How is this bad?

I had a guy on my team who we all thought was amazing. He always knew the newest tech and tools, he’d spend his nights and weekends learning all the stuff. Once he left it was complete hell to maintain. He used all these unnecessary integrations, which meant more points of failure, more language hopping, and multiple learning curves for seemingly simple things. He also re-implemented custom version of systems supplied and maintained by other teams in the company… which meant more learning curves and less support… again, with no real benefit other than it helped him learn. His code was also hard to read, with horrible variable names (var1 - var14) or needless abbreviations that required an Enigma to make sense of.

We have completely rewritten some of the things that need to stick around, and others are being subset. What we have left is much less complex and easier to maintain. Nothing is hidden away in systems no one really knows about.

It’s never good with your technical ambitions come at the expense of your team and what you’re building. It sounds like you were able to do it the right way, even if you didn’t mean to.

Programming isn't a sport or a game of chess.

Unless you're working in a cutting edge field, people shouldn't see your code and think "Wow, what a genius", they should think "Yep, that is definitely code, I know what it does and it has unit tests".

Any other random programmer should be able to pick up where you left off.

Unfortunately, that is highly unsatisfying to many programmers, and there's the looming threat of being replaced by robots, and I don't have answers to either of those.... If I did, I would probably know what to do about my own job search issues.

If that where the metric I prefer working with “bad programmers”, say, that that actually get stuff done vs endless pedantic discussion about performance, optimization, and yes, nonsensical algorithms that are already implemented and tested in most languages standard libraries!

With that said, I hear you. It sounds like you might be feeling burned out?

Something that brought a lot of joy back to my programming career was learning C, low level and embedded programming.

There are a lot naysayers that will point how C is an insecure language and whatnot, but what C gives you, or makes you do, is understand how a computer actually works. Where is stuff placed in memory, what is your OS API (syscalls) or what are registers and how a CPU runs something (embedded programming).

YMMV of course, but getting the those insights has been invaluable for me and very fun! One feels back in control building stuff, as opposed to doing the work of a plumber just plugging stuff together (nothing bad with that, is mostly that kind of work that pays the bills after all!)

Anyways, just my two cents. Hope you can figure something out!

However, I make between 15k to 20k a month doing my own scripting, using Asp Classic. Largely because I have difficulty learning new things and after 20+ years I am now good at this one thing. All I do is put data into a database, display it, update and delete it. The result is the same across all languages. You have to run your own business doing so. It took me a long time to figure out getting into business on my own successfully. I have tried multiple times without success but I am good now.

I suggest reframing how you think of yourself and your career so far.

From what you wrote I gather you have a few years of work experience mostly limited to front-end web development, a large cohort of programmers (well, it was for a while) but a narrow niche in terms of skills and exposure to solving actual business problems. Try focusing on some more transferable and durable skills: relational databases and SQL, system administration (cloud infrastructure and Linux), security, and back-end architecture. And start thinking of the business value you offer rather than what languages or frameworks you have used. Companies and customers don't pay for more lines of code, they pay people who can solve business problems. So concentrate on business domain expertise.

Programming and code usually don't have much value unless they serve to solve business problems. Almost every post about the bad job market and difficulty getting a job starts with "I have worked with X language and Y framework" (the "stack") when employers really want to know how you will add value to their business, how you can solve a business problem. By analogy, when I hire a plumber I assume they have learned their trade and tools, but I hire them to fix a problem like a broken drain or low water pressure, not because they have a specific brand of wrench. When looking for a plumber I will first ask people I know and go by their recommendations. You should cultivate your professional network for the same reason, so you get in the door from referrals rather than by filling out hundreds of applications online.

Imo the problem with programming as a job is that the job is never “done.”

There’s always a new bug, another feature, a new acquisition to integrate.

You rarely get the chance to step back and appreciate the thing you’ve built.

Start baking bread. That helped me a lot.

Also also, don’t buy into the hype. Coding skills (especially at the point where you can lead a team) are not going to become obsolete in a few years.

I have totally 0 marketing or operation or sales skill before I really do this startup, so I ask everyone I know to recommend some experts in this domain and managed to get a #1 on PH by myself.

26 is not that different from 16, as long as you keep the momentum

Half of all programmers are below median (for whatever that means).

Just do your best.

Same as if you were a good programmer.

Good luck.

There are just so many great programmers in the world.

If you’re confident it’s not just your mental issues talking (like narcissism, self hate etc) - identity your weaknesses and work on them.

This is a huge step towards a great programmers category.