there are plenty of ways to self-improve yourself and things that you do daily, but i’ve always been interested in self improvement in relation to programming. i’ve been trying to stay focused and motivated by creating optimal work conditions to get the most amount of satisfaction out of my work without losing productivity.
essentially, you need to discover your leading factor and work to improve it. morale ranks high on my list, so i turned to robert read’s advice on staying motivated. if money is what keeps you going, i suggest you take a look at not motivated by money. if burnout is what gets you down, keith robinson has some tips for you in how to deal with that.
i also believe work conditions are one of the leading factors for programming and slave labor to become synonomous for a lot of people.
there’s just something wrong with sitting alone in a cubicle next to the men’s bathroom under a harsh fluorescent light and thinking that it won’t affect your work. joel spolsky takes it a step further by analyzing the relationship between work conditions and defining good programmers in this article.
while i am sure we all have different reasons for doing what we do, improving your motivation and working conditions will drastically enhance your future relationship with programming.
Related posts: