I realized a while ago that the reason why I love programming even after doing it for 13 years professionally is that I never have to do the same thing twice. Automate, automate, automate. The most trivial HR application when approached with good software design methodology is an opportunity to learn, to refine one's abstraction methodology, and to automate things away that don't just bore you, but bore other people. In fact, the most trivial HR application can be way more fun to work on than the far more superficially-glamorous game programming.<p>(Though I wouldn't <i>dream</i> of arguing that the end result of the HR system is more fun.)<p>Later on I've started to notice that those who never develop their skills this far tend to boreout of the career earlier. I hypothesize that at about the ten year mark, programmers fall reasonably cleanly into one of three categories: 1. approaching the job the way I do 2. boredout of the career or 3. immune to boredom, the traditional old fogey who doesn't keep up and only knows COBOL (or whatever fills the niche for when the programmer started), and the ones who give us #1s a bad name. I plan on keeping my eye out for this in the future. (That is, when I say "I hypothesize" I mean it's a new hypothesis I mean to test, but do not have any immediate counterexamples.)
"The authors disagree with the common perceptions that a demotivated employee is lazy"<p>I was wondering about this the other day - does lazy have a real meaning? I thought through some options and came to the conclusion that it's a nondescription used to close off any further enquiry and also used as an insult.<p>It doesn't explain anything, it's a proper phlogiston answer.<p>Not doing something could be lack of motivation (that doesn't matter), lack of interest (I don't want to paraglide), other priorities (I would but can't right now), lack of skill (I want to but can't), fear of various things (if I start I will only draw attention to this, what will people think, what if I fail), but lazy? A nonsense word which I should stop using.
I've read the book "The Living Dead", mentioned at the bottom, that makes a similar convincing case that there are plenty of people doing basically nothing within most large organisations.
"Boreout is a management theory that posits that lack of work, boredom, and consequent lack of satisfaction are a common malaise affecting individuals working in modern organizations, especially in office-based white collar jobs. <i>This theory was first expounded in 2008</i>..." (emphasis mine)<p>2008? We've had a generation of movies, books, etc. in which this idea is one of the main themes at the very least. Office Space, anyone? Fight Club, even?