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Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

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Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#71

Post by mercer »

segmondy wrote: post #20
sleepysysadmin wrote: post #9

There is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT(especially MSPs); which when not addressed grows into bigger mental health issues and even literal sicknesses. There just isn't enough skilled IT people. The industry is immature and is bottom heavy. The top performers and seniors, are then overwhelmed with work and the business is unable to hire more senior people to reduce workload. Then the business keeps growing a…

Perhaps there really is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT, but perhaps that's not the problem. There're ton of companies with burnout problems and worse turnover rates than IT. I personally believe that the issue we are seeing today is that most people don't know how to manager stress, emotion & energy. Most people are leading a very reactive life and constantly been pulled and pushed in all directions by "lif…

I think it's more to do with the nature of many jobs. Whether it's open office layout, lack of job security, increased work load, lack of control, lack of meaning, I really do think office jobs have become shittier, and perhaps IT especially as it becomes more of a 'commodity'.

Blaming the resulting problems on the worker is a rather common way of justifying these kinds of abuses (either as internalized by the worker, and as a way for employers to keep feeling like they're good people).

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#72

Post by behringer »

sesteel wrote: post #29
segmondy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps there really is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT, but perhaps that's not the problem. There're ton of companies with burnout problems and worse turnover rates than IT. I personally believe that the issue we are seeing today is that most people don't know how to manager stress, emotion & energy. Most people are leading a very reactive life and constantly been pulled and pushed in all directions by "lif…

Detaching emotion from the outcome is key. I've heard it described as professional distance or professional objectivity and it is a key component of maturity. It is more prevalent in other industries, but tech has grown so fast that we have a serious mentoring problem. There isn't enough good mentors, people with decades of experience, to go around. I grew up in part of the industry where people had been working for…

Also they need to stop working 80 hour weeks just because the manager asks. They need to say no and be willing to walk away. It's not healthy for anybody to work that much.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#73

Post by lilactown »

ratling wrote: post #57
sesteel wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detaching emotion from the outcome is key. I've heard it described as professional distance or professional objectivity and it is a key component of maturity. It is more prevalent in other industries, but tech has grown so fast that we have a serious mentoring problem. There isn't enough good mentors, people with decades of experience, to go around. I grew up in part of the industry where people had been working for…

"Remaining outcome agnostic." i.e. I'll be fine no matter what happens and no matter your emotional state. Also called "Keeping frame." Not letting other people's shit tests affect you. Amusingly, these are red pill concepts. I don't follow that belief system (many of it's proponents range between pathetic to downright unhinged) but I did read about it. There were some corn kernels of truth worth picking out of the t…

TRP has done a great job of appropriating decent life advice and using it to make their misogynistic message more palatable. They're not the first group, nor the last, to employ this technique.

The ideas can be found in various philosophy and culture including Stoicism and eastern philosophy. "Shit tests," though, that's just the misogyny.

Skip the turd, go read philosophy.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#74

Post by jakeinspace »

nabnob wrote: post #36

I've been having the same existential crisis for a couple years now. I started working at a FAANG company right out of college, then after a bunch of personal health problems ended up taking a leave of absence that I didn't return from. I took a long break from software and started learning politics, philosophy, and history, and eventually came to the conclusion that most of the world's problems are social/political…

There are plenty of technical organizations that do meaningful and beneficial work, although they aren't all going to be in California paying $150k+. I don't see how I'd ever be able to maintain motivation while working 50+ hour weeks on advertising or content delivery. The main reason I declined a private tech sector position to work for the federal government is because I hope to be a part of something which moves the needle ever-so-slightly in the right direction.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#75

Post by docker_up »

There was another HN-posted article from a therapist on why he quit being a therapist.

Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18418022

The grass is always greener, as they say. I suspect that the OP will realize that it's not the job that is causing this, but OP himself.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#76

Post by short_sells_poo »

lm28469 wrote: post #58
short_sells_poo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to prefix this as _anecdotal_ as it is only some speculation I've done on the matter, but here is my take on it: The brain is in the end a neural network, and like all such devices, can get stuck in various local minima that are difficult to get out of. An old habit that has been reinforced through many years can take a considerable "shock" to dislodge. All the little cognitive and behavioral biases that one…

The problem is that we shouldn't feel the need to use drugs to make our lives bearable. Depression, burnout and other mental issues is amplified by our lifestyles and the system that allowed them. Sure you can take psychedelics, anti depressant, alcohol, and other drugs to make it bearable, it won't fix the underlying issue(s). I agree with most of what you say on psychedelics, I don't see it as a cure to what we're…

I don't know why you are being downvoted (I upvoted you), because you are raising a point that absolutely needs to be discussed.

Perhaps I phrased things incorrectly, but the idea behind using psychedelics is not to suppress the symptoms, as is with classic anti-depressants. They cannot do that. Rather to change the way one thinks in such a profound way that they will voluntarily solve the root cause of the problems without being intimidated by them.

Taking Prozac will make one completely numb to feelings, and the hope is that since they no longer feel crippling depression, they can overcome whatever difficulties are the root cause. I would describe it as depersonalizing the individual completely so they become a robot. Psychedelics absolutely do not do that. You remain a feeling, emotive being - more so if anything, but they allow you to see your own thought process objectively.

I haven't studied the clinical usage of psychedelics, but my impression from cursory research is that the approach is different from traditional anti-depressants, and arguably more constructive path. Rather than numbing all emotions using very biologically-addictive substances, use non-addictive substances with very low abuse potential to make the conscious mind want to fix the problem. Not because it is being forced to, but because they want to heal. Often, part of this healing is a sort of resignation, or letting go, where the emotional baggage is fully acknowledged and the pent up pressure can be released. This is part of the therapeutic process, by removing the internal filters, one cannot help but acknowledge and face these things and interestingly enough, in a positive way.

E.g. a person who has problems with their weight will finally come to terms with their body, which allows them to acknowledge the root cause and start working on fixing it, now liberated from the suffocating feeling of "having problems".

I don't know how to describe it better, and I realize I'm being incredibly un-scientific, but perhaps you see what I mean?

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#77

Post by balabaster »

mfoy_ wrote: post #39
sesteel wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detaching emotion from the outcome is key. I've heard it described as professional distance or professional objectivity and it is a key component of maturity. It is more prevalent in other industries, but tech has grown so fast that we have a serious mentoring problem. There isn't enough good mentors, people with decades of experience, to go around. I grew up in part of the industry where people had been working for…

Reminds me of part of that poem by Kipling... "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:" (I highly recommend reading the whole thing. Not that long.) https://www.poetryfoundation.org/…

...and which is more, you'll be a man, my son.

This poem was hung on my bedroom wall for my whole childhood. Great poem. It taught me everything about finding the patience to be understanding of other people.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#78

Post by [deleted] »

lm28469 wrote: post #58
short_sells_poo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to prefix this as _anecdotal_ as it is only some speculation I've done on the matter, but here is my take on it: The brain is in the end a neural network, and like all such devices, can get stuck in various local minima that are difficult to get out of. An old habit that has been reinforced through many years can take a considerable "shock" to dislodge. All the little cognitive and behavioral biases that one…

The problem is that we shouldn't feel the need to use drugs to make our lives bearable. Depression, burnout and other mental issues is amplified by our lifestyles and the system that allowed them. Sure you can take psychedelics, anti depressant, alcohol, and other drugs to make it bearable, it won't fix the underlying issue(s). I agree with most of what you say on psychedelics, I don't see it as a cure to what we're…

[deleted]

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#80

Post by nunodonato »

balabaster wrote: post #5

Wow! Can I ever see some parallels with the inverse correlation of my own inward search for meaning and my lack of contentment with life. They say that happiness is found within, but the more time I spend looking inward, the more and more sure I become that it's not. Happiness, at least for me, is found in friendships and relationships, in human connection. The search inward may lead to many profound and philosophica…

If it was that easy, everyone would have it ;)

(source: meditation for 15+ years now)

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