about the average of everyone else here. I'm glad I'm not the only one. no wait, I'm saddened for us all. we're doomed!
Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
11–20 of 24 posts
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#12It took me a couple of years to recover, but I never went back to the industry.
Fuck unrealistic deadlines and unnecessary stress.
Fuck shipping half-assed unfinished products.
Fuck working on shit which is a net negative on the world.
Fuck using stupid-ass "frameworks".
I'd rather be a beggar than do that shit again.
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#13It takes few years
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#14It took a good 3-4 months for me find any remote joy in getting back to work. I was lucky not to be in a financial situation where I needed to work, so I could take some months off early without any real consequence.
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#153-4 days. I really just need an extended weekend where I don't think about work. Maybe I need so little time because I sense when I am getting burned out and I just take 3 days off as a precaution and this happens quite often - multiple times a year.
If I take a year off I forget how to think and work I think.
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#16at least 2 month, it's the bare minimum if you really fully relax
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#17It took me a couple of years to recover, but I never went back to the industry. Fuck unrealistic deadlines and unnecessary stress. Fuck shipping half-assed unfinished products. Fuck working on shit which is a net negative on the world. Fuck using stupid-ass "frameworks". I'd rather be a beggar than do that shit again.
What are you doing now?
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#18Depends what you mean.
I believe burnout comes from forgetting who you were before you learned your professional vocation. For me the little kid that likes legos and video games, where “computers” are some weird abstract thing in the lab at school. Putting my work-self before that kid leads to disaster. I’m a human being before I’m a programmer. I can allow myself to change: to even dislike programming, to explore other ways of being and playing.
How do you fix that? Of course depends on the severity:
- A solid vacation leaving your work laptop at home.
- getting into hobbies and interests away from work so you get some perspective
- taking an n month sabbatical
- deciding to switch careers entirely…
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#19It took me a couple of years to recover, but I never went back to the industry. Fuck unrealistic deadlines and unnecessary stress. Fuck shipping half-assed unfinished products. Fuck working on shit which is a net negative on the world. Fuck using stupid-ass "frameworks". I'd rather be a beggar than do that shit again.
What are you doing now?
After taking a break for a year or two, I returned to what I loved to do before: Writing software for myself to use and enjoy and to share with others, taking the time to think it through, do it right without cutting corners, and enjoy and rejoice in the gift of the process.
Re: Ask HN: How many days do you take off to recover from burnout?
#20What is a solid definition of a burnout? Asking, because as a teenager and in my early twenties I was quite sensitive / "self-reflective" and always expected that spending dull days working for other people will kill me mentally, but in the end it never happend. I'm in IT for 10 years already and changed jobs a couple of times, usually when some processes in companies where pissing me off, but I don't think this is what you're talking about.