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Recovering from Burnout and Depression

kierantie.com

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Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#11

Post by kierantie »

thatonecoderguy wrote: post #10

This hit spot on for me. I believe I'm currently dealing with and realized not long ago that Burnout was real and not an arbitrary term that people through around.

Glad it helped! I've heard from so many people that have been struggling with the same thing, but didn't even know that's what was going on. It took me months to realize what was happening, and one of the biggest things that helped was reading about others' accounts of their experiences - which is what prompted me to write about it also.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#12

Post by kierantie »

Hey everyone - thanks so much for reading! Burnout and depression is a topic that not enough of us talk about, even though that's often the best solution.

If you know anyone struggling with burnout or depression, or you just enjoyed my article, I'd be forever grateful if you'd share it with them on Twitter or Facebook, to help spread the word. Thanks so much!

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#14

Post by postfacto »

For me the cause for burnout was having to deal with a combination of politics, the fact that those determined my lack of technical input, that I wasn't allowed to perform at my best because I lacked input, and then getting beaten with the underperformer stick while the project was going down the tubes.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#15

Post by 55555 »

I think a big factor in burnout is that most work is ultimately meaningless, or even morally wrong, and on a deep level, we're aware of that. Why is it so hard to make yourself work? Probably because you actually should be doing something else with your life.

If someone paid you money to kick a dog, you'd feel a strong urge to do something else. That's because you shouldn't kick dogs. But when we feel the same urge to not work, we read articles (not this one so much) that are essentially lists of ways to trick ourselves into doing things that don't matter or which will make the world a worse place.

You may have an idea that you know will make you a millionaire and which you could build, but you just can't force yourself to because fundamentally money won't make you happy and the idea is meaningless at best.

At least this is often the case for me.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#16

Post by kierantie »

postfacto wrote: post #14

For me the cause for burnout was having to deal with a combination of politics, the fact that those determined my lack of technical input, that I wasn't allowed to perform at my best because I lacked input, and then getting beaten with the underperformer stick while the project was going down the tubes.

I hear that - it sounds VERY similar to what I dealt with. I also had the additional problem of working to help an audience and a customer base that deep down, I didn't care about.

So many people seem to believe it's only about overwork - but that's only a small part of it. It's a myth I tried to dispel as best I could in the article.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#17

Post by mikeg8 »

rjeli wrote: post #2

Why do I never read articles targeted at other high-stress jobs (lawyer, med student, etc etc)? Do software engineers have a unique culture that identifies this danger? Or are we the only ones that get burned out, maybe because of some self-selection into the field?

Interesting question. My take would be that software engineers may tend to be more publicly open about their mistakes and pitfalls in an effort to help those who come next avoid the same mistakes. This is especially true regarding technical mistakes and that mindset has permeated to personal/emotional difficulties as well.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#18

Post by jtraffic »

rjeli wrote: post #2

Why do I never read articles targeted at other high-stress jobs (lawyer, med student, etc etc)? Do software engineers have a unique culture that identifies this danger? Or are we the only ones that get burned out, maybe because of some self-selection into the field?

Interesting that you mention lawyers. I've heard multiple times that they are at super high risk of burnout. This quote, for example:

"Lawyers are at especially high risk for burnout, both because of the job and because of the personality traits we tend to have."

From this article: https://lawyerist.com/94605/recognize-prevent-lawyer-burnout...

Yes, I went looking for an article about lawyers and burnout, so it's not particularly telling, but it least it demonstrates existence.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#19

Post by crush-n-spread »

55555 wrote: post #15

I think a big factor in burnout is that most work is ultimately meaningless, or even morally wrong, and on a deep level, we're aware of that. Why is it so hard to make yourself work? Probably because you actually should be doing something else with your life. If someone paid you money to kick a dog, you'd feel a strong urge to do something else. That's because you shouldn't kick dogs. But when we feel the same urge t…

I submit that the working person greatly benefits from having a strongly held, over-arching life goal. Then even if he or she is working a soul-draining job for, say, a social media company, they will be content knowing it is a necessary step towards their goal.

Re: Recovering from Burnout and Depression

#20

Post by draw_down »

Everything in that list is happening for me right now, with perhaps the exception of the mismatch between my values and my company's. I tell my manager about it and he has been trying to rearrange things to try to help me, but I feel like there is probably a reason things got to be this shitty, and that reason will probably keep on happening. I don't know what to do. My last workplace was bad in many of the same ways, and I don't feel like I have the energy to enter into yet another employment situation brimming with optimism, only to have it turn into the suck once again.
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