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Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

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Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#11

Post by vasco »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #3

> A report from software platform LaunchDarkly revealed that nearly 7 in 10 developers (67%) have left a job due to pressure around minimizing deployment errors or know someone who has. [emphasis mine] Without knowing more about the connectedness of software-developer relationships, I have no idea how widespread the problem is.

That sentence could've been re-written to the equivalent:

> Launchdarkly wants you to remember that they have a product that intends to help with deployment errors

The rest is window dressing.

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#12

Post by ranger_danger »

codyde wrote: post #2

Full disclosure - I work at LaunchDarkly (I look after our DevRel team) - but this is a topic I'm super passionate about also, so though it was worth sharing out. We talk about burnout a lot - but what I really appreciate about posts like this (and the report that it references) is that it gives some tangible examples of where that burnout comes from - and hopefully some paths to mitigating it. Hope you find the read…

I'm not burned out and would in fact love a part-time/freelance gig (I mainly do C/C++ and python but wear many hats)... however I'm completely unsatisfied with the current options for finding such work because it always seems like a race to the bottom against less skilled candidates from other countries who will always undercut your pricing and the companies never seem to care.

What do you suggest?

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#13

Post by jongjong »

I don't get it. I have a stellar resume and a proven track record in the public domain (open source but I've been struggling to find work and have accepted short term work for half my normal rate. There are so few opportunities, I had to switch to teaching people how to code.

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#14

Post by rhacker »

It points to developer apathy. I sometimes wonder if that's just the global feeling at the moment. Everyone that's working on widget X suddenly doesn't care because of all the crises going on. Rampant inflation, extreme inequality. By continuing to work on widget x they are just supporting more of the same. Think people want society to change a bit before moving forward with being happy.

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#15

Post by strict9 »

Not a surprise. When senior devs leave an org due to mismanagement or other reasons, it creates more work for those left behind. And it's become extremely difficult to find replacement for the seniors that left.

Senior devs are nowhere to be found through regular applicant pipelines. They seem to be leaving as a result of reaching out to friends/former colleagues.

Also relevant:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31812864 (Ask HN: Having trouble getting senior applicants, wondering what to do about it)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32006252 (Ask HN: Where are all the senior front end engineers?)

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#16

Post by 999900000999 »

codyde wrote: post #2

Full disclosure - I work at LaunchDarkly (I look after our DevRel team) - but this is a topic I'm super passionate about also, so though it was worth sharing out. We talk about burnout a lot - but what I really appreciate about posts like this (and the report that it references) is that it gives some tangible examples of where that burnout comes from - and hopefully some paths to mitigating it. Hope you find the read…

This is still an advertisement.

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#17

Post by commandlinefan »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #3

> A report from software platform LaunchDarkly revealed that nearly 7 in 10 developers (67%) have left a job due to pressure around minimizing deployment errors or know someone who has. [emphasis mine] Without knowing more about the connectedness of software-developer relationships, I have no idea how widespread the problem is.

> pressure around minimizing deployment errors

... while not being given any tools or time or support to do so ...

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#18

Post by nrmitchi »

> A report from software platform LaunchDarkly revealed that nearly 7 in 10 developers (67%) have left a job due to pressure around minimizing deployment errors or know someone who has.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with the statement, but this is a biased-as-hell source for this statement given that LaunchDarkly's product is feature-flag-management (to minimize deployment errors).

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#19

Post by halfmatthalfcat »

jongjong wrote: post #13

I don't get it. I have a stellar resume and a proven track record in the public domain (open source but I've been struggling to find work and have accepted short term work for half my normal rate. There are so few opportunities, I had to switch to teaching people how to code.

The market is still red hot, not sure what you're doing wrong.

Re: Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

#20

Post by JTbane »

My biggest source of burnout is really from mundane failures in processes: flaky tests that fail for no good reason, and obscure bugs that are hard to reproduce. These things take up 90% of my time and I feel like a code janitor, rather than a developer. Any company dealing with burnout should consider this.
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