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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

#201

Post by JamesBarney »

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]

Most of the research actually supports what op says. When you adjust for industry and such the vast majority of the remaining gap is due to motherhood. So much so that many researchers in the field call it the motherhood pay gap as opposed to the gender pay gap. Childless women make about the same as men (within 2-3%, some show higher, some lower).

Now is the fact women take over the majority of the childcare and are more likely to take off to raise their children misogyny? Depends on your definition and perspective.

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

#202

Post by herbst »

I was only a few years in IT until I burned out and never really found back into a 'normal' life a bit more than 8 years ago.

I haven't had a normal job since.

I still can't imagine working a daily job. I highly doubt I will ever be able to do that. At least not in a stressful matter as development jobs turned out to be.

HOWEVER, it never stopped me from trying. And today maybe I need 3 or 5 weeks at a time of doing nothing or just joyful things but when I head back into a Project I can do it with full enthusiasm, enough energy and most importantly fun. Fun doing what I am able to, fun learning new things on the way.

My guess is the only reason this actually works for me is because nobody ever tells me what I have to do and when I have to do it.

It just takes a few days of stress I can't control and I am back into a vulnerable potato.

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

#203

Post by markatkinson »

I burned out in 2021 quite badly. Moved to Zambia (from UK) and switched from primarily software engineering to wild mushrooms.

Still coded as a hobby and explored the parts of it I enjoyed.

Now in 2024 I'm back in the game and loving it! Glad I had the privilege to take such a long break and try something else. The key take away here is it took me years to properly recover (and therapy).

Go easy on yourself, don't get swept up in the frenzy of work. Work to live not the other way around.

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

#204

Post by thinkingemote »

Aeolun wrote: post #29
patrickhogan1 wrote: post #20

Interestingly, while chronic sleep deprivation is harmful, studies show that a single night of sleep deprivation can have a rapid, temporary antidepressant effect in 40-60% of people with depression. I tried this after burning out on my third startup, and it helped me short-term when I needed it most. You can read more about the research Penn Medicine ( https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2017/septemb...…

So people that keep going to bed too late are self medicating?

There was a recent post that implied that in cases of acute trauma, staying awake might lead to better outcomes through less long term memory formation.

Sleep deprivation disrupts memory https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01732-y (3 months ago, 103 Comments, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40681345 )

Its probably not the same as chronic burnout or depression but in a way staying awake after a stressful day could be self medication.

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

#205

Post by BigJono »

rawbot wrote: post #192
burningChrome wrote: post #38

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…

> I just focused on getting MY stuff done and that was it. I stopped taking on other's people work... I would do exactly what a Sprint called for... This is my reason for burnout, opposite of your example. There's a thin balance doing more work because you enjoy, and doing it because managers are pushing you to do it. And now that I JUST do my job and what I'm asked to do, I have lost a lot of the drive that I loved…

My theory is burnout comes from a lack of autonomy.

If your "do the minimum" is having complete control over a module and implementing features as slow as you can without pissing anyone off too much, you're going to have a great time.

If your "do the minimum" is picking up the bare minimum number of Jira cards in a sunshine and roses "teamwork makes the dream work" team where everyone is responsible for every line of code but nobody knows more than 5% of the codebase, your mental health is going to go straight down the toilet, because nothing is more stressful than working with over-complicated code you didn't write, and the less cards you pick up, the less code you're going to understand.

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

#206

Post by badpun »

huijzer wrote: post #154
nunez wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Yes! And Christianity to this day is still very and subtly misogynistic. For example, why does a woman need to give up her last name when marrying?

How’s that related to Christianity?

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

#209

Post by tiznow »

I'm dealing with burnout and unemployment, and it's legitimately the hardest time in my life to self-start and do anything other than basic life functions. Some days I have a wellspring of energy, but most days I'm just existing. I realized I don't even have the luxury of forgoing my mental health, if I don't work on it now things won't ever get better. And my programming skills aren't stagnating, but MAN I feel like I'm not getting better.
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