--- title: It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding | daily.dev description: Developers don't need to code constantly to be passionate or successful. Taking breaks and pursuing non-coding hobbies prevents burnout, fuels creativity, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding | daily.dev og:description: Developers don't need to code constantly to be passionate or successful. Taking breaks and pursuing non-coding hobbies prevents burnout, fuels creativity, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/dsPiqEJ9d.png og:image:alt: It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding **[DEV](https://daily.dev/sources/devto)** · 4 min read · 98 upvotes · 20 comments ## Summary Developers don't need to code constantly to be passionate or successful. Taking breaks and pursuing non-coding hobbies prevents burnout, fuels creativity, and improves problem-solving abilities. The myth of the 24/7 coder is damaging—true passion is measured by the quality of focus during work hours, not total hours spent coding. Stepping away from the screen often leads to breakthrough solutions and sustains a healthier, longer career. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@alibahrami** · 13 upvotes > video games are the best. **@diego2423** · 6 upvotes > Loved this post, super refreshing! This kind of thing doesn’t get talked about enough. As devs, we really don’t need to be coding 24/7. It’s totally fine (and healthy) to have hobbies outside of tech. I really liked this, hope more folks start sharing stuff like it. **@jrmemeichelbeck** · 4 upvotes > I don't code at home anymore. At all. > Well, except when I'm working from home. > > I don't have time. I'm working 8h a day + 1h lunch break + 3h of commute. > > At home I take care of my dogs. **@akkitto** · 2 upvotes > Depends on the "work" you do. If you are a normal employee at a large corporation, chances are extremely high, you need to work on your own personal projects to progress, as corporations usually put you in a very tight spot with very limited freedoms and room for evolution. **@joncoe** · 2 upvotes > Tell this to hiring managers when you are interviewing... 🤪 ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Keep Building Without Getting Paid](https://daily.dev/posts/keep-building-without-getting-paid-n7ugpzszm) · Telerik · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I burned out. Now I don't know how to start again.](https://daily.dev/posts/i-burned-out-now-i-don-t-know-how-to-start-again--kfpepqdol) · DEV · 125 upvotes · 26 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#mental-health](https://daily.dev/tags/mental-health), [#work-life-balance](https://daily.dev/tags/work-life-balance) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d"},"datePublished":"2025-10-24T08:50:14.016Z","dateModified":"2025-10-24T08:50:38.180Z","description":"Developers don't need to code constantly to be passionate or successful. Taking breaks and pursuing non-coding hobbies prevents burnout, fuels creativity, and...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/18bca41de5542a458a339f834cbf7bf9?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/18bca41de5542a458a339f834cbf7bf9?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"DEV","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"DEV","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/devto","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/devto"},"commentCount":20,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":98},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":20}],"keywords":"career,productivity,mental-health,work-life-balance","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DEV","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/devto"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"It's Okay If Your Biggest Hobby Isn't Coding"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-okay-if-your-biggest-hobby-isn-t-coding-dspiqej9d","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"video games are the best.","datePublished":"2025-10-27T18:51:51.621Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dsPiqEJ9d#c-H1avbJjyb","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ali Bahrami","url":"https://daily.dev/alibahrami","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocK29Vzkv32xxfwFI79fkAPkFwa52i6d2UZqAJn29hYXZqAld_sY=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":13}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Loved this post, super refreshing! This kind of thing doesn’t get talked about enough. As devs, we really don’t need to be coding 24/7. It’s totally fine (and healthy) to have hobbies outside of tech. I really liked this, hope more folks start sharing stuff like it.","datePublished":"2025-11-03T15:57:18.309Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dsPiqEJ9d#c-sb5Mo5AM9","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Diego","url":"https://daily.dev/diego2423","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xq-FCKdZ--/f_auto/v1754318075/avatars/avatar_DPmekDERCnaqPdYhqb4ID?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":6}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I don’t code at home anymore. At all.\nWell, except when I’m working from home.\nI don’t have time. I’m working 8h a day + 1h lunch break + 3h of commute.\nAt home I take care of my dogs.","datePublished":"2025-11-04T06:46:13.412Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dsPiqEJ9d#c-i0oqA6wm1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jérôme Meichelbeck","url":"https://daily.dev/jrmemeichelbeck","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JY0uVUtQ--/f_auto/v1727947731/avatars/avatar_BSQRVgqqRVVoABG3XWfb4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Depends on the “work” you do. If you are a normal employee at a large corporation, chances are extremely high, you need to work on your own personal projects to progress, as corporations usually put you in a very tight spot with very limited freedoms and room for evolution.","datePublished":"2025-11-05T19:12:21.100Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dsPiqEJ9d#c-FiWteqvR4","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Tell this to hiring managers when you are interviewing… 🤪","datePublished":"2025-11-04T07:40:31.021Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/dsPiqEJ9d#c-vtYlylIsa","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"joncoe","url":"https://daily.dev/joncoe","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/3487906?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```