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The state of burnout in tech, 2022 edition [pdf]

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Re: The state of burnout in tech, 2022 edition [pdf]

#4

Post by amznbyebyebye »

I myself have to remember to ease up on colleagues and that the phenomenon, at last where I work, is one of largely silent suffering.

When you work with computer code that obeys logic and that we have the power of telling the computer what to do, it’s easy to forget that humans are different, they have a dash of irrationality and emotion.

Also that many times, we just don’t have all the context behind why someone may be doing/not doing the things they are.

Re: The state of burnout in tech, 2022 edition [pdf]

#6

Post by lumost »

Something that doesn't seem explored here is the effect of working on ineffective work.

Everyone will encounter something like the following in their career

1. There is a problem that your customers and you face - but you are not allowed to solve it for "Reasons"

2. The product area will never work, but you must continue working on things that no one will ever use for "reasons". Ever write exhaustive test coverage for something that won't be used?

3. The things that you work on will never take you to where you want to go in your career. Your managers will not let you take on work that moves the needle for you personally.

4. It's the same problems day after day without any resolution. There is no support to solve them (A ticket queue with dozens of identical tickets).

I'd say the main times I've felt burnout were one of the above.

Re: The state of burnout in tech, 2022 edition [pdf]

#9

Post by candiddevmike »

From what I've seen, across the industry, the folks who are burnt out are almost entirely individual contributors. You rarely see burnout in management, and it's typically in the form of folks who want to go back to being ICs/tried management and hated it.

I think companies really need to work on reducing or eliminating the amount of bullshit ICs have to deal with vs management (time tracking, status updates, on call, etc) or have management do the same amount of bullshit. Your boss may say they understand what you're going through, but they most likely do not have the same level of bullshit being asked of them on a daily basis. They can sit in meetings all day, miss deadlines, and no one knocks them on it like an IC where being a day late gets put on a PIP.

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