{"id":29394,"date":"2018-07-09T10:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/?p=29394"},"modified":"2023-02-13T13:42:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T18:42:30","slug":"find-your-why-programmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/find-your-why-programmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Your \u2018Why\u2019 as a Programmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Today, we\u2019re going to tackle the big professional programmer questions<\/a>: What\u2019s the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? It\u2019s 42.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kidding. Seriously though, it\u2019s time to start thinking about finding purpose in your work. Why do we do the work we do?<\/p>\n

As developers, we are lucky to work in a field that pays well<\/a> and is in demand. If you\u2019re a reasonably skilled developer who\u2019s willing to move to where the jobs are, the world is your oyster.<\/p>\n

That being said, just showing up for the money isn\u2019t going to lead to long-term happiness. Even if you\u2019re being paid well, if you can\u2019t connect your work with purpose, your life will eventually feel hollow.<\/p>\n

Not only is this miserable from an emotional standpoint, but your lack of purpose and direction means that you\u2019re eventually going to be stuck in a job that you hate with no easy path out<\/a>. This is a recipe for burnout.<\/p>\n

Because developers are paid so well, when we mention any displeasure with our job to our friends, we often get rebuked. I\u2019ve heard things like, \u201cYou have no right to complain\u2014you\u2019re so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in all honesty, as your career progresses, money and status become secondary concerns. You need to find a deeper purpose in your work.<\/strong> Without a connection to your core purpose, planning your career direction is nearly impossible. You need to find your \u201cwhy\u201d and use it to navigate your way through your career.<\/p>\n

Based on my own experiences, I\u2019m going to share several strategies<\/a> you can use to find purpose in your life. This isn\u2019t some magical path to finding \u201cultimate meaning\u201d or anything like that. I am not your or anyone else\u2019s guru.<\/p>\n

Instead, this is a list of practical strategies you can use to explore yourself and find deeper meaning, resulting in greater happiness in your life and helping you make better decisions in your career as a developer.<\/p>\n

Finding Your \u2018Why\u2019<\/h2>\n

Simon Sinek, an author and business consultant, believes that people and companies should always \u201cStart With Why.\u201d<\/a> He believes that others (or, in this case, you\u2014as someone seeking deeper meaning in your career) resonate with \u201cwhy\u201d more than \u201chow\u201d and \u201cwhat.\u201d In his book, Find Your Why<\/em>, he writes about the method he uses to help others find their core purpose.<\/p>\n

This method begins with stories. Think about stories from your past that still resonate with you emotionally. These could be formative experiences in your career or your personal life. Many of these stories could come from your childhood. The goal is to come up with five to ten of these stories and write them down.<\/p>\n

After you have your stories, examine them to find common themes. For example, maybe all of your formative experiences revolve around protecting your family or building something amazing. Every developer\u2019s stories<\/a> are going to be different.<\/p>\n

It can be useful to talk with a partner, a trusted friend, or a co-worker to help you find the themes in your stories. They\u2019ll often find things you missed.<\/p>\n

After finding your themes, rank them. Your goal is to narrow the list down to the one or two themes that are most emotionally resonant. Once you have your themes, use them to craft a personal \u201cwhy\u201d statement.<\/p>\n

Your \u201cwhy\u201d statement is an actionable statement that focuses on the effect you have on other people. It\u2019s how you want your work to impact others.<\/p>\n

The format is: To [contribution] so that [impact on others].<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, we can change our world. – Simon Sinek<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The advantage of this process is that it\u2019s easy to follow. Find stories, find themes, and craft a statement. If you\u2019re new to introspection, this is a good place to start.<\/p>\n

Personally, this was not my favorite exercise. While I did manage to create an emotionally resonant \u201cwhy\u201d statement, I felt that the result was too squishy. As a developer, I prefer things to be more concrete.<\/p>\n

However, if you\u2019re starting off on the path of finding deeper meaning, this may provide you with some insight that you can expand on later.<\/p>\n

Off-the-Shelf Purpose<\/h2>\n

In our modern age of individualism and progress, we tend to want to do everything ourselves. People often toss out old ideas, saying that they no longer apply to our modern world. As developers, we are often charged with blowing away the past and building the future.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s often positive to move away from the past, we may also accidentally throw out things that may help us in our quest to be better people.<\/p>\n

The deeper questions of life\u2014including purpose\u2014have been explored by others for millennia. Sometimes, instead of using introspection to find meaning, we can look to these previous thinkers and take meaning from their works. If introspection isn\u2019t your thing, look to your bookshelf for advice.<\/p>\n

Wisdom from the past can come in many flavors. There\u2019s no shortage of great works of philosophy, religion, and literature. I\u2019m partial to the Roman Stoics, like Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. I enjoy the Stoics because of their use of rationality to defuse negative emotions and a negative mindset<\/a>. Lots of other technical professionals, including famous developers like DHH, are also fans of Stoic philosophy.<\/p>\n

Different philosophies work for different people. Keep reading until you find deeper meaning that resonates with you.<\/p>\n

Goals Hierarchy<\/h2>\n

\"\"In Grit<\/em><\/a>, author Angela Duckworth talks about how finding a higher purpose helps you gain resilience. People who have a purpose to their work can more readily persevere in the face of adversity. This ability to persevere underlies success in all fields, especially tough fields like software development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To find purpose, she recommends creating something called a goals hierarchy. To make a goals hierarchy, begin with a list of your goals. There\u2019s no specific number you need, but I\u2019d start with at least five.<\/p>\n

Once you have your list, ask yourself why each goal is important to you. As you keep asking why, you\u2019ll find that the reasons for your goals will converge into a handful of categories. Keep working your way backward until you have one to three different, but equally, important goals.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say one of your goals is to get a promotion at work<\/a>. Ask yourself why. Maybe you want that promotion because you want more money. Ask yourself why once again. Maybe you want more money to provide a great lifestyle for your family, or maybe being a provider is one of your core motivations. If several of your other goals converge on providing a good lifestyle for your family, then this is a core value.<\/p>\n

This is a great exercise for developers because we are often encouraged to create lists of goals. Whether it\u2019s in performance reviews where you create objectives for yourself or just a general drive toward personal progress, software developers often have an existing list of goals to analyze. If you\u2019re the type of person who reads a site like Simple Programmer, you\u2019re probably the type of person who has at least a few goals.<\/p>\n

I found this exercise to be the most useful of the three. I\u2019ve been keeping lists of goals for years, so it was interesting to take that and create a goals hierarchy. It was much easier to examine my lists than to dig around for stories from my past. I also liked the concrete results this exercise delivered.<\/p>\n

Find Some Deeper Meaning<\/h2>\n

No matter what method you use to find it, finding deeper meaning in our work is vital to maintaining a healthy career.<\/p>\n

Software development is a profession where money and jobs are easy to come by. That success comes with the cost of needing to constantly update your skills and grind on the career ladder.<\/p>\n

Money is not enough to motivate you to keep pushing forward. In order to have a long and healthy career, you need a deeper meaning to your work. This deeper meaning is going to help you make better choices and motivate you to do your best. Each time you are faced with a career decision, you can ask yourself if it lines up with your own personal \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take action today. Pick one method from this list and find your purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, we\u2019re going to tackle the big professional programmer questions: What\u2019s the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? It\u2019s 42. Kidding. Seriously though, it\u2019s time to start thinking about finding purpose in your work. Why do we do the work we do? As developers, we are lucky to work in a field that pays…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1064,"featured_media":29592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162232873],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice-for-software-engineers"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Your \u2018Why\u2019 as a Programmer - Simple Programmer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the components of a successful career is finding deeper meaning in your work. 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