I quit my job October because I was too burnt out to keep going (and because I got a 3% raise in a year of 7% inflation right after I released a product that would save the company millions a
month, but I digress).
My best advice is, if you can afford it, quit your job and don't do anything until it sounds good. Like literally sit and stare at a wall until something sounds fun. My recovery was definitely delayed because I thought doing hobbies was how I was going to recover, so I forced myself to try to do things because I though I'd want to have accomplished them after my sabbatical was done.
If you want to call it mediation, call it that. If you want to call it sitting in the shower with a beer call it that. If you want to call it renting a cabin on a mountain to with no internet, call it that. The important thing is you're giving your mind time to (if you will) run a defrag on itself.
I'm still not 100% over being burnt out, so I can't give any guarantee, but giving myself that time has definitely helped immensely.
> Should I tell my boss and/or team? Should I tell them right away, or wait until I know what other steps I want to take? What should I expect their reactions to be?
Hard to say. How's your relationship with your boss/team? If quitting is the most likely outcome, you have nothing to lose, and maybe they can help. If your work reletionships are more adversarial, maybe not.
> Should I take time off? How much? Or should I try to work reduced hours? I'm hesitant because I don't have many hobbies (if any) and in the middle of the pandemic there isn't much to do anyway. I don't think running out of things to do would be any better for my health than continuing as-is. I've been there before and I don't handle boredom well.
In my opinion, yes.
I don't know you or your personality, but for me not handling boredom well was a symptom of being burnt out. Or as I said it, I was "bad at" relaxing. I still am, but I'm getting better about it. And the thing that is helping the most with that is telling myself that I'm allowed to be bored and then scheduling some time to be bored. That might sound stupid, but I really think that is the thing that has helped my mental health recently more than anything else.
> If I continue working, is there something in my working environment I should try to change? Think of senior engineer in a typical DevOps-y SaaS startup.
Can you work less? I've actually started a new gig (2 months after my last day as the last one), but I'm working part time (though salaried w/ benefits) and it's great having more time in the mornings and afternoons. I don't think I could swing a full time gig at the moment, but working half-time has silenced the part of my brain that kept telling me I should be making money and being a contributing member of society.