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Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

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21–30 of 32 posts

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#21

> I took some time off and tried to come at it with a clear head, but there have already been a few discouraging situations where I feel like my coworkers don't respect me. The work that I have done doesn't seem meaningful, it's kind of "leftovers" that nobody else on the team wants to do. It's called "paying your dues" and exists in all industries. You need to earn respect of your new colleagues by doing some of tha…

I said this in another thread but I've been in the industry for 10 years. I don't expect to come in and rearchitect things on day 1, but I expect the tasks to be meaningful. The stuff I'm working on isn't an on-ramp to bigger tasks or being better integrated with the rest of the team, it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. If your perspective is that onboarding is basically hazing people have to do to fit in at your…

Not neccessarily hazing, but it's only natural that you won't be able to, on day 1, co-design the big refactor or switching from platform A to B or a big feature which touches existing code in very many places. Instead, you'll be given smallerand well defined tasks (which often means that they're boring) that will allow you to familiarize yourself with the codebase, the process, the team members etc.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#22
For me, this has been all about taking short breaks and understanding when to stop at the end of the day.

In order to improve you have to ride yourself pretty hard (otherwise you start running into the opposite problem of not improving or stagnating) but understand when you're starting to "hustle" which is a waste of energy.

Having a good means to re-charge is also essential. Always work to resist conceit / convincing yourself you're being productive when you're not. This is the quickest route to mental illness / burnout by far IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#23

> I took some time off and tried to come at it with a clear head, but there have already been a few discouraging situations where I feel like my coworkers don't respect me. The work that I have done doesn't seem meaningful, it's kind of "leftovers" that nobody else on the team wants to do. It's called "paying your dues" and exists in all industries. You need to earn respect of your new colleagues by doing some of tha…

I said this in another thread but I've been in the industry for 10 years. I don't expect to come in and rearchitect things on day 1, but I expect the tasks to be meaningful. The stuff I'm working on isn't an on-ramp to bigger tasks or being better integrated with the rest of the team, it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. If your perspective is that onboarding is basically hazing people have to do to fit in at your…

> it's a silo that nobody wants to touch.

There are multiple silos of this where I work, not necessarily because nobody wants to touch it, but because we just don't have enough people.

I've picked one of them up and my teammate now come to me for advice when they deal with this silo of stuff.

Don't underestimate the small things, unless they're things that does not need to be done, in which case you need to raise this at planning and explain how they are not necessary to waste effort on, and bury them forever.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#24
I think most people at most jobs with stressful deadlines, engineering work, and where individual productivity is measured/praised, feel the same way you do. You aren't crazy or broken for feeling the way you do. Most companies/engineering departments talk about trying to nurture a healthy/pleasant working environment, but that doesn't mean most companies succeed in those efforts. With clients and bosses demanding things constantly, it's not surprising that work environments tend to fall into a negative state despite the noble efforts of a few employees or a VP that talks about building a pleasant work environment.

It sounds like you didn't love your last job, you tried a new type of company (in terms of size of employee count), and you don't love this job or long term project you are working on. There are pleasant companies with fun projects out there to work for, but they are much less common than the companies that suck to work for. Maybe you should write out a list of attributes that you assume an ideal employer/project has, and then start interviewing for those companies/jobs. If you hate your next job as well, rinse and repeat.

Remember your manager is your boss not your friend, so opening up to them that you are unhappy could lead to you being let go or whatever. If you aren't financially stable for 6 months, I wouldn't even tell them this stuff, I would just start prepping for job interviews during off-work hours and try get a new job. If you are comfortable not earning a paycheck for 3-6 months, I would tell my manager this stuff, see what they say, I would not go to HR before manager unless my manager like physically/sexually assaulted me or something. If manager wasnt helpful, I would then go to HR.

At my last job I felt like i was pegged as the dummy on the team, no big deal lol. I think i deserved to be pegged the dummy, maybe you do maybe you don't, regardless of that, you shouldn't worry about it or burn yourself out trying to impress your coworkers because of it (this could all be in your head as well).

Just know, if they are going to fire someone, it might be you and not one of the other all-stars on the team. Try accept that this is out of your control and not stress about it.

What did I do in my last job that i was unhappy with? I spent a few months prepping to interview in off-work hours, eventually I asked for a raise, got denied my raise, interviewed around for a month, and got a new job.

FYI I've worked at a Fortune 500 company (big IT consultant 100,000s of employees), two midsized company (1000ish employees), and two smallish companies > 300 && < 1000. Most places sucked day to day TBH.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#26

> I took some time off and tried to come at it with a clear head, but there have already been a few discouraging situations where I feel like my coworkers don't respect me. The work that I have done doesn't seem meaningful, it's kind of "leftovers" that nobody else on the team wants to do. It's called "paying your dues" and exists in all industries. You need to earn respect of your new colleagues by doing some of tha…

I said this in another thread but I've been in the industry for 10 years. I don't expect to come in and rearchitect things on day 1, but I expect the tasks to be meaningful. The stuff I'm working on isn't an on-ramp to bigger tasks or being better integrated with the rest of the team, it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. If your perspective is that onboarding is basically hazing people have to do to fit in at your…

So, who in your opinion should work on the stuff "nobody wants to touch"? It's clearly a job that has to be done.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said this in another thread but I've been in the industry for 10 years. I don't expect to come in and rearchitect things on day 1, but I expect the tasks to be meaningful. The stuff I'm working on isn't an on-ramp to bigger tasks or being better integrated with the rest of the team, it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. If your perspective is that onboarding is basically hazing people have to do to fit in at your…

> it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. There are multiple silos of this where I work, not necessarily because nobody wants to touch it, but because we just don't have enough people. I've picked one of them up and my teammate now come to me for advice when they deal with this silo of stuff. Don't underestimate the small things, unless they're things that does not need to be done, in which case you need to raise thi…

I've been kind of deliberately vague, but after a couple months it isn't like I'm an expert on the area of the codebase now and other people come to me for advice. Other team members actively dodge working on this silo and everything just gets deflected to me. It doesn't feel like being a respected person who has experience with an area of the codebase, it just feels like shit rolling downhill.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#28
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said this in another thread but I've been in the industry for 10 years. I don't expect to come in and rearchitect things on day 1, but I expect the tasks to be meaningful. The stuff I'm working on isn't an on-ramp to bigger tasks or being better integrated with the rest of the team, it's a silo that nobody wants to touch. If your perspective is that onboarding is basically hazing people have to do to fit in at your…

So, who in your opinion should work on the stuff "nobody wants to touch"? It's clearly a job that has to be done.

Ideally it would round-robin across the team or have a dedicated team with more than one person. Having only one person know a particular part of the codebase is bad for bus factor and reduces the ability of the team to review code.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#29
post #13

Step 1: Realize this says more about the team/org than it says about you. Don't internalize much of this. Recall some of the most difficult projects you've taken on successfully. If you have something to be proud of, remember that you actually are pretty talented. Step 2: Consider that there's a high probability that you were hired to clean up the mess. Maybe your teammates would like nothing more than for you to jum…

This is very insightful. Like, I've been on the other side of this (hoping this experienced new hire will fix up some of the mess I don't have time to do), and have probably never even realized it.

In fairness, if the new person is competent it's usually very clear early on, and they tend to move on to better things fairly quickly.

Re: Ask HN: Overcoming Burnout / Imposter Syndrome

#30

> I took some time off and tried to come at it with a clear head, but there have already been a few discouraging situations where I feel like my coworkers don't respect me. The work that I have done doesn't seem meaningful, it's kind of "leftovers" that nobody else on the team wants to do. It's called "paying your dues" and exists in all industries. You need to earn respect of your new colleagues by doing some of tha…

> It's called "paying your dues" and exists in all industries. You need to earn respect of your new colleagues by doing some of that shitty work and doing it well. If all goes well, in a couple of months you'll be a part of the in-group and will get the interesting tasks.

"Pay one's dues" "Earn respect" "Part of the in-group"

I am sorry but this is not my experience at all. What you've described is how gangs work, not companies.

I am hired to work on certain areas due to my skills and knowledge. Shitty tasks are everyone's (in the team) responsibility. I am not hired to "pay my dues" and "earn respect" to become "part of the in-group". I'd leave that initiation ritual to other, uh, industries.

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