Hmm. I love refactoring. Getting the initial something that works but is ugly is fun but can be frustrating, and leaves me wanting. Once I have it working, refactoring it to something elegant is a joy. It already works. That was the hard part. All I have to do after that is push things into piles and arrange things neatly, and the result can be very satisfying.
I have piles and piles of extremely interesting work to do in my job. I am a talented software engineer and do my level best to factor things correctly the first time around, but it’s hard to get things right all the time. Inevitably I’ll have to make a second (or a third) pass to organize things better in order to manage complexity. But compared to the extremely interesting work I do normally, pushing and arranging piles is typically pretty tedious. Well, if I haven’t slept well the night before and I’m lacking in creative energy, it’s OK I guess.
It’s what comes out of the process of pushing things into piles. Once functions are factored nicely, patterns emerge. You see different ways of combining things that make more sense. Abstractions that were muddy and confused become clear. You see where duplication exists and how to eliminate it. An elegant structure emerges. But to enjoy it requires creative energy. I suppose that to me, making code readable for others is inherently interesting work. I enjoy finding the clearest and most succinct way to express an idea. Maybe if you approach it that way, you could find the interesting aspect in it.
