Books on Burnout • Hacker News Board

Re: Books on Burnout

#51

Post by chrshawkes » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 12:29 PM UTC

bguerra wrote: post #16

codesushi42 wrote: post #7

Here is a hint: Stop working so fucking hard on apps/websites/digital junk that helps no one, except by making your boss rich (be it manager, VC, or otherwise). If you engage in meaningful work, then it is impossible to get burned out for too long. Stop being a drone. Take a step back and look at the big picture and ask yourself: what am I coding for? Who is going to use this? Will it help anyone in any meaningful wa…

What would you recommend for things like school work? I do full time development work but I'm self taught. When I was hired the company agreed to pay for part of the tuition to get a degree. I'm still a couple years away from completing all the courses, but I just can't handle a lot of the material. Much of it is outdated and a lot is biased based on the instructors past work and experiences. Last year I had to take…

I work for a company that will not allow you to be a lead or manager without a degree. Keep that in mind. Lots of companies are that way.

Re: Books on Burnout

#52

Post by chrshawkes » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 12:31 PM UTC

I find the most peace when I simply don't care about the outcome. Nothing I've worked on in my professional life is going to be important on my deathbed. No books will help you power through it. Learn to take care of yourself and not have such a vested interest in work related things of little importance.

I literally just walked by some guy sleeping at his desk.

Re: Books on Burnout

#53

Post by esnowrackley » Fri, Sep 20, 2019, 4:56 PM UTC

codesushi42 wrote: post #7

Here is a hint: Stop working so fucking hard on apps/websites/digital junk that helps no one, except by making your boss rich (be it manager, VC, or otherwise). If you engage in meaningful work, then it is impossible to get burned out for too long. Stop being a drone. Take a step back and look at the big picture and ask yourself: what am I coding for? Who is going to use this? Will it help anyone in any meaningful wa…

> Stop being a drone.

> Set yourself free, and cast off the 24/7 toxic work culture of SV that's keen on producing useless shit for problems no one has.

IDK man, I like being able to eat. But on a more serious note, that's a much bigger political economic issue than it is an individual one. If we want to change it, we have to act corporately.

I also take issue with the idea that meaningful work makes it impossible to burn out for long. I have been completely bulldozed by meaningful work that both killed my love and investment in what I was doing and left me exhausted and barely sustaining. It took ages to recover. If anything, meaningful work is that much more likely to lead to burnout because of your personal investment in it. In my experience, when you care about what you do you tend to give yourself over to it. For example, 24/7 toxic work culture is pretty much the standard in non-profits because you're there for "the mission".