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The Reality of Developer Burnout

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Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#111

Post by blablabla123 »

alexmingoia wrote: post #20

I speculate that burnout is more psychological than physical. Ultimately, I think it stems from the shame arising out of the realization that giving 110% instead of 70% at your job accomplishes little but making things harder for yourself. A software engineer doesn't get more money giving 110%, and if they work to finish something quicker they're just rewarded with more work. Often engineers (being human) will want t…

An additional problem is a vicious circle: when there are first signs of burnout, even if you give 110%, you're just at your "normal" 50% or less.

I'm through some kind of burn-out experience and I realize it's really important to make myself feel good and that that is just fine. When I'm overworked I explain that I have limited time and stop working. When colleagues flood me with issues and problems I eventually stop talking to them if that's the only way.

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#112

Post by blablabla123 »

cossatot wrote: post #49

One of the amazing things about software that we all write is how well it integrates with many other aspects of life, particularly (though without a doubt not exclusively) intellectual pursuits. This is, of course, why it pays what it does: Software for software's sake pays about like math for math's sake, with the same people paying. But unfortunately it seems that despite the deep integration with other facets of w…

I see what you mean and I'm thinking about that as well. In there startup world there is this "focus mantra". So everybody things that everyone should work as focussed as possible. Somehow this is highly efficient for some time but on the long-run I'm sure it strongly contributes to burn-out or some kind of bore-out.

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#113

Post by Perceptes »

I work in software and also run some pretty active open source projects, so I worry about this happening to me. I've felt somewhat burned out, or felt close to a more serious burn out, on a few occasions. What has helped me is to remind myself that ultimately I don't owe the open source community anything. I do it because I enjoy it, and want to create things for people to use. But if it's creating stress, I take some time off, spend a few weeks playing video games or spending more time with my partner, and that in turn reminds me that the world does not end when I stop programming for a few days. In other words, I haven't stopped, I've just slowed down, and participated in free time open source development with better moderation.

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#114

Post by dvtv75 »

rdavl wrote: post #45
dwaltrip wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are calling bullshit based some vague feelings of "job difficulty"? Do you have a robust mental model of the day to day experiences of these people who you are calling bullshit on? If not, I would be careful with your words. It can come off as fairly snide, ignorant, and callous.

I am saying depression is caused by large variety of factors and not just coding, if you have personal problems you will burnt out cos of them, and that will affect your coding, you can't blame software development for that. Also unless you are doing really stressful work what is it that makes you burn out? Maybe you have other interests? Not wanting to code all day every day does not mean you have burnt out. Also th…

Having burned out a number of times, I think that perhaps you would benefit greatly from investigating what burn out actually is, and the causes of it, rather than making broad assumptions about it.

For instance, burn-out has less to do with what you are doing, and more to do with the stress and effort required. It doesn't matter if you're disarming bombs ("bomb technician," huh?) or grading freshman assignments. What's more relevant to it is the value you place on the task, the recovery time (off hours) you get, and level of stress placed upon you. Even the most dreary job can burn you out if the employer demands near-impossible targets.

Educate yourself, then you won't seem as much of an arrogant arse to the rest of the world.

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#115

Post by altitudinous »

This describes me well, today, right now. I have dev'd software my whole life, chucked it in to dev apps, have been successful, I _love_ developing apps but for the last 4 or 5 months I can't do it, sit and write code - I don't want to do anything to do with writing code. I can't stand that I have to sit in front of a keyboard to do anything these days - even research a non computer related activity! So this is a real thing and I'm happy that others experience it too. I interviewed for a casual customer service related role yesterday simply because there are no keyboards involved and I have the time!

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#116

Post by whack »

maverick_iceman wrote: post #99
user837387 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is full of contrarians. Say anything blunt, not rude but blunt, and you will get down-voted to oblivion. And not even that, say something in a polite way that people cannot discredit but still not like and you will get down-voted. I feel like you have to mold yourself to the hive mind if you want your stuff to be up-voted. Not sure if this is really how it is or if it is just me. On the other hand, a lot of times…

I always wonder why people care so much about getting downvoted. I get downvoted all the time but who cares, these votes are just some meaningless statistic.

You could say the same thing about half the things that piss people off. "Why do people care so much if a stranger flips them off?" Why do people care so much if a million people follow their blog?" When it comes to social interactions, irrationality is the norm, not the exception.

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#117

Post by galdosdi »

nunez wrote: post #90
pc86 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best thing I ever did for my professional life was acquiring new interests that had nothing to do with software but were still intellectually and/or physically stimulating. Weightlifting is cheap, has proven physical and psychological benefits, and is eventually fun (sucks for the first few weeks/months though). I just recently starting taking lessons to get a private pilot's license. GA is expensive (relatively…

> anyone on here who isn't a student can afford it LOL come on now. It costs $5-10k to get a private pilot's license which requires at least 40 hours of flying time. Most schools will recommend that you do at least 2 hours per week, which usually comes out to $200-$400. (It's easy to forget things.) Shit's expensive.

Eh, it's a matter of priorities. By "can afford" I'm sure the OP meant "it's even an option at all" not "it's so cheap it does not require any real tradeoffs"

What percentage of USA residents would you say have spent $7k to $12k or more on a car, when only $2k is necessary to get you around safely?

But yeah, it's expensive, and someone earning more can afford to do it if they're merely interested in it, as opposed to having to be obsessed enough to make major sacrifices to afford it

That said, I have a friend who _is_ a (graduate) student and flies. He bought a gyrocopter for a couple thousand dollars, uses some license class that required minimal/no training but limits the weight of the aircraft severely (ultralight or experimental or something like that, sorry, not sure) and has ultimately spent relatively quite little over time on the hobby. Where there's a will there's (often but admittedly not always!) a way, but that doesn't mean it's not a way requiring sacrifices and tradeoffs

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#118

Post by NumberCruncher »

treehau5 wrote: post #33
zoeysaurusrex wrote: post #6

> Not only that, but I found myself censoring my own private thought processes, in the silent comfort of my own home, because of the public opinion of people I follow on Twitter. I deleted my Twitter account because of this. I realized it was an empty echo chamber of inaction. If anything you say can be interpreted in a way that the hivemind can destroy you over, they will do it, even with incomplete information and…

It takes 10x the amount of energy to refute bs than to create it

Fortunately you do not have to refute all the BS in life. Just ignore it!

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#119

Post by grillvogel »

zzzcpan wrote: post #13
paulcole wrote: post #9

> It happens to everyone that writes code all day long More like "It happens to everyone." I know this is a developer-focused site, but this isn't a problem unique to people in software. An old joke, "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar."

It's different in software, people can't do their jobs when this happens. Otherwise it shouldn't be called a burnout.

believe it or software is not the only job that requires thinking

Re: The Reality of Developer Burnout

#120

Post by grillvogel »

dom0 wrote: post #106
grillvogel wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

software engineers love to pretend that their profession is totally unique and unlike any other, i've never understood why that is

Because most other people pretend the same.

are there sites like lawyernews where lawyers circlejerk about how smart they are?
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