1. Developing a Complex Self
Building a complex identity that includes different hobbies and interests makes developers more resilient to stress and helps avoid depression when career setbacks occur.
Hear it at 0:29 →Engineering video
1:00 · 31 July 2023
Passion For Coding Will Ruin Your Developer Career
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Transcript
Look. Passion for coding, it's great, but too much passion will ruin your career because like many developers out there, you'll build your identity based on what you do, which, trust me, will only lead to misery and burn out. Because come on, even if you do a great job, you might still get fired due to layoffs. The company you work for might go bankrupt or part of your job might be automated. Throughout your developer career, bad stuff will happen, and you have to deal with it.
The best way to do that is to develop what scientists called a complex self. It is proven that building a complex identity, one that includes different hobbies and interests, will make you more resilient to stress and help you avoid depression in the long run. So, even if you write code for a living and you love writing code, take steps to expand your identity. Build a new hobby. Start writing, painting, dancing, or anything that interests you.
Being a software engineer is part of who you are, but not everything you are.