Developers are burned out, quitting jobs and creating a crisis for recruiters

Businesses are run by decision makers. Decision makers delegate tasks to do-ers. If do-ers mess up, it is solely their fault for underdelivering (in the eyes of the delegator/decision-maker).

The idea that do-ers can make decisions or inversely - that decision makers can do (anything beside delegate) is alien in business.

The past several years at my company have been particularly focused on “quick and dirty results” that I predict will end badly, and so far it has every time, leaving me feeling responsible despite management decisions that ignored the consequences and recommendations I laid out. It gets old.

So, shortly before the pandemic, I took initiative to work extra nights and weekends to build a working prototype of a new version of our core internal app, that would ultimately let us go faster and would transform the way we communicate and give us unprecedented flexibility with our clients.

It was passed off as “that’s nice, but let’s get {x} out the door first”. It quickly became apparent that there was, and will always be, another {x} that needs to get out the door before we do anything else.

Having more autonomy and trust that I might actually have a solid grasp on what projects will yield the biggest returns, and being able to commit my focus to those tasks, and being able to hold my managers to the same accountability that they hold me to when making decisions, all would go a long way to improving my job satisfaction AND most importantly, improving our product and our value that we provide to our clients.

In the software industry, you're doing yourself a disservice by staying at a company for more than 3 years. Even 2 years is pushing it, that is unless you are seeing wage increases that match or exceed inflation. And even if you haven't reached that amount of time, it's smart to start applying and interviewing earlier so you can have a better pick by the time you're ready to get out. I know some on HN will deny this, but I've seen enough resumes and LinkedIn profiles that demonstrate otherwise.

Hence, many of us are in a sort of medium-frequency cycle of interviewing. Applying for jobs becomes a job in and of itself, and as someone going through that process right now, I think the process has gotten much worse.

Not only are you likely to go through 3 to 4 rounds of interviews for a given employer, but now you've got to do take-home assignments. Most of the time, the estimated duration they provide is an understatement, especially if you actually want to show your best work. I've had 3 so far that wanted me to do a take-home assignment that they said could take several hours and even days. I refuse to do any that are estimated to be longer than 2 hours at this point. The other person is likely an introvert and sucks at interviewing, which can ruin your chances if they perceive the interview as not having gone well. In either case, you probably won't be hired at that place anyway.

Now multiply that experience by around 30% of the applications you've sent out. To have enough options on the table, you've got to send out at least 40+ applications (unless you've got a connection at a company already). Not only are you having to fight off all those other applicants, but you're spending a lot of your free time doing so.

Let's not forget the hours you'll also now have to spend hammering through Leetcode so you don't look like a complete fool in front of unrealistic problems you wouldn't be expected to complete in under an hour in real life.

Who actually doesn't dread facing this every few years?

I want to work in my field, but part of me also feels like saying "screw this" in favor of living in a van down by the river. Having experience might land you a better salary, but when you switch companies it's like being a junior developer all over again. I can only imagine how much it sucks for someone who has a family and kids.

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/w9ufnt/is_it_just...