101–110 of 344 posts
We can help colleagues avoid burnout, by proactively eliminating/reducing factors that contribute to burnout. Maybe also talk about it discreetly with a colleague who seems at-risk stressed/overextended.
Whether we're managers/leads or ICs.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also never interviewed at FAANG and never been asked to write code in an interview
I'm with you and the GP, but I suspect all three of us have pursued a balanced and satisfying career instead of the one with top of market compensation. Some of the folks here don't see alternative options when FAANG compensation is some integer multiple of what the rest of the industry has been supporting for the last 40+ years, and I don't entirely blame them for that. I'm not surprised when some later find themsel…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm really curious, how do you factor in time to learn ("up skill")? I'm a self taught dev with 2 young kids. I've always had a healthy approach to work, but now I'm feeling quite a lot of pressure to learn new things on my own time, whether to make sure I'm prepared for the interview circuit if I get laid off, or to patch my skills that are needed at work. I'm starting to feel burnout creep in, getting an hour of st…
You do it during work hours. Period. Your brain only has so many truly 'on' hours in a day, and it's already less than 8. Trying to burn even more in the pursuit of complex knowledge isn't just robbing Peter to pay Paul, it's eating the seed corn and wondering why your harvest failed. It's a scary thing to realize, and can be hard to stick with. But limits are real, and respecting them gets more work done in the long…
This is so important. I have a 3yo and wife, I currently work for a series-A startup - It's incredibly easy to do things out of hours, answer messages, train, lab things up, etc... But at the end of the day that is a part of my career.
So except for when I'm traveling for work, I don't do a GD thing past 5pm, unless i choose to. When I choose to, it's likely because a lot of my team is in IST time zone rather than EST.
When you're a family person, your job is to be there for yourself first, your family second, your other commitments after that.
I have a weekly 4:30p friday call. Would i rather have that at 1:30p? Yes. But i've chosen to work remotely in Ohio instead of move to Cali like the last four companies have asked. So I take that friday 4:30p call.
But you better believe that i check out until monday after that.
During the week I'll take odd hour calls for my counter-parts in IST, but that's nearly entirely out of courtesy than necessity.
Take care of things in the following order: 1. You, as a human, holistically 2. Your family, spouse first, kids second 3. Your work 4. Everything else
It's reduced a huge portion of stress from my life by doing this.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also never interviewed at FAANG and never been asked to write code in an interview
I'm with you and the GP, but I suspect all three of us have pursued a balanced and satisfying career instead of the one with top of market compensation. Some of the folks here don't see alternative options when FAANG compensation is some integer multiple of what the rest of the industry has been supporting for the last 40+ years, and I don't entirely blame them for that. I'm not surprised when some later find themsel…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm with you and the GP, but I suspect all three of us have pursued a balanced and satisfying career instead of the one with top of market compensation. Some of the folks here don't see alternative options when FAANG compensation is some integer multiple of what the rest of the industry has been supporting for the last 40+ years, and I don't entirely blame them for that. I'm not surprised when some later find themsel…
As someone currently in the process of trying to move from a cushy, interesting startup job to a soulless FAANG for that compensation multiple, the ONLY reason I'm doing it is because I have a young kid now. I wish there was another way, but it is genuinely impossible to provide a comfortable level of family life on a startup salary, unless your partner is also in tech and is ok with not being a stay at home parent.
Caveat: I don't live in the Bay Area, though the Boston area isn't exactly cheap.
You don't need something grandeur. Sometimes a routine of 5 minutes in the morning works. Write down the one thing you can do for others of the day that you can definitely get it done, and before you sleep you cross it out or not, and write down 1 small thing to be grateful to.
For example:
In the morning I wrote: I will say thank you with a smile to a random cashier in the supermarket when I do grocery.
At night I should be able to cross it out. Even if I cannot it is nothing to beat myself with. I will add 1 little thing to be grateful to, as small as able to post on HN works too!=)
Hope you can recover soon and regain your sense of self-worthiness soon. After all your are not (only) a learner and problem solvers. You are more than that =)
I got burned out with the combination of a high intensity job, care taking a dying spouse, and managing the decline and dementia of a parent. Both deaths occurred near each other. I had always been highly productive and successful but at a certain point I couldn't really focus anymore. My brain felt empty. I had trouble learning things. Luckily I had had one of those golden jobs in which I made a small fortune. I ret…
For me - going through burnout and depression, my brain felt almost like it would hit a wall any time I wanted to learn something new. At the time it felt like it was energy or sugar deprived.
Took a month of no work and just relaxing, playing video games (I joke sometimes that Witcher 3 healed me) and doing the core things, exercise, talking, spending time with my family and friends and sleeping/eating right slowly pulled me away from that raw feeling of apathy.
Everything else followed once I started basic self care, but boy did it take time to feel somewhat 'normal' though I still feel 'different' following the experience.
Early on in my career (I was a late bloomer and already in early 30's) as a developer, I got burnt out pretty bad twice. After the second time and teetering on a third, I knew I had to do something to change what I was doing and how I managed my work load. I just focused on getting MY stuff done and that was it. I stopped taking on other's people work. I stopped taking on more work once I got my stuff done. I would d…
And your sanity is only yours to keep, protect it at all cost.