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Burnout is real – how to avoid it

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Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#21

Post by dredmorbius »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #10
hysan wrote: post #4

Good compilation of the advice you often read about on the internet. However, a big factor in all of the solutions is having the support of the entire org/company. If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then to take back control, you are stuck fighting another battle on top of burnout. I've found…

> If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then ...give notice and quit. No company would do this if they weren't completely toxic.

Not everyone can.

There are points in time at which this isn't viable.

Those bordering on, or prone to, burnout, may have a lesser degree of capability to act on this.

Internalising the costs to firms (and their investors and creditors) fostering burnout-inducing conditions may be a more effective mechanism. Destroying 2, or 5, or 10 years of peak-career productivity should carry costs.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#22

Post by JulianMorrison »

hysan wrote: post #19
JulianMorrison wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then ...give notice and quit. No company would do this if they weren't completely toxic.

Far far easier said than done for many people. You never know a person's life situation - medical issues, financial obligations to family, etc. This also shifts the onus of the situation back onto the individual. Again, you are the one who determines if you burnout. No control? Just leave. If you stay, it's your fault if you burnout.

Valid, it is definitely a problem of companies having the power and workers not.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#24

Post by taneq »

hysan wrote: post #4

Good compilation of the advice you often read about on the internet. However, a big factor in all of the solutions is having the support of the entire org/company. If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no"s, gives you zero control over what is on your plate, and pressures you culturally, then to take back control, you are stuck fighting another battle on top of burnout. I've found…

> If your company doesn't believe that burnout is an issue and ignores your "no's"

It's up to you to ensure that your "no's" can't be ignored. Really what shy programmers need is confidence and healthy boundaries.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#25

Post by mrfredward »

>Quick...tells his students he’s always available – except between 10pm and 6am. It’s important to put limits on when you’re reachable, he says.

Really...this is their example of healthy boundary setting? A professor who says he's available the entire time he's awake, but won't answer emails when he's supposed to be sleeping.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#26

Post by bitL »

vfc1 wrote: post #17
dominotw wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a clueless middle manager who has never coded the simplest of programs in his/her life. I've never had manager who hasn't coded ever in his life. WhatI had most of the time was a manager who hasn't coded in a longtime.

I've had both, and I don't know what is worst to tell you the truth. The ones who have coded a long time ago think that their experience in another language/ecosystem still allows them to estimate tasks in a completely different environment, when in fact it doesn't. The non-technical manager will focus more on the business side and will be easier to manage in many situations, but the problem is that that type fo mana…

I had a manager with a PhD who insisted on never writing multi-threaded applications because when he tried he failed and considered them dangerous. I routinely wrote apps using 10,000+ threads before. Now he is a head of development of some company. Real life is a comedy.

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#27

Post by dominotw »

dagw wrote: post #15
dominotw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “sprints”, a term referring to the idea of running quickly at a rate above a sustainable pace why would it it be "above sustainable pace".

That is literally the definition of the word. If you can run for more than, at most, a minute or so at a given pace you are pr. definition not sprinting.

Isn't any running unsustainable though ?

Re: Burnout is real – how to avoid it

#28

Post by dominotw »

bitL wrote: post #26
vfc1 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had both, and I don't know what is worst to tell you the truth. The ones who have coded a long time ago think that their experience in another language/ecosystem still allows them to estimate tasks in a completely different environment, when in fact it doesn't. The non-technical manager will focus more on the business side and will be easier to manage in many situations, but the problem is that that type fo mana…

I had a manager with a PhD who insisted on never writing multi-threaded applications because when he tried he failed and considered them dangerous. I routinely wrote apps using 10,000+ threads before. Now he is a head of development of some company. Real life is a comedy.

> never writing multi-threaded applications

Did he suggest an alternative ?

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