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

It really comes down to the level of influence and control you have in the organization.

If you feel empowered to enact positive change, even if it's just at your level in collaboration with your colleagues, then that can be enough to remain motivated. Speaking for myself, for years, this describes how I managed to stay motivated through a lot of BS.

But when that falls away--when senior management becomes ineffective, when your colleagues leave or become demotivated themselves, when leadership starts to get in the way of your enacting change, when the organization becomes large enough that it's more likely to resist change than embrace it--that is when management becomes, at best, an unrelenting chore.

I've been a middle manager for nearly eight years. The first 5-6 of that were pretty good. But in the intervening years the company has grown and is now big enough that my ability to enact change in the organization has all but disappeared and I'm considering my options.

You don't need to put on your poker face all the time and can hide the depersonalization ghost in the closet for a little bit if there's a meeting. You can go hug your dog afterwards or do something else to keep on trucking.

Then some companies mandated a return to the office. Ghosts won't be in the closet for an entire workday in a bland office setting full of people you don't want to be around, so people finally quit.

I knew it was coming eventually after having burned out a couple times at prior jobs. In all cases it was caused by a mix of the factors the article mentions plus a lack of meaning and fulfillment as a software engineer that I've never been able to escape. This last role was sort of a last ditch effort to see if a renowned company, good salary, and good manager could make things better. It didn't, and in fact I think it was the cognitive dissonance of that situation that lead me to burnout harder and more quickly than I have in past positions.

I've had a few weeks to reflect and recharge and so far I have no regrets.

The next step is to try hard to find a better option in another industry or some form of self-employment, though it's required some mindfulness to be honest with myself about what I truly want and could be qualified for. I also know that I could easily just go right back into the fray; who could give up the money and stability? I don't take those for granted. It's certainly a far better option than failing my family or going into poverty. But I'm optimistic I can make it work.