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Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#351

Post by gumballhead »

I don't think I have. I was an early employee at a startup that made it through a few rounds of funding. Somewhere in there the ship started sinking and it was pretty obvious.

In the beginning, we routinely worked 60+ hours a week and it didn't really bother me. But when it felt like no matter what I did my efforts wouldn't matter, I lost all my motivation and burned out. But I still couldn't bring myself to quit. I was emotionally invested in the company, our team, and our customers.

The second round of layoffs in a year (a 67% staff reduction) was the final nail for me. After I left I didn't work for at least six months. The first two months, I basically did nothing and got a lot of sleep. Then after that I decided to start doing all the things I never had time for. I cooked all my meals, I exercised, I traveled, I spent more time with family and friends, and I developed some hobbies outside of tech.

That was about five years ago. I've had 3 jobs since then, and I left each of them before a year was up. If the right amount of balance is just to have a job you punch in/out of that pays pretty well, I'm just not that interested. But I also know that there's no way I have another startup in me. For awhile now I've actually made more money with my "side hustle" than I can as an engineer, even though my cash flow is very uneven. So I think I'm basically done with software.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#352

Post by franzez83 »

I spent 20 years working in the same field, at the end as a manager I was working 80 hours a week and I had to be on call 24 hours a day from my executive who was extremely toxic. I was fired after refusing to come back into the office during the pandemic early on within a week. After going on unemployment, I took an upskilling course and started in a new field. I started my own consulting firm and I got a job in tech and I am happier than ever.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#353

Post by steve_slammin »

spacemadness wrote: post #271
Waterluvian wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of this. I don't think it's "care less" but I think it's "care appropriately for 40 hours a week." The concept of "quiet quitting" is a shameful, panicky fraud perpetuated by the power holders in the industry that see their power slipping. "Quiet quitting" has been known as "work to rule" or "fulfilling a contract." My paystub says 40 hours. My original contract says nothing about overtime. I'm not quiet quittin…

It’s interesting to see the shift on HN from hustle/burnout culture to wiser takes on work life balance. The startup culture in the Bay burned a hole in my soul at one point with its 80+ hour a week puritan laden virtue signaling.

We're growing up!

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#354

Post by varjag »

sbf501 wrote: post #337
varjag wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible there are many different paths to the clinical end state, but for me burnout had nothing to do with boredom at all. It also didn't feel like being bored when it has set on.

I guess I could have reworded my rewording better. My multiple experiences with burnout were preceded by boredom, but I guess my burnout isn't the same as your burnout, or others' burnout. I define burnout as just not giving a f*ck anymore, not caring if the project succeeds or fails, or if I get fired. I don't know what others' burnout is like.

I had only one episode, it lasted 18 months of complete inability to perform my job (that I was perfectly capable doing before). Full recovery took several years. It was like a firecracker went off in your head and left a buzz that prevents you to stick to your task even for a second - except there's no actual buzzing sound.

The trajectory that took me there was acutely unpleasant but I would not describe any of it as boredom. You ain't getting bored on your death march.

Can't imagine several such experiences, I'd rather change career.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#355

Post by celestialcheese »

smcl wrote: post #341
celestialcheese wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found out through a friend they had started a new job, and instead of turning in notice, they just rode it out for a few months taking multiple paychecks. Look around on r/overemployed on reddit for a lot more examples of the mindset that does this type of thing.

I'd take what you read on subreddits like this with a pinch of salt. A lot of people like to embellish or flat-out lie to either fit in, sound cool or to provoke a reaction (see "am I the asshole").

:shrug: there's definitely role-playing in there, but anecdotally, I know 2 close friends who did this during Covid and had 2-3 full-time jobs in non-software roles.

So I imagine the percentage of role-playing in r/overemployeed is less than 50%.

That's a non-trivial number of people, and I'd bet if you work for a large company, there's a non-trivial of people doing this now. (See the thread about Experion firing contractors with multiple jobs[1])

1 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33198708

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#357

Post by beckingz »

apohn wrote: post #237
muzani wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to flow both ways. Management gets burned out dealing with people who just don't care, and they end up not caring about the people they manage. 6 years ago, a COO once told me, "Employees are donkeys. You use a carrot and stick. If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business." It seemed like such stuck up, pretentious 'advice' at the time that I ran far away from that social group. But parent c…

>6 years ago, a COO once told me, "Employees are donkeys. You use a carrot and stick. If they weren't donkeys they'd be running their own business." A COO is an Employee too. Therefore he is a Donkey as well :)

It's donkeys all the way down.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#359

Post by airbreather »

Depends if you do what you do strictly as a vocation, or you can't believe they pay you to do shit that you'd be doing anyway.

If it's the latter, it generally comes back, but you might need to change job or workplace.

Over the years I've worked plenty times 84-94 hour weeks for months at a time, but that was project work with a foreseeable end and in a fully catered mining/construction camp or offshore where they made your bed every day for you, meals on tap etc etc.

But a few times I had to do the same hours close to home and going home every night, and it just killed me, the overheads are all yours so a lot harder, plus family don't get you have no free time, because they can see you.

So, it's not just the hours, it is also the structure around them, if there is actual light at the end of the tunnel, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?

#360

Post by kirso »

highwaylights wrote: post #96

This advice is going to be hated by a lot of people but.. care less. You’re in an industry that values your skills and seems to always have demand. Whether or not that’s true in the future, it certainly is today , so the best thing you can do is put yourself first and worry less about work as a whole. Especially if it’s not your own company. Spend more time on you, on activities with friends and family, on hobbies. I…

This, a great article that has been written recently: https://www.schlaf.co/ambition/
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