You could try looking into small companies. They might be paying less, but there might be 0 interviews, low stress and fun. I don’t know which country you are from but here in Lithuania there are many options and we are country of less than 3 millions.
Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
11–20 of 192 posts
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#12Seems like you’re experiencing burn-out and from what I’ve read and experienced, burn out is a function of emotional investment vs the emotional return.
So I see that you have two options both of which shouldn’t happen before first taking a small break: 1. Continue to work in the industry and reduce your emotional investment. Hint: great places for that are big corporates. 2. Continue to work while upskilling in another field or your current field depending on what you prefer.
Depression often comes with the temptation to catastrophise the situation, avoid that urge. Seek out others who can be objective and talk you through it, be prepared to hear their answers.
I started out front-end, did a lot of my own side projects to get backend stuff. PHP is pretty good despite the hate because not many people want to do it these days but a legit and easy way to get some backend experience.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#131. Try to take 6m to a year off
2. Think of way to leverage your skillset to your advantage in a non 9-5 capacity
3. If its still repulsive, go on indeed and just start browsing with very little criteria to see what interests you and just start applying, you would be surprised how advantageous being a tech worker can be in other seemingly non-related industries. I know a guy who use to be a nurse, he is now a charter boat captain. Another that was a F1 Race mechanic that now works in Solar... Having design say, ability to think critically, to plan out and wire frame something up, are all transferrable!
Good luck
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#14Web development as practiced by the majority of the industry is truly insane and depressing. No one has any idea what they are doing. Here's what I'm aiming to do: learn systems programming on the side, accumulate enough savings to live off of for nearly a year, then go independent and continue learning systems programming "as I go". Build software products on my own and start selling them.
I want to do something similar. Do you want to connect?
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#15I think you have to take a break. Step back for a bit. When you come back, find out what really interested you in tech in the first place and follow that. The fact you think 300+ people are applying to the same jobs means the market might be saturated with those skills. Do you think you might have let your own skill set stagnate?
> Do you think you might have let your own skill set stagnate? yes, definitely. although i worked a lot with node and react, building electron apps, cli tools, browsers extensions - but i just don't enjoy it anymore. and i don't have experience building large scale production apps with the latest trendy stacks. > The fact you think 300+ people are applying to the same jobs means the market might be saturated with tho…
Sounds to me like you are actually a competent developer with relevant knowledge and that the problem lies elsewhere.
As you've mentioned in the title, you're depressed.
Go and see a therapist and if you can, take a break from work.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#16Definitely agree with others that it sounds like burnout. I went through it myself about a year ago, and wrote about it recently [1]. Maybe it will help.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#171. Try to take 6m to a year off 2. Think of way to leverage your skillset to your advantage in a non 9-5 capacity 3. If its still repulsive, go on indeed and just start browsing with very little criteria to see what interests you and just start applying, you would be surprised how advantageous being a tech worker can be in other seemingly non-related industries. I know a guy who use to be a nurse, he is now a charter…
thanks you, sometimes i feel like getting laid off might be a good outcome for me, so i could do this. i haven't had more than 1 month off in 15 years.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#18I've seen others discuss burn-out. It does sound a bit like you're in this boat. I have been a developer for a similar amount of time as you and I am around the same age as you. Yes there is an ever increasing number of applicants at roles, but reply anyway. The majority of these 300+ are discarded for various reasons.
During the pandemic I altered my career slightly, I went into Developer Relations. I still write code, but I also do so many other things. However, if you are suffering burn-out, moving into different roles/careers could further worsen the burn-out.
Personally, I'd take a step back and if you haven't already start introducing a very strict work-life balance. Work 9-5 and no other, take up a hobby that gets you doing something completely unrelated. If you're in a better state mentally, then you would be able to see your work life in a clearer healthier manner.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#19reading from your history, you seem to have a pretty defeatist attitude. Maybe change that first.
yes, you're right, i have some health issues recently, which compounded things a bit.
Re: Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
#20Definitely agree with others that it sounds like burnout. I went through it myself about a year ago, and wrote about it recently [1]. Maybe it will help. [1] https://stevenwaterman.uk/opening-up-burnout/
thank you for sharing