Has anyone ever worked a part-time job to take a break from software development?

No one has ever done that

Part time .... delivering pizza? Coding?

oooooh this is an interesting one. I have considered renewing my diesel tech certification to fuck around as a mechanic for a few weeks every once in a while.

I like working with my hands, and no, fucking around with a keyboard all day is not what i meant by that.

Nor is playing with my pp all day considered working with my hands

Yes.

Lead dev (videogame industry) to web designer to deli.

I hated the deli. But it was a nice change. No computers beyond the printer on the scale. Just me, meat and cheese, sandwiches, and customers.

Lessons learned there: clients (and managers) are the same regardless of industry. Clients are more easily satisfied by simple projects, and are pickier about complex ones. Quality of customer service doesn’t change this behavior.

I quit an extremely stressful and over-demanding dev job and worked a bit as a barista while taking college courses. I was even more busy than before, but I felt like I was actually investing in myself. It was a nice change at the time, met a lot of interesting people, but I wouldn't do it again. I came out of realizing how lazy and impractical I was about money, I learned to force a smile, and I still struggle with setting realistic expectations at work but not as much. I still have no idea how people survive on that level of pay...They can't.

I came out of that experience with gratitude toward having a dev job that I didn't realize I lacked, and a disgust for people who treat service industry workers like dirt. I have more flexibility afforded and definitely don't take it for granted anymore.

Also learned to never, ever disclose to anyone at work that I worked as a barista between two dev jobs because people want to make it out to be a bad thing and will never let it go.

Thanks for the replies, I love software but work has been getting harder to manage lately and don't really know what I need to get my old motivated self back.

I want a break to work on passion projects tbqh.

@mincedsheep Same. This is what I've been dealing with over the last few years: I'm just terrible at setting boundaries and expectations, to the point where I just go home and keep working, even on weekends. I just never feel like I'm doing enough or know enough.

I've been trying to find ways to either stay motivated or get more work done more quickly. My new year's resolution for 2021 is to be 100% done with *work* at 5PM. Completely off (maybe on call if I have to be, but ugh...)

The 5PM goal for me is so I know when I get home, I'm going to have that hour to work on the project I've wanted to do. That's all I want to freaking achieve for this year, just being done at 5PM.

Considered it. But after all the covid events (got layed off but found a new place right away), I am happy to work one day less, as the opportunity appeared, to have more time for passion projects. Experience will have to show if that's enough as of yet

@CatFoodParty I have the problem of not going home at 5pm as well. But what I've learned is, the job doesn't need to be done at 5pm, there's always tomorrow! We gotta do this job for years, decades, so why try to do everything in 1 sitting. It's silly really.

Yep. No joke, I’m a farmer. Work first thing in the morning then work on dev stuff then farm in the evening.

When I was student I did some 1mo. Jobs at supermarkets filling shelves. Is it weird that I loved that? I often feel nostalgic about it. The satisfaction of unwrapping goods with a cutter, having laughs with coworkers, singing along with the 20 same songs you hear for a month on end, gossiping about the grumpy manager... What I loved is the simplicity of the job and immediate added value to customers. In Belgium the pay is not that much lower than a non-niche expert dev

does working while being a student count when I staretd developing prior?

Then I worked at the local kart track, selling tickets and drinks. It was nice but also stressfull at times. I left because the working hours got rediculous and were were understaffed on the weekends (meaning 14 and 12h shifts, both saturday and sunday, + 1h traveling there and another hour traveling back) for minimum wage.

Once you get the hang of it, it is nice and relaxing. You don't need to think much. But doing that every day would get boring. It made for some nice stories to tell at parties though.

Also worked (and kinda still do) at the local planetarium. It is nice and one gets another field to study and look into.

Edit: Oh ye, you learn to never be bitchy or mean to service industry people.