I'm right there with you man... Two years ago I think I was one of the top 10 or at least 20 posters to cf-talk. Nothing like Dave Watts mind you, but pretty consistently. I lived and breathed CF (and any related technology I could get my hands on). I started the Atlanta CFUG, I worked 60-70 hour weeks at home and in the office, weekends etc... but I loved it! Went to every conference, read every post on every mailing list...
Wrote an intranet system from scratch - by myself. big deal, but the company spun it out into a separate company (www.neighborware.com), got funding... Hired developers... Flew all over the country selling it to companies... Then I just got tired of it all. Started coming in to work late, not really giving things my all... We had enough smart developers at the company to keep things going without me there all the time, so it wasn't a huge deal... I stayed with the company for awhile, but then I just had to move on. Wasn't doing it for me anymore. Company was healthy and moving along fine... Somewhere in there I resigned my position as ACFUG president. Didn't feel like I had the time or passion that the group deserved to be devoted to it. I resigned and left the company... Didn't have a job lined up when I made the decision, but things soon fell into place and I started another new company. I have a few clients. It pays well, and I do have fun doing it. But I'm still struggling to get the passion back. It's on it's way back right now, though slowly... The passion is still in there someplace, I can feel it, but it doesn't show it's head as often as it use to. Occasionally it does, and the end result is a frenzy of coding that does more in one day than I sometimes do in a whole week - two weeks even. I am excited about CFMX, and want to play with it a lot more than I have, but sometimes I find myself just sitting down staring at the monitor and simple tasks which should take be 2 minutes take be half an hour. I spent a few good solid evenings with the CFMX betas and managed to bang on it enough and submit enough bugs to win a prize... but haven't really used it alot since then... I still post to CF-Talk, CFDJList, CF-Community, ACFUG's list occasionally... But now as consistently as before. The biggest thing that's helped me so far... Take a vacation - a long one - no, I mean a really really long one. Minimum of one week but two or more if you can afford it. Don't bring a computer with you. Don't check your email. Don't bring anything technology related with you. No tech mags to read on the plane, nothing. It doesn't have to be a 3 week international odyssey, but it helps to get away from home. Long camping trip, maybe a long visit to out of town family, or even stay in town, but get out of the house. Also... I for one ALWAYS come back super-charged from DevCon, CF-North, or any other tech conference in our field. I get to hang out with people I only see at the conferences, and talk about crazy fun projects that everyone is working on. I get to hear about how they are using technology in ways I haven't thought of, and I get exposed to tons of new things... It's like the vacation thing, except the polar opposite. You take a trip away from home and totally immerse yourself in the technology for a few days. Charges me right back up, and I come back with a head chock full of new ideas and plans. Other than that I also agree with what others have said about hobbies and such. Though I have yet to really stick to one. Ok, I really didn't mean for this to be such a long guts-spilling post, but I feel better now... Perhaps we need a cf support group for recovering burnouts? hehe... -Cameron ----------------- Cameron Childress Sumo Consulting Inc. --- cell: 678-637-5072 aim: cameroncf email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: Jon Hall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:01 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Burnout > > > I need help guys... > > Currently I would definitely describe myself as burnt out. It's been > a gradual process, but I'm definitely there. I don't have the burning > desire to immerse myself anymore like I used to because there was so > much to learn. > There are a few different reasons, that I imagine are pretty common > reasons for burnout. Learning experiences are few and far between, and > lack of confidence in management (not the business side, but the > project management.) All the standard reasons for burnout I guess. > > Anyway, any tips on combating burnout? > > -- > jon > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ______________________________________________________________________ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
