Burnout is becoming increasingly common in the tech industry. A lot of this is due to the fast-paced, hamster wheel of delivery that is all to common in most tech companies. Combine this with the constant threat of lay-offs and the pressure to be the best, it can get too much.
I have been close to burnout a few times in my career and generally these are the signs:
- Lack of motivation — completing work sprint after sprint seems pointless, and you are taking longer to finish your work than normal.
- Exhaustion — getting up for work each day is a struggle. More than just your Monday morning blues. This can often come as emotional exhaustion too. People typically feel overwhelmed and have difficulty managing their emotions. Generally this manifests by being more irritable or having mood swings.
- Cynical — people start to feel detached from their work and their colleagues, and become more negative in general.
- Physical symptoms — burnout and stress can lead to insomnia, headaches, or stomach problems.
To be honest, it is usually my wife who notices these changes in me first. The constant complaining about work all the time is a bit of a giveaway.
If you are noticing most of the above points then there is a chance that you are on the cusp of burnout, and it is time to do something about it. When burnout hits it can take months to recover so it is best to tackle the symptoms before it gets too bad.
Coping mechanisms #
Next year marks my one-year anniversary in my current job and so far everything is going well and there are no signs of burnout yet.
I have realised over the years that there are a few things about my personality that make me more prone to burnout compared to others.
- Imposter Syndrome — no matter how many features I release or programming languages I know, I always have this feeling that I don't know as much as others. This causes me to always “go the extra mile” to try to prove to myself and others that I deserve to be where I am.
- Lack of accomplishment — I am not very good at celebrating my achievements. When I finish a difficult feature or complete a life goal, I don't tend to feel a sense of accomplishment just a mild sense of relief that it is done. Then I am straight on to the next task.
It is these points then can often cause me to overwork and burn the candle at both ends. The lack of accomplishment when I do complete something doesn't help to ease the imposter syndrome either.
I still have these issues, but there are a few things that I think have helped me from suffering burnout this time around.
Supportive team #
Working with the right set of people makes a huge difference. For this to work it really has to be at the company level though.
I have been lucky, and I have always enjoyed working with my immediate team. However, if the management is setting unrealistic deadlines and isn't supportive, then it is not enough. An immediate supportive team can help shoulder the burden, but the burden is still there and can lead to burnout.
This time around the company is small enough, and we all have realistic expectations when it comes to deadlines and trust each other to get work done as quickly as possible, while maintaining quality and not burning out.
Celebrating achievements #
I am still terrible at “blowing my own trumpet”. Luckily thanks to the above, I have a supportive team that gets excited about my releases for me. This helps a lot to ward off the imposter syndrome. If everyone else is impressed with my work then I can't be that bad.
I still need to get better at reframing my thinking, and focus on the positive aspects and accomplishments rather than focusing on feelings of inadequacy.
Working less #
I am currently working 4 days a week which helps a lot with work-life balance. Having 3 days to unwind instead of 2 really helps me recharge.
As a father, my weekends are usually quite busy and not all that relaxing. Having a 1 day a week when I can just write this newsletter, work on my personal project, spend time with my wife or just do nothing is fantastic and well worth getting paid 20% less.
I often have to make sure I book off all my annual leave as I don't have as much need to take time off as I did when I was working 5 days a week. People often book long holidays to escape from their everyday life. Not many take the time to create a life they don't need to escape from.
Prioritise self-care #
We are quite flexible with our working hours at work. We trust each other to put the time in across the week. This flexibility along with working from home has helped me fit in some exercise during the week.
I start work half an hour earlier, so I can fit in an Apple Fitness+ workout before lunch. I don't do this everyday but try to do at least a few sessions each week. Exercise is a great stress reliever and do get a sense of accomplishment from getting stronger.
It is also good to have some hobbies that don't involve staring at a screen. I enjoy playing guitar, reading and drawing in my spare time and these help me relax a lot more than scrolling on my phone.
Self-care can also come in the form of:
- Journaling — when I feel like my mind is racing with a million thoughts it often helps to get them down on the page.
- Meditation — I definitely need to do this more often. I always feel more relaxed after a meditation session.
Burnout can creep up on you, and it is important to recognise the signs and try to do something to prevent it from getting worse.
❤️ Picks of the Week #
📝 Article — The Bluesky firehose viewed in the style of a Windows XP screensaver — I like the fact that Bluesky has open API's that make something like this possible.
📝 Article — CSS gets a new logo and it uses the color rebeccapurple — I hadn't heard the story behind rebeccapurple and it is lovely that CSS has picked that for the new logo.
📝 Article — Good Software Development Habits — there is some great advice here. I agree with a lot of them such as “Copy-paste is OK once”, “Testability correlates good design” and “All code is a liability”.
📝 Article — Carl Sagan on Books — I do find it amazing that we can still learn from people who died hundreds of years ago thanks to the power of books. It makes me want to write a book someday.
📝 Article — Exploring Gen AI: Copilot's new multi-file editing — I don't use GitHub Copilot but if you do, you might be interested to know that multi-file editing is coming.
📝 Article — Epic Allows Internet Archive to Distribute Unreal and Unreal Tournament Forever — I think more games companies should do this. This is especially true for games on consoles that are no longer available. Nintendo at least have released some of their old games if you have Nintendo Switch Online. There are still many games on consoles that you can't play without downloading the ROMs illegally.
📝 Article — Work-Life Balance — It seems I am not the only one who is writing about work-life balance this week. There is some great advice in here as well.
📝 Article — I don't have time to learn React — I use React at work, but I don't particularly like it. I always feel like I am battling against it. I found Vue more intuitive and I have heard that Svelte is even better.
🎬 Video — Factory robot convinces 12 other robots to go on strike — The robot uprising has started! I am not sure how much of this was actually programmed in, but it is quite funny if it is true.
📝 Article — The Anti-Brand-Builder's Guide to Building Your Brand — As I mentioned in this post I don't like “blowing my own horn” and the thought of commercialising myself has never appealed to me. There is some good advice in here, and it reminds me I need to share more.
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