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Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

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Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#291

Post by randomsearch »

koonsolo wrote: post #179

> I've put in countless hours of work every day (70-90 hrs), being on-call almost 24/7, sometimes for straight 7 days for months So why do you think you have the following: > but unable to concentrate, riddled with brain fog You're putting in WAY TOO MANY HOURS! Stop doing overtime, and read this: https://www.7pace.com/blog/overtime-kills and http://blog.approache.com/2010/11/rules-of-productivity.html On the career…

> Stop doing overtime, and read this: https://www.7pace.com/blog/overtime-kills and http://blog.approache.com/2010/11/rules-of-productivity.html

That was fascinating reading, thanks for sharing. This seems like absolutely crucial data for a startup. Rationally, these links imply that a startup should work 40 hour weeks.

Intuitively I'm not entirely convinced, but I want to be. I work 50 hours minimum and have regularly worked 60-65 in the recent past. I can't imagine that 40 hours would have gotten me as far. But obviously I may be misjudging myself.

I think a startup founder would rightly have this fear - if I ask people to work 40 hours, will the investors scream at me? What if my competitors work longer hours, will they beat me? These are such key questions that I feel you have to be _really_, _really_ confident about these results.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#292

Post by BatteryMountain »

chii wrote: post #64
colanderman wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm basing this off four observations -- 1) They, as the sole developer, are managing to hold their startup together software-wise. That is a useful skill -- raw coding talent or not. 2) Since having recently found my way to a FAANG, I've found a surprising number of new hires are fresh college grads with about that much coding experience, and make more than I (with 30 years experience) ever had made before joining.…

> are managing to hold their startup together software-wise. you dont know that. They could be failing the startup software-wise, and yet never know it! The only way to find out, objectively, if you're good or not, is via multiple sources of independent verification in different companies.

It would be evident after a few months or a year if he is failing them, he has been there for 4 years. So unless the startup has non-functioning software and everyone involved is okay with that, incl the people who pays the bills, he probably is doing just fine and just mentally deep in a hole.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#293

Post by bigDinosaur »

lentil_soup wrote: post #267
bigDinosaur wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really should be put in the context of someone's life. Did they spend a year or two travelling? Did they spend it working on personally productive projects? Or did they do nothing but play video games or do drugs? These are all very different extended gaps. The first two should be fine - if someone's skills have atrophied than that's another issue (but nothing a good interview or probation period won't pick up on…

why would I care as an employer that you spent a year playing video games and doing drugs? When I interview people I couldn't care less about any gaps in their resume, we're going to sit down, talk about tech, what you've done and what we need, etc. If there's a match in skills, needs, personality and expectations then that's it, anything else are invisible cargo-cult walls

You might care about their judgement and their state of mind and whether they'd be prepared for the job. I think understanding what someone did in a long gap is important - some are just very easy to understand (person in 20's decides to quit job for a year to go backpacking) while others might be harder. If I was interviewing I wouldn't ever automatically discard a resume because of a long gap, though, so I suppose I'm just thinking of what others might be cautious about, and other people may simply adopt a heuristic to automatically discard to minimise variance.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#294

Post by rowanajmarshall »

chii wrote: post #64
colanderman wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm basing this off four observations -- 1) They, as the sole developer, are managing to hold their startup together software-wise. That is a useful skill -- raw coding talent or not. 2) Since having recently found my way to a FAANG, I've found a surprising number of new hires are fresh college grads with about that much coding experience, and make more than I (with 30 years experience) ever had made before joining.…

> are managing to hold their startup together software-wise. you dont know that. They could be failing the startup software-wise, and yet never know it! The only way to find out, objectively, if you're good or not, is via multiple sources of independent verification in different companies.

If you've been the sole developer at a startup (and that startup depends on it's tech) for 4 years, there's no way OP is failing at that.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#295

Post by Namari »

Take some time off mate, travel for few months. Then you can do online tutorial (Like Udemy...) there are good ones but you won't be able to do them if you're 90 hours a week.

My best recommendation is to look for a new job, tell them you have a 2 month notice period and take this month you got to travel somewhere and think of something else.

Remember, you work to live, not the opposite!

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#296

Post by susodapop »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #283
r_c_a_d wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 40 years I have only ever put the start and end year of each item on my resume. I guess this dates to when most jobs / education lasted multiple years. But I've stuck with it and no-one has ever questioned it. The couple of jobs I have had which were less than one year spanned a year-end so it never looked odd. When I am reviewing incoming resumes small gaps never bother me. Ocassionally I have seen multi-year gap…

Curious what you would consider an illegitimate career break?

Jail time.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#297

Post by Aeolun »

> I am a sole developer for Mobile and Web platforms at this startup in a very small team

In my experience, this means that you can double or triple your salary by going to work for a large enterprise, and be the most competent person around too.

Recruiters were my friend when I couldn’t focus on finding jobs myself. You just get emails and say yes or no, and the interviews just keep coming automatically (or not, but the important thing is it doesn’t cost much of your time outside the actual interviews).

In regards to compensation, you are basically always worth more than you are currently making as long as you can put up with the interviewing. The longer I do this the more I’m convinced that the only true signal companies look at to determine your offer is your current salary.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#298

Post by Aeolun »

fshr wrote: post #30
colanderman wrote: post #9

1. Take time off, like a month or more. [1] Use it to do anything other than coding. Hone a hobby, travel, volunteer, etc. No-one will care about a month or two gap on your resume. 2. You are worth more than you currently think you are. Internalize this, know this, that is key. "I am a sole developer for Mobile and Web platforms at this startup in a very small team" --> is a desirable skill in and of itself. 3. Stop…

But what if they aren't worth more (as a dev, financially) than they think they are? They could be awful, but naively put in a ton of hours. Why do we assume people are worth more? Are we trying to make them feel better by making assumptions and potentially leading them horribly astray? Most people are supremely mediocre and there are just and many horrible devs as their are great ones.

Possible, but the balance of probablility is that they’re fairly good.

This based solely on the fact they’re aware of and posting on HN.

All the mediocre people I know aren’t interested enough to keep reading -much less comment on- this website.

Re: Ask HN: Burnt-out, directionless but want to turn it around

#299

Post by r_c_a_d »

susodapop wrote: post #296
AlecSchueler wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious what you would consider an illegitimate career break?

Jail time.

Not all "jail time", but yes, many convictions would preclude candidates from employment at my current company... and most of the previous ones.
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