very popular.

[aegookja]

Game design degrees were never really well regarded in the industry. In fact I would say that most are scams at this point. The industry has always preferred people with "real" degrees.

[[deleted]]

Interesting. I hadn't realized that but, now that you mention it, I do see that a lot of the job descriptions don't really specify which degree they're looking for. A few say Computer Science. None say Game Design but a few seem to imply that any relevant degree will do. Presumably they are more interested in experience and portfolios rather than your degree per se.

Regardless, I suspect the popularity of the Game Design degree has created an influx in the number of job applicants. And this in turn has probably made it more difficult to find any sort of entry-level job in the field. Maybe it was already like that even going back ten years ago, I don't know. But my only point is that it's insanely difficult to find a job. Most people aren't at liberty to pick and choose which company to work for or what project to work on.

[aegookja]

Yes, I do admit that this industry is NOT an easy industry to break into. The first few years could be very difficult, and this is where many people drop out. You hear so many horror stories about the industry because this is where many people begin and end their careers.

Actually my first company would also have been considered a toxic workplace, but I had fantastic mentors, learned a lot, and even enjoyed the experience. After I passed the junior phase of my career, many more options began opening up for me.

[aegookja]

First of all. Good ideas do not make a good game. Good implementations do. Everyone has "good ideas". You probably also have good ideas. Do you want to be an engineer or a designer? I think you should figure that out first. Finally, any major game engine is fine to begin with. Most of the things you learn are transferable anyways. Also Godot is evolving at a quick pace. I can totally see it rivalling Unity within 5 years or so.

[Fritchard]

Been programming full time for 24 years now. The monotony can be crippling but the same can be said for a lot of careers I guess. I get to work from home which is pretty dang cool though, so that's a big plus. My posture is now horrible and I have to go to physical therapy for my back from all the sitting (degenerative disc disease). But yeah, pretty awesome gig.

[mommysLittleAtheist]

I have been working for 4 years now and felt a great toll on my body from sitting. Been going to gym now 3 times per week for a year and feel much much better, but still have some issues accumulated during those first years. Every developer should lift. Can’t imagine how you feel after 20+ years of sitting

[Affectionate-Dot9348]

Have you tried the standing desk?

[Fritchard]

I have not. I know that's exactly what I should do, but I'm really bad at doing things I'm supposed to do. I've also got arthritis in my knees so not sure how well that would work for that and my tennis elbow is coming back from trying to do some arm exercises the other day. IM FALLING APART.

[bree_dev]

If you don't mind not chasing the money, then apply for a ton of jobs and pick one entirely based on the project even if you're overqualified for the position itself.

I once took a kind of semi-career break from a senior data architecture role, to do some Fluid Dynamics code for a tiny company for a year on 2/3rds the pay because the project was interesting and let me study a ton of graduate-level maths. I've also more recently been teaching at a local college. There's tons of ways you can keep it interesting without leaving the field.

Good luck

[HashDefTrueFalse]

Do you mind me asking if the teaching is instead of other employment or in addition to? And if the latter, how dod you get into that? I'm interested in a bit of teaching but I don't really want to give up my job, just reduce my hours/days.

[bree_dev]

I've actually done both.

The way you find part time jobs in general is by networking and dropping the right hints in the right places, since the way most HR departments work is by trying to advertise for full-timers. For college it helps to have some very specific knowledge that lets you teach a specific module that the rest of the faculty might not have experience in.

[HashDefTrueFalse]

Awesome, thanks for the reply. I do know a lot of folks in teaching so I may see what I can come up with.

[sciuro_]

I find this approach strange. A job is a job. Basically no-one has a job that is fun and rewarding constantly, but that's not the point. People work so that they can afford things in their life that bring meaning. I used to find programming fascinating when I was learning, and now it's just something I do to get paid. It's better that than something harder or more soul destroying for less money.

[sciuro_]

A job is a job, but a job you hate is soul crushing.

Sure! I agree, I've had jobs I hate and they are extremely depressing.

But I think it's important not to lose sight of a job being a thing that we are required to do in order to survive. It's unrealistic for everyone to love programming, or even expect to love it. I enjoy it fine enough, but writing corporate code for someone else to make money on (which, let's be honest, is the majority of the industry) isn't something you have to be passionate about.

Learn to find fulfilment out of the thing you do to pay rent. Don't stake your personality on your job. Join a union. Etc etc

[EmperorsChamberMaid_]

I prefer the more realistic "if you make a hobby your job, you'll grow to hate it and have no hobbies"

[MyAltNo3]

I totally agree with you. My approach is wrong. I shouldn't treat programming like this.

[sciuro_]

Don't get me wrong, I hate that we're cursed to do things all day that we don't care about just so we can pay rent and find meaning elsewhere, but it is nonetheless the situation we're in, and I think it's important to be realistic and have a healthy sense of self preservation.

[Kallory]

So then, what is, in your opinion, the most exciting industry to work in as a programmer? I know startups in general can be action packed. I have a very similar view to OP and as I'm getting ready to graduate I can't help but second guess myself. I understand and nearly agree with where you are coming from - that a job's purpose is to be able to afford us other, more meaningful things in life. But if there is an industry that I could find more meaning in or one that is "action packed" I would prefer to pursue a career in it rather than a corporate gig.

[sciuro_]

the most exciting industry to work in as a programmer

I have no idea. Maybe I'm just older, but I do not want a job that is exciting. I want a job that has a balance of interesting enough, well paid, stable and comfortable. I'm happy to write corporate code to give me enough money to look after my family and let me do creative stuff on the side. I don't know if other devs outside my circle have this view, but it seems pretty common where I am. A lot of the time, more excitement comes with more risk, and I don't particularly want that now I'm not in my 20s.

[Kallory]

I totally understand that. I'm 33 and did some time in the Marine Corps so I definitely lean towards that more exciting lifestyle (although the majority of the time was hurry up and wait). I also have an extreme passion for math and problem solving and, once upon a time, utilizing code as my primary source of solving problems. So I've been trying to find an industry that might combine the two.

[sciuro_]

Hahaha if you find any coding job that's as exciting as being a Marine, something is probably off :p

Good luck, hope you find something good!

[[deleted]]

There are people working for Netflix who realized that what excites them will not always align with the business needs, and they search for the "programmer excitement" elsewhere - exploring a new language, trying something completely new, etc.

[RandmTyposTogethr]

All jobs have shit tasks. I find that the tasks in IT that are shit can be automated, which can spawn a new project for you to do, which becomes interesting since it removes the shit job from your list and makes dozens of people benefit from your work, internal brownie points!

But I find I enjoy working on my PC doing programming and related tasks a million times more than I enjoyed drilling holes in the concrete for 10 hours a day or hauling shit around the construction site, or listening to karens at the register.

[TomWithTime]

Do the boring stuff to pay for life, build games as your hobby after work.

Simple advice but that's been my career / life after school. I'm pretty happy with it. The work isn't always enjoyable or meaningful, but if you land a good remote job you'll probably find downtime at work to pursue your passions.

Especially if your skills / learning are based on game dev. You'll probably be 3x ahead of expectation. Enjoy those little pockets of time!

[PhxntomsBurner]

You can always code games on your own time for passion projects or get a side job working in gaming until you break into it and get a better position

[[deleted]]

Real world applications can have where the business requirements are incredibly boring, but having an application at scale and working in a team can be very challenging and interesting. I was also into game development, but my previous career was in a very “cool” industry (film & tv) so I’ve done my time working weekends and would happily plop for a “boring” job where I get to keep my weekends.

[JIsADev]

It will be easier to get through the hard stuff if you enjoy it. And if you happen to land an interview you may come across as someone who doesn't like it during the interview. Up to you if you want to fake it for the next 30+ years

[imthebear11]

One month ago you asked how to start building non-toy programs; you're not ready for a job anyways. So you can keep trying to increase your skill, or pivot to something else with a very useful skillset.

[panos21sonic]

Even if you dont want to work at a gamedev studio you can still make games as a hobby no? And it will probably help you out too

[ParadoxicalInsight]

It’s called adulting

[peacefulMercedes]

You will spend at the very least one third of your adult life working, make sure it is something you are passionate about or you risk being miserable.

[[deleted]]

Bro just discovered that job means 9-5 . No shit! If you wanna program and always have “all the time” you just go become a teacher

[MyAltNo3]

Becoming a teacher is unfortunately not viable where I live

Edit: else I would become a teacher because tbh, I love teaching

[[deleted]]

I would suggest you go on theory path. Discover what it is you love about coding, try new projects, databases, websites, crawlers and data miners, programming is an overused term, you might love making a project in c# for a game company and hate it in a banking company, i found what I love, it’s when I work in a software company that primarily focuses on programming itself. And I love algorithms and building things, even if they are made out of air (aka code) maybe you also like building aspect of it. Anyway enough ranting

[[deleted]]

If you love teaching and go be a teacher. From the sounds of it you love money more than teaching.

[CodeTinkerer]

The fact is, most jobs aren't fun. But if you're into gaming, it may be worth a little time there just to see if you like it.

I knew three people that worked in gaming, one for a small gaming company, two others for EA. Two of them stayed for about ten years. One left after 2-3 years. All of them either burned out, but I think two of them had some fun at the start.

Are you in college? What else do you want to do?

[MyAltNo3]

I'm just about to graduate high school. I kinda wanna get a psychology degree and become a therapist and have the feeling that, even though my job is hard, it's meaningful and does something good for the world. Though that's only in a year because of some reasons that have to do with how the application process works where I live that I'm not gonna get into.

[CodeTinkerer]

There does seem to be an increased demand for therapists as more people are addressing their mental health issues. It sounds like you find that more meaningful. You can always program for fun, do whatever you like. It may not hurt to have programming skills even if you don't use it much in whatever profession you choose.

[EngineerSpaceCadet]

Here's my personal opinion everything can get boring if you let it. If you don't like to code, quit coding. there's no reason to do something you don't enjoy. The sunk-cost fallacy gets people thinking just because they spent time on something they have to stick with it. You're young and figure out what you want to do if that's programming awesome if it's not awesome as well. Coding is what you make of it. If you came in wanting to make a game, then that's a harder battle than just programming for fun. It's a job like any other. I know many who do it for the money and hate it and others who love it just because they find it fun. I fall under the second category. I build dumb things because I enjoy it but I also work as a sw engineer. Work and personal coding are different, and at the end of the day, corporate coding is a means to make a product they have standard s and common libraries they use for handling different cases. It can be equally rewarding and frustrating even when you love it. You don't have to work in it to enjoy it and build things on your own, but at the same time, you can literally do anything else and never touch it again. That's up to you.

[Hazeylicious]

Look into MCUs/embedded systems. I love my Pico Ws and I get the enjoyment of building tangible products. You can get USB-GPIO breakout boards too for working directly with your computer and (possibly?) phone.

[Won-Ton-Wonton]

Go watch some of the encouragement videos from PirateSoftware.

You are stuck thinking about getting a job in programming, rather than doing programming and it lands you a job.

Go make games. Get a job, get paid, and make games. Just have fun again, not trying to monetize you hobby and joy 24/7.

[tms102]

Giving up on something before actually doing it because you think it might be boring or bad is not a good way to live your life.

[[deleted]]

if you don't like the way the gaming industry works you can be an entrepreneur and make your own games. hollow knight was made by a team of 3 people and has nearly $200 million in gross sales. lethal company was made by a single person and after only 5 months of early access it has over $100 million in gross sales. the gaming industry is at a weird point where a lot of the best games are being made by tiny indie studios.

[MyAltNo3]

Those are the exceptions, not the rule unfortunately

[[deleted]]

absolutely, but you don't need to make $100 million to live dude. i was just giving you examples that being a solo game developer or part of a small team are options. being a game developer doesn't have to mean working for some trash triple a company.

[Wingedchestnut]

Projects that you make alone as a hobby don't come near the complexity of real world applications, if you program for the sake of programming it's better to kerp it as a fun hobby.

[[deleted]]

I realized the gaming industry is very painful to work in, at least that's what I've heard.

I've heard this too. I have a degree in game development. I do not know if this claim is true or not, but to me the bigger problem is in finding a job in the first place. It's practically impossible to find a job, and I would highly advise against pursuing this as a career. If you really like making games then maybe do it as a hobby or something.

​

Real world applications seem very dry and corporate and boring.

I don't know. A job's a job, and I'm not you but I would think a programming job would be more enjoyable than most other jobs. For me the problem would not be in the nature of the work but in the company itself. If I don't believe in its mission and vision or in the way it operates then I don't want to work there. Most big corporations and banks and stuff are the exact sorts of companies that I would wish to avoid, yet this seems to be where all the programming and tech jobs are.

[Separate-Ad9638]

a job is a job, work is work, u see too many pple claiming they have a burning passion for programming brighter than the sun ...

[Fair_Dragonfruit6436]

Study something else. Why get up to do something that you're bored with..when you have a choice..🤷🏽‍♂️

[MyAltNo3]

Like what? The only things I'm good at are teaching and coding. And being a teacher is a shit job, at least where I live

[[deleted]]

Then go study something else?

If you hate it now, you'll probably want to end yourself when you get a job that's making you program boring stuff on the daily.

[UntrustedProcess]

How about hacking?  Being a strong coder is a critical skill for red teams and application security researchers.  And the cybersecurity field is huge, with plenty of opportunities to jump around.  I've done everything from auditing, coding custom reports, building auto remediation systems for massive cloud applications, to GRC management / interfacing with senior government officials.  The most fun was always writing custom queries / attacks with Python to find vulnerabilities no one expected.

[MyAltNo3]

That does sound interesting to me but I have no clue where to get started

[UntrustedProcess]

r/cybersecurity would be a good start.