I’ve been wondering lately — how many years am I going to keep working as a software engineer? I genuinely don’t know.
It’s been difficult of late. I find I’m having trouble maintaining the motivation, and I’m beginning to feel I won’t be able to do this on a daily basis. I get bored so quickly. The type of bored where you look at your screen for a full hour and yet somehow you can still convince yourself you deserve a break.
Then I look back at how it all started.
I was only 14 years old the first time I wrote a line of code. I was that young. And at that time, the thought of being able to code was good enough to keep you up all night. I was that excited about the future — I was convinced I was gonna be something. I was just looking for a shot. Just one opportunity to amount to something.
Fast forward a few years: having shamelessly borrowed some gigantic beginner-friendly projects from a kind Indian YouTuber (thank you, legend), and having created some pieces for a portfolio I barely understood at the time, I landed my first actual job. A GCC retail group gambled on me. I was 18, and that moment was everything.
I dove head-first at the work as if I had something to prove — which I did. I was always in learn mode, treating each incremental achievement as a promotion, and enjoying the experience of being 14-year-old me’s dream job. I was a software engineer. That title means less now. But at some point, the excitement began to fizzle. The work was. repetitive. And that experience — of waking up with no energy to do something you used to be passionate about — that’s a new thing for me. It sucks.
But now, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful. I’m still learning. But that passion I had at the beginning? Flickering. And I’m realizing increasingly: This profession is not just about writing code. This work is about maintaining curiosity, seeking out challenges, and continually redefining what “success” means for you.
No — I don’t know for sure how many years I’ll be doing this. But I know one thing: I’ve gone too far to turn back now. Perhaps what I require is not a new career or a promotion. Perhaps I merely need to discover a new justification.
If not, I’ll work it out. I’ve debugged worse.

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A software engineer reflects on their career journey from passionate 14-year-old beginner to experienced professional struggling with motivation and burnout. Starting with excitement about coding and landing their first job at 18, they describe how the initial passion has faded into repetitive work and boredom. Despite feeling grateful and continuing to learn, they question how much longer they can sustain their career while acknowledging they've come too far to quit and may just need to find new purpose.

How Long Will I Keep Doing This

Somehow, I’ve found my motivation again after 15 years in this industry in open source. Watching the stars rise on the projects I’m sharing with the community, and sharing it online makes me feel truly fulfilled!

I also felt the same two years after getting my first job. As you said, working on the same project for so long became boring af.
Then I quit and started freelancing. I loved that as I got to work on so many different types of projects.
It also encouraged me to keep learning as new clients have new requirements.
This has kept me excited for 5 years now
My advice to you is to find what excites you about programming and dive into it
Good luck! 👍

“I’ll work it out. I’ve debugged worse”

You don’t mention how old you are, but I’m 50 and I’ve been feeling the same for many years now. I suppose it also depends on what kind of programming you do, and I do Web development, mostly front-end for the last 10+ years. I assume if I were into e.g. game programming, it would’ve been much more interesting and less repetitive. And you don’t mention AI, which is another factor for us to consider going forward. Honestly, I keep thinking of quitting the IT field way too often, but, if you’ve got a family depending on you and it still pays the bills, well…

split your work up into small chunks, as long as you make progress by the end of the day, no matter how big, you will keep motivation and will keep wanting to continue working the next day