Working Phases
Lately I haven’t been in the mood to work. I’m not sure why. I call it my phases. Sometimes I’m in my working phase and I’m so busy with code and getting it all done, that I breeze by and enjoy it. I’m really into it. I will forget lunch, forget I have to use the bathroom. Sometimes I’ll even lose track of time and not realize it’s time to go home. Then at other times, I just can’t seem to concentrate on work. I try. Don’t think I’m totally slacking. But my mind is off somewhere else, I get distracted easily. I don’t even enjoy it. It’s aweful. All I can think of is my website designs, the book I’m currently reading, or anything else that isn’t work related. The clock ticks as I wait impatiently for the work day to end. I can’t get out quick enough and I don’t look forward to going in the next morning. I hate when I’m in my “out” phase.
Yep, you guessed it. I’m in an “out” phase curently, but it feels like I may be going back into my “workaholic” phase pretty soon. I can feel myself getting interested again in what I’m working on. Fortunately I’m in a field where I have multiple projects, so the work changes constantly. It’s all coding, but my focus changes from one project to the next, whether it be a user requested modification, or an enhancement to the existing application. I’ve currently got 4 projects going on. I have them prioritized so I’m really only working on one at a time, but I know I’ll have something different to work on as soon as my current work is done.
It feels good to finish my projects and roll out a new version of our application. That sense of accomplishment when the users come and tell me they like the new change. And I think back to when I began working here and had never programmed before. I was thrown in and had to learn as I go. I bought a book that goes through an introduction of Visual Basic. I read it for two weeks before I started working here. Then I had a general idea of what I’d be looking at. I’d never even seen Visual Basic code before. So I remember how I felt, sitting in the teeny server room, printing pages of code so I could analyze it and figure out what that portion of the application was doing and I realize I’ve come a long way. I was so scared back then. I had no idea what I was doing. Not only did I have to learn VB, I had to learn how to create stored procedures for MSSQL Server. It was overwhelming, but I got the hang of it.
I really enjoy my work, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing. Well, maybe running a bookstore, but, that’s another story. I just wish I didn’t have these “out” phases. Hopefully, it’s going away…I can feel my concentration getting better. My desire to code is increasing, so maybe I’ll become the “workaholic” sometime in the next week.
