Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 521 posts

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#231

Post by frading »

finikytou wrote: post #224
feanaro wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No-one will care about a month or two gap on your resume. On a related note, this "gap in resume" thing needs to stop being a thing at all. I don't know when it became a thing, but it feels distinctively like forcing a wage slave class to keep their head down and continue wageslaving. Why would an employer care whether I took time off to pursue other things otherwise?

trust me they care. especially in a fast moving technology space like cloud, k8s, ML. if you are hired for COBOL yes sure a gap wont matter

Trust me they don't.

I've had all sorts of gaps in my career. 6 months, 1 year and more, to explore different domains. I'm in computer graphics/front end, pretty fast paced.

Nobody ever asked.

Please, never feel guilty about taking a single month off. If your body needs rest, you need to listen to it.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#232

Post by nigma1337 »

michaelmior wrote: post #205
feanaro wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No-one will care about a month or two gap on your resume. On a related note, this "gap in resume" thing needs to stop being a thing at all. I don't know when it became a thing, but it feels distinctively like forcing a wage slave class to keep their head down and continue wageslaving. Why would an employer care whether I took time off to pursue other things otherwise?

I would agree for small gaps. But I think it's at least somewhat understandable why a significant gap would be a concern. With the pace technology moves at, if you have not been working for an extended period of time, it's reasonable that you might have fallen behind. Certainly this shouldn't be reason in itself to reject a candidate and it at least somewhat depends on what you were doing during that time, but I find…

Guess it depends on how you define a significant gap, 1 year? 5 years?

Also working doesn't necessarily equal keeping up with technology. If i'm maintaining some legacy system, I wont have a gap but i might've not learnt anything new for years.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#233

Post by Tenoke »

t_mann wrote: post #208
fshr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what if they aren't worth more (as a dev, financially) than they think they are? They could be awful, but naively put in a ton of hours. Why do we assume people are worth more? Are we trying to make them feel better by making assumptions and potentially leading them horribly astray? Most people are supremely mediocre and there are just and many horrible devs as their are great ones.

Wow, this is a textbook example of trying to solve a deeply personal/emotional problem with logics and data instead of compassion. To anyone who activates their empathy sensors it's evidently clear that the OP is having a mild burnout crisis (not surprising after 70h weeks), and needs a bit of support first and foremost. What's really doing damage is your language, not a biased estimate of which percentile of a bell…

>What's really doing damage is your language, not a biased estimate of which percentile of a bell curve we're looking at here.

I don't know, maybe setting unrealistic expectations and telling everyone they are worth more which implies they are doing something wrong to not get that worth out isn't doing them favours either in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#235

Post by schizo89 »

The same here.

I've been CEO of a startup and then things gone downhill, I got fired from it, developed schizophrenia (never gone to doctors), was unable to sustain normal functioning, then turned to AI research and shut myself in for 5+ years. Got myself in prison and now with 7 years gap in resume unable to merge myself with functioning people.

I hope there are other secret schizophrenics like me

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#236

Post by pdutt111 »

don't worry that is very usual. you just have low self-esteem not a lack of skill. I have a masters from a top school in US and I've worked for faang and trading firms, leetcode still gives me the shivers. one thing that is universal is switching jobs is the key to making more money. have a clear goal I deliver this and I need that money and tell this straight to management if they can't make it happen you leave! also bigger companies can offer you opportunities to work on harder problems if you land on the correct team. your battle scars from that much oncall are actually more valuable than your coding skills. you'll just know where to look if you enjoy that bit try SRE/production engineering roles having switched from SWE to SRE it gave me a new set of problems to keep me excited, but beware SRE roles can range from devops to tech support so look very carefully at what the job entails.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#237

Post by croon »

mromanuk wrote: post #35
senectus1 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hone a hobby definitely. I would highly recommend creating something. Woodwork, metalwork, sculpting, crochet... whatever. It uses the brain in a completely different way. it creates new challenges and the satisfaction of physically manipulating the world is unequal in the digital world.

Yes. I’m making croissants also bread. It’s super fulfilling. Then you share and enjoy your tasty creation with your friends and family

I'm more of a cook than a baker, but absolutely agree. We have tiny humans currently, so cooking for pleasure is much rarer at the moment, but when they get old enough I can't wait to get back into exploring more foods and trying new recipes and doing it together.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#238

Post by thecleaner »

Use Leetcode, it's a tremendous resource. Maybe even get the paid version.

Please don't feel bad, it will be a waste of your time. Sole developer at a startup is not the definition of a loser. And if mental health takes a toll, get help. Talk to a counsellor / psychiatrist, they are the pros.

Realise that no matter what bootcamps sell you, knowing computer science theory will get you a long way. If you are doing something that even a 16 year old could do, you are not using your knowledge well or you need to study more. Nothing wrong with that.

Write down your plans and actions, then you can have as much fog as you want in your head, you can always refer to the piece of paper.

Lastly, I don't know what being a loser is objectively and I am pretty sure neither do you, so why bother with a stupid label.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#239

Post by lwhi »

It's great that you've identified the problem! This is a great first step.

A lot of the challenges you're facing can be improved by focusing on improving your mental health. In my experience most mental health issues are exacerbated due to a lack of perspective.

It's impossible to gain any perspective about what you _already_ know and what you _need_ to know, without having colleagues who understand what you're doing.

My solution: find work in a team with multiple developers.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#240

Post by [deleted] »

michaelmior wrote: post #205
feanaro wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No-one will care about a month or two gap on your resume. On a related note, this "gap in resume" thing needs to stop being a thing at all. I don't know when it became a thing, but it feels distinctively like forcing a wage slave class to keep their head down and continue wageslaving. Why would an employer care whether I took time off to pursue other things otherwise?

I would agree for small gaps. But I think it's at least somewhat understandable why a significant gap would be a concern. With the pace technology moves at, if you have not been working for an extended period of time, it's reasonable that you might have fallen behind. Certainly this shouldn't be reason in itself to reject a candidate and it at least somewhat depends on what you were doing during that time, but I find…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN