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I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

kottke.org

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Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#91

Post by eropple »

mwidell wrote: post #76
reggieband wrote: post #62

I watch a lot of YouTube and a fair amount of Twitch. Sooner or later every creator talks a bit about their anxiety working in that content creator grind. On Twitch, taking a day off may mean losing hundreds of subscribers. Streamers are cautious about taking bathroom breaks since they can lose thousands of viewers during a short break. YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule.…

Youtube does not punish you if you are not consistent. That is simply a myth. There are plenty of very successful youtubers who only publish occasionally or irregularly.

How many of them 1) always published long-form material, and 2) hit their stride/"were selected by the algorithm" in the last few years?

I would believe that what you describe is true for long-established YouTube personalities, and I can think of plenty myself, but I can think of pretty few that haven't been doing it for at least five years or so (with the exception of the woodworking space, where it seems like perhaps there's still some growth opportunities despite plenty of creators--my guess is it's because the ad revenue is way better there). I follow a lot of smaller essayists 'cause I like that sort of thing and have a friendly recommendation network to leverage; YouTube very rarely recommends me long-form content, in either Search or Suggested Videos, from somebody I've never seen before.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#93

Post by tmp_anon_22 »

mkr-hn wrote: post #84
dahfizz wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're a streamer large enough to be receiving hundreds of subs a day, and so many viewers you could lose thousands during a bathroom break, you're a multi millionaire. It's hard for me to be sympathetic about how stressful their job is when they could retire comfortably at any point.

They always have staff they pay with that money. It doesn't all flow into their pockets. It's very hard to reach that scale on your own.

It seems many streamers can barely take care of themselves. With the money involved I'd imagine a large cottage industry of Agents, Marketers, Content editors, and subsidies to friends and teammates who participate in their content. Not to mention a complicated tax situations, irregular income levels, periodic industry events, etc.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#95

Post by alisonatwork »

kingnothing wrote: post #83

I took a 6 month sabbatical and am just now interviewing for work again. It's been one of the best decisions of my career and I would highly recommend everyone who can to save up and make it happen for themselves. I worked for over a decade before feeling burnt out and realizing I needed to make a change. Fortunately I'd been saving for this for quite a while, knowing I'd want to do it eventually. It's been amazing t…

I am just returning from a 10 month sabbatical, my second deliberate one in the past 5 years, and one of several career breaks I have taken since I started working in tech in the late 90s. I also highly recommend it. For me weekends and even annual leave doesn't reach the same level of relaxation that I can hit when I know that there is no job hanging over my head, and no countdown to when I need to return. (Running out of cash would be a fairly hard limit, of course, but in our industry it's easy to put enough money away to live without work for a year every few years.)

One thing I don't feel is that these sabbaticals have necessarily been some kind of radical life-altering experience. I pretty much just did the same stuff that I enjoyed doing anyway, but I did it entirely at my own pace, with zero pressure or stress. I'm not really seeking enlightment, I'm just seeking peacefulness.

As I am getting older, I am thinking that perhaps instead of doing my usual 1-2 years at a couple of different companies and then breaking, it might be nicer to have a consistent job that would allow me to break and come back. I have returned to two companies in my employment history - one after spending a year overseas, and another that I returned to part-time as a remote freelancer during COVID. Unfortunately I don't think many companies are inclined to offer this as a formal benefit, especially in countries where months-long parental leave isn't a thing. I suppose people who enjoy these kinds of sabbaticals and come back refreshed and hopefully more productive are still enough of a minority that it isn't seen as something that would be in a company's interest to promote.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#96

Post by rockinghigh »

reggieband wrote: post #62

I watch a lot of YouTube and a fair amount of Twitch. Sooner or later every creator talks a bit about their anxiety working in that content creator grind. On Twitch, taking a day off may mean losing hundreds of subscribers. Streamers are cautious about taking bathroom breaks since they can lose thousands of viewers during a short break. YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule.…

> YouTube ruthlessly punishes creators that don't upload on a consistent schedule. I imagine TikTok and Instagram are similar.

Older videos are naturally downranked because users want fresh content. The age of a post is a strong predictor of user interaction. However, it doesn't mean Youtube actively punishes less frequent creators. YouTube actually promotes a lot of old content (>1 year old) compared to other platforms. At the extreme, Instagram Stories are deleted after 24 hours forcing you to produce content daily.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#97

Post by themadturk »

askonomm wrote: post #88
giraffe_lady wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it would be but I've never heard of that happening. I once went to my manager saying I was worried about burning out bc of pushing so hard on a project with a legal deadline. Asked him to consider/look into options for me to take a month off unpaid at the end of it. He said he'd talk to leadership about it and get back to me. I got fired the next day.

This is where I would have lawyered up. I don't know where this happened to you, but over in Europe I'm pretty sure this is illegal and I'd be gunning for some sweet, sweet money.

Unless they're in a legally protected class or live in Montana, his or her employer can fire them for whatever reason they want (and the employee can leave for whatever reason they want as well).

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#98

Post by wfme »

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #72
astroalex wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Firstly, I believe you underestimate the amount of work Jason does and the amount of stress he is under. I've read Kottke.org since I was a kid, and it's the only blog I still regularly read. There's a reason it's the only website I've looked at everyday for the majority of my life : consistent excellence. Anecdotally, whenever Jason has a guest writer come on his blog, I can tell before I even read the b…

I didn't say his sabbatical is unwarranted; he can spend his life however he pleases. I simply said that I think it's extremely tone deaf and sneeringly privileged for Jason to describe his current state as "burnt out." This is a very strong term referring to a state of extreme mental anguish induced by an unreasonable and inescapable level of overwork that applies more to people forced to work 60+ hour weeks at mini…

I enjoy the irony of calling the author “ tone deaf”.

Re: I’m going to miss you, but I am taking a sabbatical

#99

Post by xirdstl »

kingnothing wrote: post #83

I took a 6 month sabbatical and am just now interviewing for work again. It's been one of the best decisions of my career and I would highly recommend everyone who can to save up and make it happen for themselves. I worked for over a decade before feeling burnt out and realizing I needed to make a change. Fortunately I'd been saving for this for quite a while, knowing I'd want to do it eventually. It's been amazing t…

I took two sabbaticals last decade, the first 6 months and the second about a year.

After the last, I started a new job full time for about a year, after which I transitioned to working just Monday - Wednesday (8 hour days). I'm in year 4 of this schedule. For me, I think this works better than full time and occasional sabbaticals. I have not approached anything near burn out.

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