Ask HN: Something brainy to do that breaks the monotony?
I'm a mid-level developer with about 4 YOE, and, well my job is fine and all, but it doesn't make me really, really use my brain and skills to solve some cool problem.
Other than sleep and work, it's all just TV/games/reading or going out with my SO and friends. It's all nice and dandy, but dammit I need to use my brain.
I would like something to do in my spare time to just have that sort of problem solving fun. Be it competitive programming, leetcode or anything else.
Hopefully, people can relate and I'm just not going through a mid-level crisis. How about wood working? I love that, it’s so different but uses your brain to design whatever your building and then physically build it. How about learning to play guitar? I’d love to do that but don’t have the time. Very different use of brain. How about join a sporting team like soccer? Again uses different types of thinking but can be quite strategic e.g. to know what space to occupy to either stop the other team or setup your team for a goal. How about art?? Drawing, painting.. Any reason why the two examples you gave - competitive programming and leetcode - were both programming work? Vs. trying to get really good at chess, or study advanced mathematics, or learn a new (human) language, ... I dunno, I feel programming stuff feels a bit more intuitive and fun than something like chess or learning spanish Match poker! What's your stack? Would you be interested in starting a project together?