DEV Community: Aleksei Sereda

Another side of efficiency - continuation

Aleksei Sereda — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:54:22 +0000

Hi! This is the continuation of my previous article "Another side of efficiency". In that article, I told you about mental disorders in Tech work and how to define that something wrong with you. Here I want to tell you how to handle it.

Suggestions:
Go to the doctor - this is the main recommendation. So many people from Tech used to find answers in google, and think that if they need a psychologist, it means they lost his mind. But just doctor can say the right course of antidepressants for you. Moreover, antidepressants often have side effects - it decreases creative. Many people choose such life - they don't worry but less creative, they just said «ok, it is better». Good doctor can give you couple courses - first to wake you up from the bottom, and second to understand what leads you here. So don't be shy and go to the doctor.

Don't be drunk - this is the worst way to handle depression, alcohol increase this condition. So you will just get alcohol addiction and this habit not what you need in life.

Stop - every day you have so many tasks, so many things you need to do, so many promises. But try to go home, stand up a chair in the centre of the room and sit down in it a whole day and do nothing. You will feel so bad, you will go through withdrawal, but you will see that if you do nothing full day, noting change. This is the best suggestion for any cases in life if something wrong in your life - don't try to fix it immediately, first of all just stop and think about it, otherwise, you can do something that will make things worse.

Everything will be alright - just know it.

Tools:
Meditation - it is a good thing to turn your brain off and stop the cycle of responsibility. For example, two cases when you can use it:

You can't sleep because you can't stop thinking about ways to solve a task, and most likely tomorrow you will forget about ways you found. Meditation will help you to interrupt it.
You can't solve task because you have a hard day, you feel angry, tire. Just go to a silent room for 15 minutes, and you will feel better. It is better to get this habit and do it every day, just google how and start doing it.

Exercises - you need to serve your body. If you work in Tech for more than 5 years and don't do exercises most likely you are hunchbacked, so you have smaller lung volume and weaker heart. Don't be in overenthusiasm, to begin to take easy exercises but do it at least a couple times per week. Don't delay it until buying a gym subscription or sneakers, just start doing something!

Sun - go to the sun often. Most of Tech professionals see it once a day or fewer, sometimes even avoid it because it shines on the screen. Go to the walk in the middle of the day every day, it will help you feel better.

Every day - you need to do all these things every day. Every day you need to serve yourself and think about what you have done for yourself. Not for the company, for yourself, because every day you give away something, so you need to return something to yourself every day. If you don't return anything to yourself - you waste that day.

At work - try to think, what did you done today? Was it useful for you? Did it develop you? Tough you? If you perfectly do the same job last 5 years - this is the end, you don't move forward. Just ask yourself - what I learned? Where I go? Have I plans?

How to live:
Depression makes you honest in front of yourself. So many people sit at their jobs just because they have it, not because they love it. But it is normal to unlike something, if you don't like to be developer anymore - leave this job, if you don't like the product - leave this product, anyway, you will make things worse because you don't like and finally you will be fired and fell in depression. But on the other hand - maybe depression will help you do understand, what you want to do really.

Think about yourself - there are a lot of responsible people who constantly give away. But they forget - almost no one give them something back, all just say «thank you». For example: you write a document or 4000 lines of code for a product, it is better for a product, but what about you? What did you get? Think about yourself, care about yourself, set aside time for yourself. Only if you think about yourself you will be able to think about the quality of your work, you will be able to grow, to propose adventurous solutions.

It is like wearing masks in a plane - first of all, put a mask on yourself, and only after on your child, otherwise, you can both die. You will not save anyone if you put masks of them, because they can't put a mask on you. So, first of all, think how to feel good in the team and then change your team, don't blame your team, do the right things by yourself and fix the team.

Stop doing bullshit - everyone every day does some bullshit. Try to waste it step by step, just stop doing it or delegate it. What is bullshit to you is good for another person, and he can be grateful to you for this experience.

Start doing bullshit - if you see something that people are doing and want to say them: «you are idiots, you are doing unbearable, rotten, stupid shit» then say it and add «can I do it with you?». It will expand your horizons. So much people did not try anything so them do not know anything even on the edge of their profession. If you have things which you really hate - try to do it, you have feelings about these things. If you hate a girl - marry her, it will not be boring :)

Slow down - when you become a professional, you begin doing think very fast, so you even don't realise it. So when you try to do something other - you see how slow it is going, and subconsciously want to do at the same speed as your main activity. For example: you want to become powerlifter - don't try to gain 150 kg in the first week.

Live forever - so often you say «later», but imagine you live forever and ask yourself «when later?», just set a specific date maybe after 100 years, just set it. Probably you will find that some things you don't need even after 100 years.

Thank you for reading it and be healthy - the main thing.

Another side of efficiency

Aleksei Sereda — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 10:07:20 +0000

Hello! I work in Tech more than five years, and a read a lot about efficiency, every time try to be better and more productive, but there is another side of hard-working, which I want you to tell about.

Mental disorder - if you work Tech for more than five years - you probably have it. It is normal, you not the only one. It is because more often breaks the tool which you use for work. If you use your hands - your joints will hurt. It is not so good news, but I will try to explain how to handle it.

Conveyor - Principles of Tech management came to us from a conveyor. There was a machine on the conveyor and a useless human next to it without who this machine cannot work. If you remove a human from this statement - a machine will work more reliable. In the Tech industry, a machine is a computer, and expendable material is human.
Team, positive, team building - caring about humans in modern companies is limits at these 3 points, but most of your time, you write code in headphones. Nothing from it is working, but managements often think that it is enough.
A cycle of responsibility - mental disorders most often feel the most responsible people. It looks like: today you did not finish your work, you feel guilty, and tomorrow you will take twice more work, you will not be able to do it and the cycle will repeats. As a result - most responsible people feel mental disorders often than others. Because this situation makes them feel stressed and scared. You can note that the biggest slacker at your work - happiest man!) A cycle of responsibility is the cause of heavy mental disorders.

The bad side of efficiency: for example, you become a good specialist and can in 4 hours do such amount of work which early you could make only in 6 hours. And if you become such a person, you know that manager will give you more work for these 2 rest hours. But why you can’t just leave work and go home? What is the problem? If you work for 2 hours, do the same amount of work as others can do only in 6 hours, why do not leave? The team always works at the speed of the slowest player.
But some companies in Europe try to implement this conception because they understand that approach when you work 4 hours, then you do 3 works in 6 hours, then 8 work in 6 hours, then 10 works in the same time - leads to degradation of results because every new part of work you do worse and worse. Better get some rest.

How to define that something wrong with you:

Sleep disturbance - you have a bad sleep without a particular reason. You wake up every morning and think, «what was that?» did not remember anything, I woke up several times during a night, and so on. Or vice versa, you want to sleep always and everywhere, you walk and fall asleep. If you have sleep disturbance longer than a week - go to a doctor.  
Lethargy or overenthusiasm in decision making. Lethargy - when you such «oh, server fell down... I need to get it up.. or not?..., but how can I do it?... I work here for 10 years, how we do it every time?... I need to write the instruction! Now, while the server is fallen.»

Overenthusiasm - when you such «I need it! I will not sleep! I will do it! I will analyze it, I will code it, I will test it, I will clean the floors! All by myself! Until tomorrow!»
This is depression, both options. Your friend barely will tell you anything because you will decline it «How? I am the most efficient worker! I took more than others and even clean the floors!»

I Feel Nothing.

When you in depression - you feel nothing. You feel no joy or sorrow. It is not just «I don’t care», it is «I don’t care what I don’t care». You wake up in the morning and think, «For what I woke up?».
 
Fear - you start to feel fear because other people can find you out and understand that it is something wrong with you. You can’t control it and start to play like a normal, someone tells you about the dead, and you think «yes.. ah.. sorrow face!» and make a sorrow face. You start to constantly make social skills compulsory because you need to communicate with people. You carry this heavy burden of controlling yourself on your shoulders all day long.
 
From a project management perspective, people in depression are the best workers. They will do anything to keep you away from them, they will hear and agree. They will take any responsibilities and will do all the work just because of fear. It is the best team for the junior, young project manager.
 

It is challenging to hide signs of depression. You can think no one knows that you are in depression, you walk and smile like a normal, it is all right with you, you are at your place, you are a prospective one. With such a face.
If you try to see around you will find many such people at any place of work. They are good people, but they could feel better.
 
It is too late to protect yourself - if you feel these symptoms, it is means you caught. Depression is not like flu, you don’t just feel the first sign like a higher temperature and found «oh! it is depression!». You find yourself in depression when it already has a high level, just because all rest options are left. You can’t do anything, you can’t make decisions. So it is too late to protect yourself, it is too late to do some steps to avoid depression, you already have it.
 
Thank you for reading this depressive article :) In the next part, I will tell you - how to handle this state and feel better. And just not despair you are not the only one.