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Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

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Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#131

Post by mizzao »

sneed_chucker wrote: post #120
mizzao wrote: post #44

I experienced several episodes of what I thought was burnout (from all the symptoms often described), but in retrospect were periodic recurring depressions from type 2 bipolar disorder, triggered by stress. PSA for anyone who might have the same situation — if you've experienced anything that resembles hypomania this may be worth investigating. The average time from first bipolar depression to diagnosis is 10 years,…

Did reading the book help you? Did you seek treatment?

I read many many books, re-read my personal journals, and basically had self-diagnosed by the time I spoke with a psychiatrist, who agreed with my assessment upon presenting the evidence.

The huge challenge with diagnosing type 2 BPD is that it basically needs a historical time series of data to be detected properly, so either you or someone close to you needs that data. It's believed to be a lot more prevalent in the population than officially diagnosed, which sucks because it results in consistent, increasing depressions that don't respond to treatments for "unipolar" depression (major depressive disorder), which are actually dangerous as they can trigger mania.

I was lucky that the first medication I found worked really well with no side effects, and I basically went from "random 3-6 month depressions every 1-2 years" to "normal person", which removed a huge debuff, in video game terms.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#132

Post by jaggederest »

dgllghr wrote: post #21
XorNot wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would somewhat caution against this: you're much more likely to get told everything is fine, then be told it's not. And even if you're told it's not, it may not solve any problems: I lost a bunch of weight, got fitter, and deflected myself (so far) off a path to adult-onset diabetes...hasn't helped the burn out at all. These are all good things to have done, but the secret hope of everyone once they walk into the d…

My goal isn’t to get anyone’s hopes up about a drug fixing all issues. It’s more to encourage to cover the basics in case it helps. Because it did for me and it’s something I could have done sooner

Another anecdote here. My endocrine system was messed up in a multitude of ways. Getting it back closer to ideal has meant that, in general I can handle stress, and if I can't, taking time off is actually restorative, not just "not getting worse".

You really have to insist, in the US anyway, that there is really something wrong. I was told for ~6 years "idk you're depressed bro", when in fact there were material physiological things that could have been addressed right away.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#133

Post by Carrok »

gk1 wrote: post #9

For me the critical moment was recognizing I had burnout. It happened when I saw this post on HN, whose list of symptoms almost perfectly matched what I was feeling: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/03/29/how-people-fall-ap... I’ve obviously heard of burnout and experienced it before, yet somehow I failed to recognize what was happening until then. So thank you for posting this. Hopefully it’ll help someone out th…

This article really hit home for me as well. But this sentence leaves me in possibly more distress than before reading the article.

> The Cornell study found that after a month of reduced stress, these effects disappeared.

I do not believe I will ever be able to experience “a month of reduced stress” until the day I die. But maybe that’s just the burnout talking.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#134

Post by [deleted] »

siamese_puff wrote: post #90
blueyes wrote: post #12

I got super burned out working in startups for about 8 years. didn't realize it on the inside. now that i'm out, i look back and realize i was in a constant state of stress and anxiety. i got my sleep back, started exercising, started doing ice plunge/sauna, cut stress, limited exposure to stupid messaging streams like slack. it's a new world. i had to remake myself chemically in tiny steps and it took about two soli…

While working?

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#135

Post by jaredhallen »

livearchivist wrote: post #103
Baeocystin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

100% 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 th…

You've said it twice, and I'll reiterate it a third time. Your own well being has to come first. You can't deliver on the rest of your commitments if you neglect your own needs. Being a martyr does not serve those who depend on you.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#136

Post by hunterrrrrr »

lol it’s funny how many of these class warfare topics popped up over the last 2 hr. Anyway, if anyone thinks burnout is real maybe take a look at Nvidia. Paying people more money is a pretty straightforward way to retain them. But that’s not the message that is being astroturfed on hacker news right now, the message is that if you refuse to work in certain conditions you’re burned out, or that your struggle is with management, or whatever. It’s really important for no one to ask themselves to explain why a 10% year over year increase on a median priced single family home in California is literally a form of passive income that exceeds the median salary. Did you get an $80k raise this year? Know anyone who did? Know any companies who are handing out these raises? DM me. I’m at FAANG right now not seeing any of it

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#137

Post by toomuchtodo »

giantg2 wrote: post #99
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately when it comes to preparing for interview leetcode is pretty much required at all stages. I have never had a leetcode-style interview in 40 years. (I may have had one such question , maybe - hard to remember for sure.) So, no, it is not required at all stages. Disclaimer: I'm in embedded systems, which is very different from FAANG.

Funny enough, I just had my first LeetCode question ever... for an internal job posting. Wtf

That is dystopian level hilarious.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#138

Post by meztez »

swatcoder wrote: post #27

Many of us have experienced what you describe and it sucks. I hope you're able to sort it out and feel better about things sooner than later. That's generally the case. But you and others should keep on mind that "burnout" is not a very precise or actionable word and thinking of your current challenges as being products of burnout doesn't give you much traction on what you can do about not feeling well or what extern…

Seems complicated, although this is the best description of depression I've ever read, go outside and start walking.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#139

Post by toomuchtodo »

eropple wrote: post #105
batshit_beaver wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are other companies, too. I work at, statistically speaking, Your Phone Company, and they don't pay FAANG money but they certainly pay a lot better than I was doing at startups. Caveat: I don't live in the Bay Area, though the Boston area isn't exactly cheap.

I hope it’s a great experience there, have friends in the risk/cyber areas and have heard nothing but good things.

Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care

#140

Post by hunterrrrrr »

nunez wrote: post #113
beaglesss wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All hours spent with kids under 5 is basically 'on'. Which would leave most mothers I've met at zero 'on hours' left for work. A reason for the 'gender pay gap'?

[flagged]

Completely agree. And it’s just one more creepy weird thing that companies allow to be normalized. If you refuse to work in these conditions, you’re “burnt out” or you’re “a bad fit” or whatever other bizarre messaging folks want to astroturf on social media hangouts.
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