[NickDMax]

<whine>So I woke up today and got to work answering emails and checking out sites that various people suggested I look at and ended up looking over a sight for our main market space competitor and something clicked in me...

I don't think I like my job. I mean I like programming but consulting is just not really my thing. I have so many ideas for programs but no time to implement them. I am forced to implement badly designed systems because of customer constraints (thats just the way they want it done). I am working with a less than state of the art platform which is supposedly a market leader. I feel that my skills and talents are underutilized -- yet I see others who are over utilized and wonder what I may be doing wrong. (I suppose that it is better to be under utilized than over utilized but it hurts the pride a bit).

None of this is really a big deal and I would imagine is pretty standard across the board -- I just am not feeling up to it today.

Anyway... I am just in a funk today and thought I would vent a little.

Really I think the thing that really is getting to me is the lack of freedom to do the things that I WANT to do. For example there are some IP projects that I would love to work on for this company, but I never really have time. Well, that no exactly true... I just need to learn how to work steadily on something within the sporadic bits of time that I have free. So basically my time management skills suck (should have put that on my resume). </whine>

Anyway:

What do you do when you find yourself unmotivated at work?

[no2pencil]

NickDMax, on 30 May, 2008 - 11:05 AM, said:

What do you do when you find yourself unmotivated at work?

Grab a fresh cup of Maxwell house & hop on Dream In Code

[NickDMax]

I don't like coffee. And as for DIC... exactly.

[Programmist]

NickDMax, on 30 May, 2008 - 11:05 AM, said:

What do you do when you find yourself unmotivated at work?

Sometimes I just grin and bear it until it gets better. However, if it's never been good and I can honestly say that I've never been satisfied, I look elsewhere. Given the current market for developers, you don't have to do a job you don't like. There are people chomping at the bit for experienced developers (speaking from Java experience, but probably the same in many languages) Give it a week or two (or 6) and if you still feel the same way peruse monster.com. Heck, peruse it now and see what you see.

[RodgerB]

Replace work with school and I'm in the same mess. I want to complete school, but I don't..... want to.

Everybody does, but I don't want to.

[NickDMax]

it really bothers me when I find myself being a "whiny little b1tch" about work. (or school when I did that). I mean I have a great job. I get very diverse experiences (not working on the same thing day in and day out). I get to travel quite often. I am becoming recognized as an expert in at least one area. I work for a pretty good company.

My only real complaint about my company and their products is that they have TERRIBLE documentation and intellectual capital management. It takes us quite a lot of work to re-invent the wheel over and over again. If the documentation were better then the re-inventing the wheel would be easier, if a decent ICAP program existed we would not have to reinvent the wheel (and it would be easier to write fantastic documentation).

Just recently though I have felt very worn down.

I think I am going to use some of those vacation days they give me. that is probably part of my problem. The only holiday I have taken was Christmas.

[thor78]

I play flash games and check out Digg. And DIC of course.

[1lacca]

When I am really worn down, and there is no apparent emergency in any of our projects, and I see that I'm just drifting the whole day on the interwebz, I'd ring some of my friends, go out and party, meet new people, chat with girls, show up late the next day (fortunately it is OK at my place), and usually my old strength is back. Hell, I must be a vampire, lol.
I think it is just concentrating on something else than you have to face daily, give yourself some "freedom-feeling" (be an easy rider for a night), or do whatever does you the same effect.
If there is an emergency, and there is absolutely no chance of performing the above rite, then I grin and finish it as soon as I can, and then go to point A.

[RodgerB]

Everything you have just said does not have a viable solution for forced public schooling. I am doomed.

[KYA]

Fight the power man!

[hlemon]

NickDMax, on 30 May, 2008 - 08:05 AM, said:

What do you do when you find yourself unmotivated at work?

I can understand how you feel. I'm originally a graphic designer and I work for a real estate company where getting it out and done is more important than how it looks or if its set up correctly. I am their main source for web development (basics at best) as well. Its tought because I'm trying to set up website templates that can be easily changed and updated, but they don't want to give me the time for it.

I usually end up going outside to take a walk personally. I would love to sit and peruse the forums (especially DIC) for more ideas and information, but something always happens when I try to do that. There are about 50-60 people who can come looking for me at any time for something they believe is "urgent". Its a trying job and it is an unhappy one, but its still a job for now. So I guess taking a walk or something along those lines helps me out.

[mocker]

I go to DIC of course. I think 99% of my logins here are when I'm at work and sick of looking at my own code.
Or I go to thedailywtf.com to make myself feel better about my spaghetti code.
Or I browse through misc job listings to see what kind of positions people are looking to fill. Not that I'm actively looking for a new job but it is nice to see what opportunities are around

[P4L]

I feel the same way. I get tired of what I do, and so I hop on DIC, or browse the interweb. I have started to look, and I am weighting for my head-hunter to bring me a few contracts that I could become full-time for. I am just getting tired of hitting the same freakin wall day after day!!! Time for a change....plus I am about 20k less then if they had hired someone off the street since I already worked for the company!