Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 74 posts

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#41

Post by mrcold »

EC1 wrote: post #13
mrcold wrote: post #8

Welcome to the club. We don't have free drinks or anything. Only endless depression and no will to continue. But seriously, things are fucked and it's only getting worse. I'm in the same shoes and I'm trying a startup in my spare time. Plus, the guy running our project decided to quit and leave me alone with a monster made out of spaghetti code. Just finished updating my resume, hoping I won't need to use it. Don't h…

The fuck? We're programmers. We have the easiest lives of the working class. I'm literally sitting here in my underwear, unshaven, drinking a beer, making stupid money for coding objectively pointless crap much like 99% of us. It's absurd. Lighten up.

I would be happy too if I was a freelancer working from home. Try cutting your income in half and going every day to an office to answer to a manager dumber than you. See how much you like it then.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#43

Post by fru2013 »

the_economist wrote: post #21

The following things are proven to make you happier (and smarter!). I try to do all of them. 1) Exercise for at least 60 minutes/day. I recommend getting a pedometer and walking 12,000 steps/day, plus working out with weights 2-4 times/week 2) Gratitude -- try to spend time every day thinking about the things you are grateful for 3) Meditation -- 10 minutes/day. It works. Studies prove it! 4) Relationship with the su…

9) Take a shower every day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk...

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#44

Post by taf2 »

Take a day off. Make sure you don't work on the weekend. Pick something easy to work on during the day that you can finish and feel good about. When home focus on the kids, try and find something non-tech related to focus your energy on outside of work... Exercise helps a lot

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#45

Post by efewf »

AdeptusAquinas wrote: post #31

I went through a dark phase like this a while ago. Similar situation, with a mortgage that effectively trapped me at my job. I eventually figured out though that my depression was linked to the frustration with the pointlessness of the job - you are not exactly doing anything meaningful when each day is building pointless features into monolithic intranets for companies and government departments who are motivated mo…

Good advice. The only issue I see is that I might find myself unmotivated to progress in my career. If I become laissez-faire, I might not go for the promotion.

Have you had this be an issue?

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#46

Post by cgag »

EC1 wrote: post #13
mrcold wrote: post #8

Welcome to the club. We don't have free drinks or anything. Only endless depression and no will to continue. But seriously, things are fucked and it's only getting worse. I'm in the same shoes and I'm trying a startup in my spare time. Plus, the guy running our project decided to quit and leave me alone with a monster made out of spaghetti code. Just finished updating my resume, hoping I won't need to use it. Don't h…

The fuck? We're programmers. We have the easiest lives of the working class. I'm literally sitting here in my underwear, unshaven, drinking a beer, making stupid money for coding objectively pointless crap much like 99% of us. It's absurd. Lighten up.

Sounds fulfilling.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#47

Post by lettergram »

I actually recommend a comment by the_economist. Work out, walk, try to think positively, etc.

A bit of a plug, but:

I also created a Kickstarter for my project, which is designed to help people feel better via a method called neurofeedback. Usually it's thousands of dollars, but we automated it and brought it down to ~$30 per month (or $15 through the kickstarter).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/synaptitude/thinksuite-...

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#48

Post by lolo_ »

the_economist wrote: post #21

The following things are proven to make you happier (and smarter!). I try to do all of them. 1) Exercise for at least 60 minutes/day. I recommend getting a pedometer and walking 12,000 steps/day, plus working out with weights 2-4 times/week 2) Gratitude -- try to spend time every day thinking about the things you are grateful for 3) Meditation -- 10 minutes/day. It works. Studies prove it! 4) Relationship with the su…

While all of these points are great advice, I think it's important to check whether this is something deeper.

In my experience with serious depression, advice like this actually doesn't work, there was a period I was doing all of these things only to find it did nothing, which was disheartening to say the least.

So by all means do this, but if things persist, speak to your doctor!

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#49

Post by nathell »

1. Seek professional help if you can afford it. I'm not sure how public funding of psychological counselling / psychotherapy works in the US, but if money is an issue, try to find a local support group. Or start one, if you feel up to the task.

2. Have an honest conversation with your manager. If you have a problem, it's no use swiping it under the carpet and hoping it will just go away on its own. Tell the manager how you feel and what impact this feeling has on your day-to-day job. If you have already applied for help (see above), mention it. This way you are sending a positive message that you are aware of the problem and proactively working towards fixing it. Try to be open, honest, and speak in terms of how to improve the state of affairs, rather than complaining how bad it is. Try to work together with your manager to seek a solution.

It is natural to be afraid of this conversation. Work it through in your head. You may feel that your manager is not understanding enough. If in doubt, try to talk to a colleague first. Alternatively, you might find someone else in senior management whom you consider more approachable.

3. Exercise, meditate, sleep and eat well. Others have already mentioned the importance of this.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do if I feel depressed in my job?

#50

Post by AdeptusAquinas »

efewf wrote: post #45
AdeptusAquinas wrote: post #31

I went through a dark phase like this a while ago. Similar situation, with a mortgage that effectively trapped me at my job. I eventually figured out though that my depression was linked to the frustration with the pointlessness of the job - you are not exactly doing anything meaningful when each day is building pointless features into monolithic intranets for companies and government departments who are motivated mo…

Good advice. The only issue I see is that I might find myself unmotivated to progress in my career. If I become laissez-faire, I might not go for the promotion. Have you had this be an issue?

Definitely. And you need to be careful - you can definitely be too casual and make a mistake that might come up in review (as I did not too long ago).

But the other side of this is that, by not emotionally investing in the work, you don't also end up feeling hurt and betrayed should you not get the promotion you think you 'deserve'. When I built some beautiful application, but got passed over, it felt like my manager had stabbed me in the back. That's unhealthy.

Also, I think that once you internalise the idea that the job was just a job you can become a better performer. You wont feel listless and pointless when a client makes your life difficult, or you are switched from one project to the another. I find that now I just shrug, and tackle what's next.

Post reply on HN