Hi

I have been in the IT industry as a developer for 7 years. I have been consulting for the last 3, which has given me the oppurtunity to experience different roles and types of work. Just recently I analyzed what makes me happy and what kind of work I enjoy and I came to a very unique and strange (at least to me) conclusion:

I like coming up with new ideas (have come up with 7 so far) but never do much about them. I enjoy working on projects that involve new technologies (usually web related) that I have to learn and apply. Most of these have a user/GUI front end. But once I have learnt the new technology (usually doesnt take me long), and I have implemented half of the project, my energy, focus and interest fades drastically. I get bored, start browsing the web and ignore the "details" and "grunt" work of the project.

I can't figure out what this means exactly: Do I just not like finishing things? Do I just like learning new things? Have I not learnt all the technologies I wanted to leanr, yet?

What kind of a job will allow me to do this and enjoy my work? Im willing to change industries if I find something that fits this strange nature of mine.

thanks for listening. and thanks in advance for your response.

Moazzam Ahmed Dallas, TX

-- Moazzam Ahmed (moazzam@ahmed.net), November 30, 2000

Answers

Moazaam, it might just come down to one thing and this may be that you have not figured out the long term benefits of your work. Sometimes when you start things that you don't finish it may not be a message that you are doing the wrong things but because you don't see the big picture of where this work fits in, or in other words its contribution and impact it has for others. If you only produce work because you are in search of work that is right for you, you will have abandoned the meaning that is crucial behind it and no matter what you do, your efforts will always feel not worthy of continuation.

As a human being we all have to stop and refuel or stop and discharge, this applies to mind work and our creative potential to. You said you get half way to a project before your energy, focus and interest drastically fades. It is that particular moment Moazzam when you need to refuel and how do you do this? You explore, you take an exploration of things outside of the project that you can bring back to give it a new heartbeat and the freshness that you began with. If you don't refuel your project of course it will slow down, of course it will crash, the fact that you get half way through means that you have the talent, so it is not the talent that is draining away, it is the passion.

Bill Gates is an example of someone who hired people to do his grunt work while he used his gift to create the world greatest corporate powerhouse, but Bill Gates was successful for two reasons. Firstly he saw the big picture of where his work fitted in and secondly and more importantly, he was a people person. He knew the power and dynamics of personal relationships has and that by itself has carried him further in the IT industry than someone who has far more design genius and technical ability than him viz Steve Jobs. Just because one has the option to go into business and farm out the grunt work, one must also recognize that if the hard graft is something they avoid, then it has more to do with a lack of vision and mission, then it has to do with career change. I will argue with you that both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had a strange nature but both were successful because of the little things they did right, as well as the big things. First of all, you have to ask yourself if you are prepared to do the little things and then you are free to use the gift you have for ideas and technical ability.

Beyond finding and discovering the big picture and context your work fits in, there is also a question of joy and fun in your work. You cannot discover your real spirit until you discover where the fun lies in what you do. In that light I have concluded with link with what I call a reality check on demotivation so that you do not make this a serious minded pursuit but a joyful and one where you discover possibilities. I have also added three other articles that I think may be of interest to you:

Good luck Moazzam, I wish you the very best with your future directions.

Are you on the right track? http://www.fastcompany.com/online/41/righttrack.html

Grunt Work is a perception, study this article from a music industry consultant: http://www.knab.com/Indie_trenches.htm

Changing Careers http://careers.mainetoday.com/career/changing.shtml

Get a reality check about demotivation http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/demotivation.html

M.

"To be or not to be that is the question" A quote by Willy Shakes. M Profile at: http://www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/replypost.html? p=9738 Mantra of M. "Life is about Private Relations not Public Relations"

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), November 30, 2000.

Here are some things could be happening: 1. You don't have the resources to implement your idea (seems unlikely from reading your question). 2. You are not convinced of your idea's potential. 3. Your need to succeed has be lulled into complacency because other efforts are paying the bills. 4. You are a classic entrepreneur, who needs to beat the bushes for a "nuts and bolts" kind of guy who gets off on making things work.

-- Bruce H. Anderson (BAnderson@TheStellarGroup.com), March 16, 2001.