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Burnoutindex.org

burnoutindex.org

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Re: Burnoutindex.org

#171

Post by swalsh »

doublerabbit wrote: post #158
swalsh wrote: post #58

I burnt out several years ago, I was way past the point of return before I realized. I ended up changing jobs, and took a few vacations... even then recovery was slow. After that I returned pretty strong. Since then there have been a few times I recognized it happening again, but being cognizant of the signs goes a long ways towards preventing it.

Same thing. I've never held a job longer then two years. Not because of incapable of the work but because I get so burnt I shoot myself in a foot and end up "dismissed" "fired" "redundant". I've been off work for three months now with little-to no money and it's the past three months I've only just started feeling myself again. I start work /again/ next week and I know the novelty of the new job will tick well, but w…

I might have been more clear, when I recognize myself burning out now I dont quit my job. That's an extreme measure for extreme situations. Instead I recognize what is causing my burnout, and I try to address it. My last bout was a struggle with balancing a new baby. I talked to my boss, Nd we worked out a deal of loosening my workload. About a year later I was able to pick up more.

As for your frustration in lack of agency. It takes time to build a reputation worth trusting. I'd reccomend changing how you approach work. Think about what your bosses goals are, what the companies goals are. If you can find ways to add value, you can earn greater trust, and more agency.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#172

Post by dunkelheit »

humaniania wrote: post #165
dunkelheit wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the term burnout was first applied to social workers. Just imagine the situation they are in: a steady stream of people with serious problems in their lives comes to you and you are supposed to help them. But you have so little time and power to help any particular case that you hardly seem to make any difference. And no matter what you do that stream never ends. No wonder that feelings of sheer helplessness,…

It is common with doctors also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue

Interesting, there is a discussion in this article on whether compassion fatigue is a form of burnout or not. I think it is. It is probably caused not simply by exposure to suffering, but by exposure to suffering coupled with perceived ineffectiveness in alleviating it. It is not like every patient who comes to a doctor has a specific problem that can be precisely diagnosed and that magically goes away after a treatment is prescribed. Many have chronic illnesses, many will get worse or even die despite the treatment. Many require much more time than what the doctor can spend on them for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#173

Post by S4M »

wcunning wrote: post #48

I got a 2.1/6, which is less than 50%. Apparently this is a "high" risk of burnout... Why not replace it with a button that says "Do you work in tech?" Yes -> High Risk of Burnout, since that's the vibe they're going with.

I got 2.3/6 and my burnout risk is "mid", so they probably weight some questions more than others when assessing the burnout risk.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#174

Post by lightswitch05 »

Freak_NL wrote: post #8
notJim wrote: post #2

I immediately went to do this quiz, but then I couldn't help but wonder if this might be one of those Cambridge Analytica style "quizzes" where they're harvesting psychological data for unknown purposes. I'm not sure if this makes me sound savvy or insane.

No personal information is asked, so the dataset will be pretty useless for monetization (you could just computationally generate a couple of thousand of responses and pretend it was the real deal). uBlock Origin blocked one weird tracker-like third-party I didn't recognize: fullstory.com. The rest were the usual Google analytics crap.

Ah, I took this quiz on my iPhone, luckily my pihole caught the trackers. I have a pretty extensive hosts list I use with the PiHole (full story included): https://www.github.developerdan.com/hosts/

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#175

Post by killjoywashere »

sz4kerto wrote: post #45

Be really careful with these surveys. The problems of these, among other things: - mixing up burnout risk with burnout - mixing up burnout with physical or mental fatigue - not serving any purpose (i.e. not providing good directions) Burnout is primarily a negative change in perception, and it's a spectrum, obviously. You get burned out when your perception of the same situation gets progressively worse. This can be…

Also, sharing your data with who?

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#176

Post by TuringNYC »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #128
gowld wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apathy at work is only possible if you have a nothing-required job where you can't get fired for not working. It happens, but commonly employers will notice and fire such an employee.

To quote office space: "That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."

That describes a big chunk of my co-workers when I worked at a Fortune 500. At bigger companies it is unfortunately particularly easy to coast along that way.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#177

Post by TuringNYC »

redisman wrote: post #149
bagacrap wrote: post #88

When I joined the tech industry in my early 20s and for years after, I noticed that many in their 30s or older seemed burned out. It didn't make much sense to me, because to become a tech worker takes drive and ambition and how would you just lose that one day? Now, 12 years on I can definitely see how burnout is so prevalent. It's like living in the desert and hearing about people drowning. You'd ask yourself, "how…

I'm also at 12 years now, extrapolating to 25 years in the industry is actually pretty difficult to imagine.

Personal experience, FWIW: Once you have enough experience and a large enough network to generally not worry about jobs/starving, it makes sense to find more fulfilling jobs. There are plenty in tech, and if you are good, you can be selective. If you are really good, your former colleagues will constantly be telling you about new opportunities and you can be very selective.

I ended up doing a startup full time (3yrs) for a cause I liked (diagnosing TB, with the goal of giving away the product to lower income nations.) Product success, market failure, but personal success and i'm very happy I did it.

I was very selective with my current employer as well -- I really chose an engineering team I could respect and learn from and I'm happy about that.

I realize not everyone has the ability to be selective (perhaps luck, skillset, geography), but if you do, you can be very happy.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#178

Post by agumonkey »

bagacrap wrote: post #88

When I joined the tech industry in my early 20s and for years after, I noticed that many in their 30s or older seemed burned out. It didn't make much sense to me, because to become a tech worker takes drive and ambition and how would you just lose that one day? Now, 12 years on I can definitely see how burnout is so prevalent. It's like living in the desert and hearing about people drowning. You'd ask yourself, "how…

Did you talk to these dudes ? I remember a few guys being quite dull my internship. I think that old big corps are too removed from reality in a way. You make products and portfolios.. rewrite some shit in that is clearly not or not clearly an improvement. After some point maybe you just throw in the towel and just coast along for the check.

Also one guy did actually lose it and was now the official monster behind a cubicle. AFAIK he was still there because of years of service and probably some deep system know-how lockdown that nobody wants to touch so he's in charge.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#179

Post by doublerabbit »

swalsh wrote: post #171
doublerabbit wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing. I've never held a job longer then two years. Not because of incapable of the work but because I get so burnt I shoot myself in a foot and end up "dismissed" "fired" "redundant". I've been off work for three months now with little-to no money and it's the past three months I've only just started feeling myself again. I start work /again/ next week and I know the novelty of the new job will tick well, but w…

I might have been more clear, when I recognize myself burning out now I dont quit my job. That's an extreme measure for extreme situations. Instead I recognize what is causing my burnout, and I try to address it. My last bout was a struggle with balancing a new baby. I talked to my boss, Nd we worked out a deal of loosening my workload. About a year later I was able to pick up more. As for your frustration in lack of…

thank you for the input. That's definitely something I'll keep in mind especially with my new job.

Re: Burnoutindex.org

#180

Post by agumonkey »

monktastic1 wrote: post #146
bagacrap wrote: post #88

When I joined the tech industry in my early 20s and for years after, I noticed that many in their 30s or older seemed burned out. It didn't make much sense to me, because to become a tech worker takes drive and ambition and how would you just lose that one day? Now, 12 years on I can definitely see how burnout is so prevalent. It's like living in the desert and hearing about people drowning. You'd ask yourself, "how…

For me it's a bit similar to how I felt as a kid playing with legos. Who wouldn't want to play with legos many hours a day, most days every week? It never occurred to me that there'd come a point where I wanted to know that my work genuinely improved lives. It turns out that being good at something and getting paid for it isn't always enough. It's hard to avoid the question of meaning forever.

It's something I hear almost every day now.

1) 20 something not willing to live office or blue collar job lives and go for driven passion

2) realize how any regular obligation will lose the art/passion side and will become a system ..

3) realize that a job is a job

4) many wants to improve lives of others.

I think our generation (I suppose we're both from the 70/80s) was pushed too long into pupil mindset (leaving college at 23 if not more) and too focused about our passions. Adult life is adult life and there's no cutting corners, the previous generation didn't really have a choice and learned it earlier.

Also 'improving lives of others' is somehow a metaphor for having a society being a large team. There's a weird pivotal time where we lose this trait.. we want to make it, become anxious.. and then realize 'success' would just be making something useful for the group.

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