Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#1

Post by burnoutwhatnow » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:02 PM UTC

I've been feeling off in several ways for a long time now, months if not more, and finally got around to seeing some healthcare professionals. "Showing symptoms of severe occupational burnout" is what I'm being told, and it rings true.

I know there are probably plenty of people on HN who have gone through the same. Reflecting back on your experiences, what are the sensible things to do next? Aside from continuing to listen to the aforementioned healthcare professionals, that is.

Some questions I'm wondering about, specifically:

- Should I tell my boss and/or team? Should I tell them right away, or wait until I know what other steps I want to take? What should I expect their reactions to be?

- Should I take time off? How much? Or should I try to work reduced hours? I'm hesitant because I don't have many hobbies (if any) and in the middle of the pandemic there isn't much to do anyway. I don't think running out of things to do would be any better for my health than continuing as-is. I've been there before and I don't handle boredom well.

- If I continue working, is there something in my working environment I should try to change? Think of senior engineer in a typical DevOps-y SaaS startup.

- Is there anything specific to working in tech and burning out that I should know about? I feel like this isn't exactly rare.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#2

Post by athorax » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:22 PM UTC

"I don't have many hobbies (if any) and in the middle of the pandemic there isn't much to do anyway."

This was a huge issue for me over the last year. It has made a huge impact to my work life to finally have activities outside of work I enjoy doing again.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#3

Post by babyshake » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:23 PM UTC

Out of curiosity what are the symptoms of severe occupational burnout? How would you differentiate it from something like depression?

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#4

Post by amelius » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:24 PM UTC

Start sleeping 10+ hours a day for a while.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#5

Post by diob » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:24 PM UTC

I don't know if I would tell your boss / team. For now, I would keep it to yourself and take it as an opportunity to step back a bit. Still do work, but don't kill yourself.

Your lack of hobbies is probably directly related to this. I'm not sure how many hours you're working but have they led you to trim your free time?

Don't let yourself work overtime, and try to find something you love to do instead of work. Reading, exercising, anything. Commit to loving yourself everyday.

If you can, take some vacation when your comfortable.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#6

Post by bradenb » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:24 PM UTC

In my experience, the right answer totally depends on your employment situation and your relationship with your boss and team. I think the safest answer is to try and mix things up for yourself (try a new IDE, a new stack, a new OS, etc) without telling your team. For me--and I think maybe this is ideal for most--you would have a good working relationship with your boss and you could use them to help you find a way out of the rut. Maybe that means transitioning to a new team, new project, or something else.

In the past when I've experienced burnout, I didn't get over it by powering through it. Taking time off without filling the void with something meaningful also wasn't the answer for me. I wanted to work and to stay busy, but I needed to find a problem that I could latch on to and be truly interested in. Since I enjoy learning, trying new patterns and new tools was usually enough for me. There was one past episode of burnout where I simply had to find a new company because nothing that company did was exciting to me anymore.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#7

Post by m4tthumphrey » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:25 PM UTC

I would like to write a much bigger reply but for right now, these are my core principles for dealing with, and now preventing, burnout.

Exercise, get outside once a day, get a daily routine in place, sleep better

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#8

Post by bcopa » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:26 PM UTC

First, I'd highly recommend you get a Swedish massage.

I know it sounds frivolous, but the massage will work like a magic pill on you right now. There's been some research on it – but basically persistent stress makes your body tense, and then even if your mental stress is gone, your body's tenseness keeps you on fight or flight mode. You shouldn't make any decisions in this mode.

A 60 minute massage will untangle this stiffness and put you on the right mindset to make the best next decisions.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#9

Post by larrymyers » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:26 PM UTC

It sounds like you've taken the first step and sought professional help. The only thing I've ever found that helps burnout is two things:

    1. Remove yourself from the environment is causing the burnout.
    2. Find fulfilling activities that do not come from your employment in the IT industry.

"I'm hesitant because I don't have many hobbies (if any) and in the middle of the pandemic there isn't much to do anyway"

That's the burnout speaking. I suspect you might feel the same way even if the pandemic was completely over. Getting yourself on the path to recovery will help with this, and you'll be amazed at all the hobbies you can do (even in a pandemic) that sound interesting and worthwhile.

Best of luck, I hope you're able to get into a situation that allow you to recover and find some satisfaction in your current career in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Burned Out. What Now?

#10

Post by octokatt » Wed, Jan 19, 2022, 9:27 PM UTC

For tech and burning out, it's important to know that the lack of a clear output or goal can increase the likelihood of burnout. Double that if you have little control over your environment due to technical decisions made where you had not useful input.

If you're at severe burnout, which it's definitely sounding like, consider taking a leave of absence (LOA). Time can vary between a couple of weeks to a couple of months, YMMV. If you can afford the LOA, rediscovering things you love is going to help.

Places to start thinking about investing some time are a) physical activity, like weightlifting or hiking; b) learning something new, ideally from a different stack than you've been working on; c) trying to spend more time on hobbies to see if you can find a sense of satisfaction in creating or completing a task, particularly if you can form social bonds at the same time. That said, if you're not good at handling boredom and don't think that having time to do _whatever you want_ is going to be helpful, ease into this step.

If you do stay at your job, try to find different responsibilities. Have a good conversation with your boss (if you can) where you explain that you need to rotate to a new responsibility where you can have a greater sense of mastery and control. Being able to determine your own success and failure can help recover from the hopelessness that goes with burnout.

No matter what, take the time to actively invest in self-care. Not "I'm sitting on the couch" self-care, exercising and eating better self-care. Staying up late learning something you've always wanted to self-care. Painfully changing your life so tomorrow is better self-care.

Good luck, and PM if you want to get to talk. I'm just finishing an LOA for burnout myself, and it's been a trip.