2022 - A Review on Burnout
Tags: webdev, programming, productivity
Published: 2023-01-06 15:11:30

tldr; If you feel yourself buring out take a break try something different be that related or unrelated to what you currently do.

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I've been trying to figure out what I've actually been doing these past two years since the last review which was in 2020! 

At the end of 2020, I set out with this:
> "I have many long-term goals. Eventually, I would like to try VueJS and Express. But going into 2021 I will be building more APIs using Django and getting better at integrating them on the front end."

## Did I accomplish my goals since 2020?

I am happy to say I did do a lot of Vue that year. Nothing crazy but a lot of test sites. A lot of trying to figure out whether I prefer writing code using the new composition API or if the options API was the way to go. I've got to say I have since been mixing between the two since lots of Vue3 libraries give you demos using the composition API. 

A lot of my time in 2021 was taken up by A-Levels. Namely my final project for Computer Science. I spend just over a year working on a timetable application for my school. You can read about that [here](https://dev.to/merichard123/building-a-timetable-generator-31o7). 

The first half of 2022 was taken up by my final year in sixth-form college. Lots of exams and a lot more stress with university applications. Due to covid, we had a lot more exams than we normally would, hence the time I had to code was very minimal.

By the time I was done with exam submissions and University applications, I had been working incredibly hard learning different things hence I was incredibly burnt out. I had no desire to do anything productive. I spent a lot of time with friends before I had to inevitably leave for a different city and move to university. 

I got my first University offer at the end of 2021!! I accepted a place around June once all the other universities had made their decisions.

Though I had no desire to do anything web development related. I started to play around with Haskell; It was a bit of a change of pace, but it was fun and something different to do when I felt bad about not doing anything. 

Even though I wasn't doing much programming myself; I watched a lot of different twitch streamers make different apps and software. I think this helped keep me interested without burning myself out more. I liked watching Tsoding on twitch, he does a lot of different bits with lots of different languages; he was a good source of inspiration and motivation.

## Starting University
Between August and October, I had a lot of admin to do for University. I had to fill out countless forms for enrollment, accommodation etc.... 

October 2022 was my first-semester doing Computer Science at University. For the first two months, it was about settling in. The only code I wrote was what I had for my programming modules. Taking the 3-month break from code helped put a different perspective on things. 

Once I felt the motivation come back slightly, I challenged myself to redeisgn my portfolio from scratch in the span of a week. This was a really fun challenge because I meant I coun't really procrastinate from doing it. I wanted to make it simpler and less of a hassle to maintain. So I opted for Next JS (the link is below). I also made a custom new tab screen with all the commonly unsed links for my university. 
- [Portfolio](https://www.richardcoric.dev/)

This brings us to December of 2022. With new found intrerests in lower level programming, I decided to spend more time learning C and getting better at Haskell, while also completing university work. 

## 2023 and Beyond

This year I want to keep reading books on Haskell unitl I really become comfortable with it. I want to do more low level programming maybe messing with x86-64 assembly. Some books I would recommend are:
- Programming From the Ground Up - Jonathan Bartlett
- Real World Haskell
- Learn You a Haskell

I also have a goal to build everything from scratch at least once. At the moment I want to make my own programming language with a compiler, and hopefully browser. I would also like to do the Harvard CS50 course. 

I hope to apply to some dev jobs this year to do along side university if that works out, but more importantly I am soon moving to my final semester of first year, so getting through uni is my top priority. 

## Summary
I appreciate that, this article was a little all over the place, but if anything it reflects my life these past two years. 
Ultimately, what helps me most with burn out is taking a longer break from everything, and trying something different see what else might interest you. ❤