Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#81

Post by Latteland » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 3:08 PM UTC

aragorn2 wrote: post #64

aragorn2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you’re saying. I wish it were like that for me. I can’t get anything done. Maybe it’s the type of work. Upper management is always uhappy, users are hostile (for a reason), enormous technological debt paralizing all development. I am simply incompetent to deal with people, juggle the requests and politics. It’s been like this for more then ten years. I am sick to my stomack when thinking about our software…

And my spelling sucks!

I think talking to a therapist is one way to deal with issues like this. Feeling overly anxious about your job doesn't help anything. Course it's easy to say that, harder to deal with it.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#82

Post by fjones12 » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 4:55 PM UTC

aragorn2 wrote: post #53

trcollinson wrote: post #5

I have been coding since the 90s. This year I finally felt really burnt out. It got so bad I was upset, miserable, and lost all passion for working. I have 6 kids and a wife with a chronic untreatable disorder so I couldn’t just quit. And I’m glad I didn’t, it turns out that wouldn’t have helped. Here’s what I did and what I would suggest: 1) after talking to my wife and my doctor I got a counselor. Well really a tea…

Your second point has made me realize that not having identity outside of work is the biggest source of my anxiety. Thanks! I also can’t seem to stop thinking about work. Maybe it’s related to that point. I can’t enjoy anything since there is always “but you should be solving problem X” in the back of my mind. Maybe it’s the type of personality I have - if there is a problem, I can’t stop ruminating about it. It’s mo…

I've had this problem too. It really does help to find other interests outside work - running or yoga, bowling, poker, video games, art, family time, whatever it is. For me, it was hard to feel okay doing something else. For some reason, I felt like I should always be thinking about work. But that's just not true - having a multi-faceted identity makes everything better.

It also has helped my mental toughness - if I have a bad day (or week, month, year) at work, I still have other things to fall back on, things that bring me joy and help define who I am as a person. Before, if something went wrong at work, it crushed me. Now I have more perspective, and work issues don't have as much weight as they used to.

Only took me a few decades to figure it out! Hope yours works out more quickly.

Re: Ask HN: Developer burnout – how to rediscover the passion, or new career?

#83

Post by fjones11 » Tue, Jun 12, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #10

my first child was born last year, and although its been hard its also really awesome. Most new parents seem to be perpetually short of sleep and exhausted for the first two years. Being exhausted can make intellectually challenging things just too hard to cope with. I will suggest that it is possible you are just tired and should consider finding employment that is less mentally taxing for now. Consider the possibil…

It really does take about two years to get back to your old self in terms of energy, focus, passion for work. Having a new baby is exhausting, and you don't realize just how much it takes out of you until later when you finally start getting enough sleep and aren't consumed by the everyday stresses of keeping another human alive.

That isn't to say there isn't something else going on (seeing a professional counselor/therapist is never a bad idea!), but seems entirely reasonable that this is a contributing factor. And the good news is, this part gets better!