For me I have gone through phases with procrastination, anxiety. I have to get a big task, breakdown into lots of small tasks and realistically see how many tasks I can get done today & this week. It means those big projects that I used to think I could get done in a few days realistically takes a month and its easier to start because all I have to do this week are these explicit steps. Once you get used to it and start delivering you have anxiety and procrastination under control.
How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
61–70 of 124 posts
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#62> "Today, I am excited to announce my 4-week daily guided program, The Anxious Developer Program!" > "You can join our waitlist now, to be the first one to know when the pre-sale begins" Talking about FOMO anxiety then announcing a pre-sale discount to your anxiety course is a kind of a bad look.
Agree, the article had me invested in the issue of anxiety but the sales pitch at the end made the whole article a little disingenuous. But it was still a good read. I think if the sales pitch was separated into another section below, so that it doesn't seem like it is part of the article, it might've worked a little better.
It makes me wonder a little bit. Does the author want to help the reader out of his good will or is it purely for profit (and a clever way of copywriting)? or is it both?
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#63While this article contains sage advice for maintaining a healthy software developer career, I've found that one additional aspect is crucial: be generally interested in people. This allows you to understand and navigate different people you will work with (including toxic ones) with ease and almost no stress.
How would it help me deal with toxic people? I've been pretty fortunate that the ratio of nice/toxic people has been pretty low. But each time I had to work with toxic people, it was a huge energy drain and I did not have a good way to deal with it.
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#64As a junior, I started out loving my job. Then the bad decisions from management started and I started to love my job less, I still woke up with some excitement. 2 and a half years later: today what I do has more to do with pressure and deadlines than with learning and/or doing the right thing. Today, I find it unsustainable to work 8 hours a day, I've come to hate what I do, I can't imagine looking for another job d…
Switch jobs if you can! It's the best way to learn and get out of the tunnel vision. (That said, too much job switching can be a red flag.)
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#65As a junior, I started out loving my job. Then the bad decisions from management started and I started to love my job less, I still woke up with some excitement. 2 and a half years later: today what I do has more to do with pressure and deadlines than with learning and/or doing the right thing. Today, I find it unsustainable to work 8 hours a day, I've come to hate what I do, I can't imagine looking for another job d…
are you me? hah :/
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#66Personally I think most of my depression comes down to not getting any joy out of my job as a dev and just doing it to pay the bills ... at then end of the day it's so draining that I have no energy left to work on personal projects, the current job market is not helping either to jump ship elsewhere
Having 0 energy after work means you either need to try less at work or you're depressed. You should have ~4 hours of energy after the workday ends. Are you on adderall? That can cause a brutal end of day crash.
Not the person you responded to, but I did just get back on Adderall after being unmedicated for the last 8 years.
The end of day crash was much worse without Adderall. I felt like I was trying to swim against a current all day long, and then I'd feel like I was drowning for the rest of the day (though the drowning sensation would usually start after just 2-3 hours of work). With Adderall I'm swimming with the current, or at least in still water. I don't feel like I'm drowning at the end of the day and I actually have energy for other things
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#67As a junior, I started out loving my job. Then the bad decisions from management started and I started to love my job less, I still woke up with some excitement. 2 and a half years later: today what I do has more to do with pressure and deadlines than with learning and/or doing the right thing. Today, I find it unsustainable to work 8 hours a day, I've come to hate what I do, I can't imagine looking for another job d…
Nobody loves a job where people constantly make bad decisions(or decisions you're not involved in) and you don't feel like you're doing the right thing(when you could be). You're morally hijacked. That's no way to live a working life.
The thing is, I just don't get it. Management treat the decisions like they don't have consequences, always getting stuck on local minima. If the plans had a vision with logical steps A --> B --> C where they would build and enhance on each other, we could make a great product. Why they seem incapable of stringing together a chain of priorities that actually make sense (synergy) I have concluded, is that they don't really use or care about the product we make. Otherwise their priorities would make more sense. They only manage to care about the balance sheet, which is good too I guess, but it does not make the greatest product...
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#68While this article contains sage advice for maintaining a healthy software developer career, I've found that one additional aspect is crucial: be generally interested in people. This allows you to understand and navigate different people you will work with (including toxic ones) with ease and almost no stress.
How would it help me deal with toxic people? I've been pretty fortunate that the ratio of nice/toxic people has been pretty low. But each time I had to work with toxic people, it was a huge energy drain and I did not have a good way to deal with it.
The best advice I can give you is to think of toxic people much like you'd think of a new organism you'd like to study. You'll quickly learn why they are toxic, and the types of things you can do and say to deal with them. This, in turn, allows you to leverage or diffuse them.
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody loves a job where people constantly make bad decisions(or decisions you're not involved in) and you don't feel like you're doing the right thing(when you could be). You're morally hijacked. That's no way to live a working life.
The thing is, I just don't get it. Management treat the decisions like they don't have consequences, always getting stuck on local minima. If the plans had a vision with logical steps A --> B --> C where they would build and enhance on each other, we could make a great product. Why they seem incapable of stringing together a chain of priorities that actually make sense (synergy) I have concluded, is that they don't r…
There is a difference between leadership and management. Leaders do the right thing. Managers do the thing right.
Leaders are very rare, especially in corporate.
Re: How to reduce stress and overcome anxiety as a software developer
#70As a junior, I started out loving my job. Then the bad decisions from management started and I started to love my job less, I still woke up with some excitement. 2 and a half years later: today what I do has more to do with pressure and deadlines than with learning and/or doing the right thing. Today, I find it unsustainable to work 8 hours a day, I've come to hate what I do, I can't imagine looking for another job d…
Most of us old timers have been there, done that. At some level, it never changes. It is VERY difficult for work to provide your true meaning in life. 95% of software is personal preference. Most code will be thrown away when priorities change. Do the best you can and learn when you can. Management will always make poor decisions and are usually not interested in unfortunate truths. Work should only be what is requir…
I have to admit, at 40 a raison dêtre is still escaping from my grasp, even with family, work and hobbies.
Not sure if I'm going to find one for my whole life but whatever.