Hey OP, you should read about the carnivore diet and possibly give it a try. It clears brain fog right up and helps with cognitive function.
Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
301–310 of 344 posts
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#302Early 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…
This feels impossible for someone who is early career. How could you balance growth with this? You could say "if your job isn't providing you with opportunities to grow, look for a new job or talk to your manager". But that takes extra time as well. You need to work on portfolio/side projects with in-demand skills you don't currently use, talk to managers, apply to jobs, network, read, etc.
I'm 43 now and you couldn't pay me enough to do several things at job now, like working saturdays (normal here in mexico), working from an office, doing death marches and whatnot.
But, I did all that and more in my 20s as IC and 30s as a leader. I helped 3 startups go up and now 2 of them are unicorns (That was pure luck but doesn't change my view).
My point is, there is a time for everything. I've hired a couple of JRs at my startup nowadays, and I tell them: what you lack of experience, I want you to cover by will.
Guys at 20s want to eat the world. The energy and motivation is amazing. Those are the years to run and hustle like a demon. However, I would never do that in a big Corp environment (like Goog, IBM, MS, etc) because you will only be abused by middle manager.
But as 1st, 2nd or 3rd engineer in a startup. I'll do it all again.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#303You know when you are burned out and you seek advice from other people? Brain fog? exercise, magnesium and so on Can't sleep? drink milk Tired? Eat well, take vitamins I did all these and while it did help, it also felt like I was returning $1 on a $1 million debt. So the wort burnout I've got was due to some stomach bug. This prevented the normal absorption of food and soon enough I was running on fumes (while still…
How did you got tested for your stomach bug?
I didn't. But the there was one person on TV that casually made a comment about his unexpected weight lost and that he did visit a doctor and that's what it was. For me the explanation hit so close home that I immediately audited all I ate and drank and took action. Then that left me with gastritis which made me feel about the same and only slightly better. I search fir gastritis diets and followed that about 6 days. I also took an antiacid when I felt bad.
After that I realized that I need to eat more food, because I was a little more active but didn't have enough energy. I learned to avoid the food that made me sick and I needed to unlearn this: carbs, beans, meat, milk. If you become sick enough, all food feels like poison.
Then I realized I was missing probably all the vitamins, that's what it means you don't absorb the food. I felt good after some multivitamins, some magnesium and really good after Vit. C: higher appetite, less muscle and tendons pain, more energy.
Now I'm at the point when I can go to the gym again and not feel like I need to sleep right now after 3 squats.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#304I forgot who said this, but burnout is only the result of hard work not paying off.
When you work hard and things are going well, you get energized and can work 24/7.
When you work hard and things aren't panning out, you get "burnout".
This coincides with people who work extremely hard and have done so for decades (think of top tech founders... for example Jensen Huang: https://x.com/seanpk/status/1829526623731024055)
If you feel burnt out, chances are you're not getting the results you want. So instead of concluding "burnout is affecting my brain" I think the better reaction is to ask yourself "what needs to change?"
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I am burnt out from work currently and am in the recovery process now. I told my work I was taking a leave of absence, and used my short term disability insurance to be able to afford the time off. If your company or state offers it, please take it. I am protected by FMLA laws so they can't lay me off while I'm gone. My therapist recommends that I stay out of work up to 3 months. I'm on week 2 and it's already taken…
I’m in my first month of my new job so it’s not really an option. Appreciate it though.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> I do not believe I will ever be able to experience “a month of reduced stress” until the day I die. Read your sentence again, so you can see how ridiculous it is. What do you have to do that is so incredibly important that you have to throw away your entire life for it?
Provide for my family.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#307[flagged]
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is dystopian level hilarious.
We normally do minor fizz buzz code screens internally. But that's just a small test to see how much of the tech you know, like if you were switching from say Python Lambdas to Angular front-end. And it's mostly to see about how you approach the problem. But some of the internal postions do it differently. My favorite was a mock code review on a PR that had intentional flaws. Then you'd call put what was wrong and ho…
You can be assured that the person who actually got the job worked on a Mac in Angular using Webstorm and that nobody wants to entertain ideas that their methods of interviewing are in any way tipping the scales.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I do not believe I will ever be able to experience “a month of reduced stress” until the day I die. Read your sentence again, so you can see how ridiculous it is. What do you have to do that is so incredibly important that you have to throw away your entire life for it?
Provide for my family.
There are billions of people who provide for their families without being stressed out until the day they die. You should ask one of them how they do it.
Or you are using your family as an excuse for your self destructive patterns.
Re: Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is dystopian level hilarious.
We normally do minor fizz buzz code screens internally. But that's just a small test to see how much of the tech you know, like if you were switching from say Python Lambdas to Angular front-end. And it's mostly to see about how you approach the problem. But some of the internal postions do it differently. My favorite was a mock code review on a PR that had intentional flaws. Then you'd call put what was wrong and ho…
I'd interpret that as they wanted actual usable work from the interview,
I've had a few of those "technical tests" that boiled down to "if we get enough applicants to add to this code we won't need to hire any of them"