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Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#51

Post by mrleiter »

>At the moment I want nothing to do with it, but I think that's fueled by my burnout.

To put it into technological terms: if you want to solve a problem, you must first find out why it is there.

In your case: a burnout is not a problem and you cannot "solve" it. Burnout is a symptom, a warning sign by your subconsciousness. You need not to solve it, but rather find out why it occurs and solve this issue. This can be extremely difficult and please do not hesistate to seek professional help. It will be expensive, but worth it. Humans are no machine. If you are male, then please try to ignore society that tells you men must not be weak.

Just from reading your text it might very well be that you live a lie, meaning, that you do not really like your job but just the things that come with it, may it be wealth, status, recognition. If that is the case, quit. Do something that you always loved to do but discarded doing (maybe because you thought it was silly).

You can and you will recover from your burnout, but it will take time. Give yourself this time. You are a person, you are allowed to have feelings.

I wish you the best of luck! If you need anyone to talk, you can comment below and I will give you my email :)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#52

Post by nso »

dajohnson89 wrote: post #34
nso wrote: post #7

I was a regular dev that got promoted to a position that made me consider getting out of the business for good. I was running on fumes, and fantasized about getting a job as a cashier somewhere. Quit my job, sold my place and my stuff, bought a one-way ticket to Mexico as the first leg of a one year trip around the world. Been here for 4 years now. Got married, got a bunch of dogs, a kid, a really cool job, and regai…

just curious, what job did you get in mexico? When I visited, i fell in love, but sadly I assumed that it's impossible to get a job i'd like there, which paid anything at all. edit: fell in love with the place, not a person ;-)

I used to work as a full stack dev for a web hosting / data center company in Norway.

What my current position is called I have yet to figure out, but I am designing and developing a control system for growing shrimp for a startup here in Mexico. It sounds super boring, but it's actually pretty cool stuff.

We've got a really cutting edge method of growing shrimp with the help of biofloc. My system started out as a way of monitoring and altering the health of this very fragile eco system of microbes, algae and such, but has since pivoted to a beast of a system which best can be described as shrimp as a service :p You come to us with a bunch of money and we will give you the way to grow shrimp more efficiently and eco-friendly than anyone else can claim to do today -- all without you needing any prior knowledge about the field, and most of the decisions are either digitized or outsourced on the fly. The system can also be used to grow shrimp with traditional methods more efficiently.

Big data is also a keyword, where we will constantly learn from participating farms how we can improve the process, detect known and unknown diseases, etc. We'd also like to get in on the distribution side of things once we have lots of farms under our umbrella, and with the ability to look at data and see where we can improve profitability for our customers we have a big advantage.

It's a lot of work, but it's tons of fun and I'm learning lots about a field I never in my wildest dreams would guess I would work in. And there there is something satisfying with digitizing a very analog field. Soon we will start hires to build my team, and our biggest investment round yet -- which will start a fun new phase for the company. We're looking for american investor money, so please let me know if you have an in ;)

I got the job by sheer coincidence. I was at some house party and met a guy who turned out to be a entrepeneur in desperate need of with the ability to make his idea into a product. I wasn't looking for a job, and he was pestering and begging me for months before I relented and promised to build him a prototype.

It doesn't pay a lot by american standards, but the buck lasts longer here so I'm doing pretty ok.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#53

Post by nso »

isalmon wrote: post #35
nso wrote: post #7

I was a regular dev that got promoted to a position that made me consider getting out of the business for good. I was running on fumes, and fantasized about getting a job as a cashier somewhere. Quit my job, sold my place and my stuff, bought a one-way ticket to Mexico as the first leg of a one year trip around the world. Been here for 4 years now. Got married, got a bunch of dogs, a kid, a really cool job, and regai…

It would be awesome to read the details about your journey. Do you have a blog and if not - are you going to write about it at some point?

I doubt it. I'm ironically busier than ever before, and also don't think I have that much interesting to say. I might start some kind of tech blog for our company once we grow a bit, tho.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#54

Post by [deleted] »

nso wrote: post #7

I was a regular dev that got promoted to a position that made me consider getting out of the business for good. I was running on fumes, and fantasized about getting a job as a cashier somewhere. Quit my job, sold my place and my stuff, bought a one-way ticket to Mexico as the first leg of a one year trip around the world. Been here for 4 years now. Got married, got a bunch of dogs, a kid, a really cool job, and regai…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#55

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

You got to find balance in your life - whole life. One of the big issues with burn out is that one thing takes over your whole life. Being the best employee is great but it comes at a cost to you. The sad part is that you can be the best. So good that you kill yourself but ultimately you're just a person that can be replaced. A small cog in the system. The problem is that you stopped looking forward to things because everything becomes the same - never changing, always hard. Reduce your work life and expand your life outside of work. Do things you wouldn't otherwise do. Get to the point where you start looking forward to things. It can be, spending time with your family or learning a new hobby or getting a new job. You need to figure it out for yourself by not just thinking of what you want but actually trying new things. Do a lot of volunteering until you find what you need. You need to get off the never ending merry go around that is your work life.

Also, money is not everything. You might need to get a job that pays less but is more fulfilling. I worked with a project manager that was very well paid and great at her job but she hated the pressure. She eventually decided to quit and now babysits cats and dogs. The job pays less but she loves her work. Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#58

Post by helen842000 »

When you are burned out - it's not possible to properly give yourself to even the most interesting opportunities. Trying to find something new is still ignoring the actual problem.

You need to relax for a while (not the same as doing nothing)

The point of burnout is that your mind & body has had enough of doing what you are doing and desperately needs a break where nothing is planned, commitments are limited and you can do (or not do) whatever takes you in the moment.

Currently your burnout is affecting your work day, if left unchecked it will invade your home life to - until you don't want to do even the most basic of daily tasks.

Take note now and put an firm date in the calendar. At the very least a date for a a long break. Go back after the holiday break and let people know your plans for 2018. Start winding down to that date.

Try not to expect yourself to be 'better' in 2-3 months. It has taken you 6 years of working to get to this point.

Just give yourself the breathing space your mind is telling you it needs.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#59

Post by TomMarius »

nso wrote: post #52
dajohnson89 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just curious, what job did you get in mexico? When I visited, i fell in love, but sadly I assumed that it's impossible to get a job i'd like there, which paid anything at all. edit: fell in love with the place, not a person ;-)

I used to work as a full stack dev for a web hosting / data center company in Norway. What my current position is called I have yet to figure out, but I am designing and developing a control system for growing shrimp for a startup here in Mexico. It sounds super boring, but it's actually pretty cool stuff. We've got a really cutting edge method of growing shrimp with the help of biofloc. My system started out as a wa…

That sounds super cool, do you have a website?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to recover from burnout?

#60

Post by nso »

TomMarius wrote: post #59
nso wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work as a full stack dev for a web hosting / data center company in Norway. What my current position is called I have yet to figure out, but I am designing and developing a control system for growing shrimp for a startup here in Mexico. It sounds super boring, but it's actually pretty cool stuff. We've got a really cutting edge method of growing shrimp with the help of biofloc. My system started out as a wa…

That sounds super cool, do you have a website?

You can read about the biofloc tech from our lab farm (where we develop and improve the process) here: http://www.aguablancaseafood.com/about#/biofloc/

The control tech is not mentioned, and it does not have a website. The «official» reveal will be in the beginning of 2018.

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