Boundaries are so important. Sadly not all workplaces believe that their people are human. I have been at places where they wanted me to skip the birth of my child for a release; where I had to explain that 108 hour work weeks are a cause of staff turnover. Sales and leadership teams that deny your humanity do not deserve your loyalty. Your client is not a god. No one is on their death bed wishing they had looked at more pull requests.
I once had a conversation with an HR lead that said upon hearing my complaint of burnout that, "I was not cut out for the industry". This was preceded by a conversation with sales in which I was told, "You just burn out the dev, and get a new one. Thats how it works." I was smoking ashes at that point. There was no support from the top except, "Just stick around! We'll figure out a solution later!" after a months long death march on a project. My level of burnout left no f*cks for their answer. My resume was already sent before he had stopped me in the hallway.
I wish this were a one off event. A tech senior VP at the same company once told me that if I was getting out of shape due to overtime, that I should just "Buy bigger pants". I lasted 8 months. My predecessor lasted 8 months. The guy who came after me....lasted about 8 months. Agency life for developers can be toxic. We are told to have boundaries, but if no one respects them it is very tricky to either keep those boundaries or the job.
I wish that scenario were a one off, but our industry is plagued by the notion that developers are disposable and best hired when young. Something has to give, and that something can't just be on the developer. Many workplaces in Canada rely on legislation passed during the Y2K scare, that overtime is unpaid on IT. This has lead to some rather toxic environments for developers. That loophole needs to be closed, and we need to stop competing on who can destroy themselves more to get the work done.
Hi!
I am Nirbhay Vashisht, a Computer Science Engineering Student from India.
(currently in final year)
For any enquiry contact me on Twitter @nirbhayvashisht
Location
New Delhi, India
Education
Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science Engineering
Work
Computer Science Engineering Student | Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador
Boundaries are so important. Sadly not all workplaces believe that their people are human. I have been at places where they wanted me to skip the birth of my child for a release; where I had to explain that 108 hour work weeks are a cause of staff turnover. Sales and leadership teams that deny your humanity do not deserve your loyalty. Your client is not a god. No one is on their death bed wishing they had looked at more pull requests.
I once had a conversation with an HR lead that said upon hearing my complaint of burnout that, "I was not cut out for the industry". This was preceded by a conversation with sales in which I was told, "You just burn out the dev, and get a new one. Thats how it works." I was smoking ashes at that point. There was no support from the top except, "Just stick around! We'll figure out a solution later!" after a months long death march on a project. My level of burnout left no f*cks for their answer. My resume was already sent before he had stopped me in the hallway.
I wish this were a one off event. A tech senior VP at the same company once told me that if I was getting out of shape due to overtime, that I should just "Buy bigger pants". I lasted 8 months. My predecessor lasted 8 months. The guy who came after me....lasted about 8 months. Agency life for developers can be toxic. We are told to have boundaries, but if no one respects them it is very tricky to either keep those boundaries or the job.
I wish that scenario were a one off, but our industry is plagued by the notion that developers are disposable and best hired when young. Something has to give, and that something can't just be on the developer. Many workplaces in Canada rely on legislation passed during the Y2K scare, that overtime is unpaid on IT. This has lead to some rather toxic environments for developers. That loophole needs to be closed, and we need to stop competing on who can destroy themselves more to get the work done.
Woah! This is just sad. Thanks for sharing your experience though