I got an internship my senior year of college with an excellent little software consulting outfit. They hired me full-time after graduation. I, too, was content, even though I'd sometimes work straight through the night and fail to accomplish anything meaningful. I liked my coworkers and am still in touch with them.

Leaving there was the best decision I've ever made. I activated my professional network and had another job lined up in under 24 hours. Now, this job is about as meaningful, and I will leave it at the end of my year-long contract... but it's been a good change of pace, it doubled my pay, and I got to move to a new city and meet new people.

I'd encourage you to take the plunge. It's easier if you have a professional network in place, but even if you don't, unemployment is a powerful motivator. If you're single and you're not living paycheck to paycheck... do it.

I feel like I'm putting a black mark on myself by admitting so on this site, but my problem is that I haven't done well technically in recent interviews because my programming knowledge has atrophied. I feel like if I had a little while to really study and crank out a few more small projects that I could do well at get an offer.

I have a decent amount saved up with no dependents. Maybe I'll make the move sooner than later.

If you have a boring comfortable job then presumably you can squeeze some time out on the side to polish your craft. You don't necessarily need to make a brash move like quitting tomorrow, instead you need steady measured moves towards you goal. Spend some time each night programming on personal projects. Eventually, yes, you should quit, but it should not be seen as a prerequisite to improve your life.

Also, I suggest listing to Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann's Back to Work (http://5by5.tv/b2w). Best podcast ever for this sort of thing.

Keep applying fir this interviews. Each interview failure will make you get out your books and hone your craft. After 6 interview failures you will be learning more than what you learnt the whole previous year.

Just saying, your on the right track as long as you keep interviewing.

Sounds strange, but thinking about it -- it did work for me. I got motivation when I failed an interview a few years back (I hadn't understood what was really needed).

Otherwise, I am in the same situation as the grandparent comment, I've certainly lost more than I've learned at the present job. (But my CV looks better for what I planned to apply for next, which is the point.)

Yes but this (ie your skills atrophying) will happen at any job where your not being challenged enough.

Its part of life. Realize that you've gotten too comfortable and get out of there.

The lowest risk way of doing that is to keep interviewing for jobs you want. This will force you back into learning what you need automagically.

I'm trying a new method - trying to start a company. You'll have to ask me in a year or two whether this is as good a solution :) ...

atrophied how? You can't write a for loop anymore? Nothing fundamental has changed in programming in the last 10 years.

There are so many languages and frameworks and design patterns and whatnot that it'd be surprising if you WEREN'T constantly running into stuff you haven't used before. Don't underestimate your abilities to pick up new stuff.

I just saw this post so I'm commenting very late... I feel that I'm better than ever at software development, and I've certainly come a long way. The problem is that I thought I'd be much further along than I am now(fwiw, I have about 6 years of working experience, and have been programming since high school). Maybe I feel like I'm behind as a result of so many new technologies that have crept up, but I still feel that a lot of the time at work is spent outside of software development on other things.

It's only "the worst" if the only important thing to you is creating an amazing startup or learning awesome development skills. Be aware the bias in this environment (Hacker News). I'm not slamming career-/startup-minded ambition, but don't let this guy bug you too much if you don't share his priorities.

That said, if you're dissatisfied, better to take a risk sooner rather than later.

>(Preface: Coder at a major financial company, first job out of university) I've done that, just not the first job.

I've quit every job I've ever had. Six were without written notice, though they were prefaced with talks with managers over several months indicating that I wasn't happy and why -- so I don't think in any situation it ever came as a surprise. In no instance did I ever have another job lined up. This is because I knew exactly what I wanted in a change, so I was ready to act on it.

Reading further down in the thread, it seems that you're not working on things you like. Tell a manager this, tell them what you'd like to work on, and see if there's opportunity within the company to do that, or if they're willing to make that happen.

Your feeling of "atrophy" seems to be that you're falling behind current trends. This happens in most organizations. Don't let anyone - even here - tell you otherwise. Places working with newer technologies that are better tailored to specific needs are in the minority due to politics, shortsightedness and a myriad of other reasons. The only way around this is to find these organizations that are absolutely exceptions -- The places that want to always use the best tool for the job, even if they have to spend the time to evaluate the new tools and learn it up front. Cardboard Box Co., BigOl Wholesaler Inc., or J. Random Fund-of-Funds are rarely those kinds of organizations. Why? No one wants to put their neck on the line politically in case they made a mistake. People are too busy looking out for themselves rather than the organization as a whole.

You will probably need to change jobs, but see if the current employer is willing to make things work for you. If no, it's a matter of when. I'd say at least come up with a big list of places you're going to apply to if you're going to quit. And if you've come up with the list, start applying.

Unless you want something else. Regardless, you're not going to act until you know what you want. So figure that out, and then you'll find you make progress rather quickly.