The worst part of a senior developer’s job is a simple task.
From Reality
I’ve experienced this myself many times:
We sit down with fellow developers in a meeting room, start discussing technical topics, big-picture solutions, and brainstorm ideas. We talk about how to approach things systemically, complex problems someone ran into, and we throw in a few remarks about testing and management…
I walk out of that meeting full of energy. Me and two other colleagues are still standing by the office door, finishing a few last thoughts we didn’t manage to cover during that hour.
Then I grab a coffee, sit down at my computer…
And suddenly, all the energy from the previous hour is gone. My pending task is waiting for me.
That task isn’t anything difficult — at the level of individual lines of code, just coming up with a solution, or simply copying it from somewhere, because on the internet almost everything is already solved. Then repeating the same process ten times. On top of that, writing 20 tests that are all the same and can be created from an exact template.
It sounds simple. I barely even need to use my brain… So why do I feel so annoyed?
I don’t feel like working. I don’t even feel like thinking about it. I look for any possible way to distract myself.
I tell myself it’s laziness. I just need to push through it somehow. Everyone around me is working, finishing their tasks…
So I force myself into it, but my mood keeps getting worse and worse.
The motivation only comes back when a colleague comes to me with some “unsolvable problem”. Then we dive into it together again and can spend even two hours straight on it. Drawing diagrams. Sitting at his computer and writing code together.
And yet, it still sounds like “just coming up with a solution line by line”.
On top of that — his problem is more complex than my task. It often requires more work.
So how is it possible that I prefer working on his problem?
Unconscious Change
I didn’t even realize I had changed something in my work.
I look for any possible way to distract myself.
This turned out to be a key thing that eventually helped me move forward.
At first, completely unintentionally: I started pushing myself more into situations where I could think about bigger things than just code. Simply because I didn’t want to be bored sitting at my task.
It didn’t take long for people around me to notice this behavior.
One would expect that mainly my boss would notice and start coming to me saying that “I’m delivering too few tasks”. But the exact opposite happened. People started coming to me more and more for advice on more complex problems — because they saw I was willing to make time.
My work suddenly started to consist much more of technical meetings, business meetings, discussions with colleagues. At that time, I started enjoying going to work much more.
But the previously mentioned “fear” still showed up. My boss did eventually come to me with the topic of “not enough completed tasks”…
Conscious Change
I admit, I was a bit lucky…
My boss criticized me. But it also turned out that when negatives are discussed properly, the goal becomes finding a solution — not blaming.
My conversation with my boss didn’t go in the direction of “trying to talk my way out of obvious shortcomings”, but rather: “yes, it’s true. Let’s talk about what we can do about it.”
My boss appreciated my increased involvement in technical meetings, even with clients. He also saw that my colleagues often welcomed my help. And he understood that when someone is genuinely engaged in their work, they get much more done than when they have to force themselves into it.
Because of that, we started working together and intentionally selecting work for me in a way that would be more fulfilling:
- Fewer implementation tasks, more technical analysis.
- Participation in all (not just random) technical meetings.
- Involving me more in decision-making.
It turned out I had something to contribute not only to technical decisions, but also to business ones. As I started to see more of the project’s context, I was able to use my problem-solving skills at that level as well.
It went so far that I eventually got responsibility for an entire new project. And my boss knew I would commit to it — because I enjoyed it. Even though the tasks connected to it were much more complex than the usual implementation tasks (which, from one perspective, I was “struggling with”).
Takeaway
If someone had told me earlier that I could go to my boss and talk about changing my role, I wouldn’t have had to spend more than a year struggling with the fact that I didn’t enjoy my work.
But talking to your boss constructively isn’t the only thing I learned from this. I later analyzed my whole situation in a bit more detail.
The Psychology Behind It
Our brain spends a long time learning to solve complex problems. And the better it gets at it, the more boring simple and routine tasks become.
Boredom shows up as resistance — and so we simply don’t do the task. Just like you won’t smell something that stinks — you avoid things you feel resistance towards.
We tend to look at ourselves through the lens of “how others probably see us”. That usually ends in self-criticism. When we look at our situation from the outside, we see “that person (= me) isn’t working”. We interpret that as “slacking off”. And we close it as our own laziness.
We don’t go deeper. We don’t try to understand why we’re not working. So we don’t realize that the problem isn’t laziness, but the nature of the work itself. And because of that, we don’t look for ways to fix it.
The problem often isn’t laziness.
The problem is that routine tasks are no longer a sufficient challenge for a brain that is used to solving complex problems.
The solution is not willpower, nor forcing yourself into routine tasks.
The solution is to find a way to spend more time on things that are a real challenge for your mind.
What to Do
If this is your situation, really talk to your manager.
Try to find ways together to improve your work so that it becomes more engaging.
Examples of work that might suit you better:
- Tasks you’ve never done before (such as analysis or breaking down solutions).
- Greater involvement in decision-making (in meetings, in technical discussions).
- Understanding the context around the project (for example, why certain decisions are being made).
When you start “challenging” your brain more, you’ll see that motivation, energy, and enthusiasm will come naturally.
But be careful: This advice won’t help you if you still enjoy programming and just don’t feel like working.
You also must not add more work on top. You need to replace one type of work with another.
You might also discover something else: that programming itself is no longer a big enough challenge for you. That the developer role is starting to feel too small.
If that turns out to be your case, check out the Career Navigation, which helps developers like you find direction in their careers.