I'm in the same boat. Sometime in late spring 2018 my productivity plummeted. Same did my activity on StackOverflow.
However I think what's a huge contributing factor is gaining experience. With every structure we come up with, every function and/or abstraction we also build a mental picture of all the possible dependencies it comes with. We see the bigger picture. And we see the same (potential) paths of failure again and again and again…
I found that another favorite activity of mine didn't suffer: Designing electronics. I can still (productively) spend hours on tinkering with SPICE simulations, soldering in-situ projects, and so on.
And recently I also discovered that it's not programming itself that has become harder for me. It is programming in domains I am extremely familiar with that I'm less productive in. If it's in an area I'm not familiar with, things are much easier, because I don't see the big picture yet.
However I think what's a huge contributing factor is gaining experience. With every structure we come up with, every function and/or abstraction we also build a mental picture of all the possible dependencies it comes with. We see the bigger picture. And we see the same (potential) paths of failure again and again and again…
I found that another favorite activity of mine didn't suffer: Designing electronics. I can still (productively) spend hours on tinkering with SPICE simulations, soldering in-situ projects, and so on.
And recently I also discovered that it's not programming itself that has become harder for me. It is programming in domains I am extremely familiar with that I'm less productive in. If it's in an area I'm not familiar with, things are much easier, because I don't see the big picture yet.