All Developers have a time in life where we are in the start of middle age and the and the middle of our carrier where we are struck and can’t move forward in current jobs or switch carriers. This is mainly because we started a family and maybe a kid and everything looks complex and if we make any sudden changes professionally then it will add complicate the most important thing, “family”.
Even though there is no straight forward or an easy approach to resolve this, we can try to resolve this by adopting below methods that suits as:
Suck it up:
It looks like a failure, if you’re having comfortable financial benefits, standard work-life balance, it better to suck it up and continue till your family life get in balance for few years
Try a side-hustle:
Mostly of a time a developer fell less motivated in the job if the challenges given in the job is not enough or not matching the preference of them. In those cases we can try a side hustle like starting a freelancing job, a SAS product or even supporting a open source project of our liking.
Practice a new programming language or software:
Trying a new software or a Programming language like can take your mind off of day to day crisis and keep you distracted.I am nowadays creating some python scripts to resolve tiny problems on day to day basis, a skill that I stopped using once become a GIS Web Developer.Also trying to use QGIS a opensource GIS software instead of ArcGIS.
Discuss with family:
Even though the family may not know our business they know as better than anyone. It is always helpful if you share your frustration about job to your family, so that they can understand your suffering. You can plan the future of your family along with them, like moving to a different place or realign your way of life and cost of living as per your plans
It is not wrong to put your financial goals prior to professional goals if that’s what your family need. Try not miss your old self who always immersed in coding. Because as your carrier grow you have to concentrate on your other skills like mentoring, leading, code review etc., Don’t try to over compensate your carrier, as you can always build your carrier back, but can’t to the same with family.
