9 ms·
I'm a boss of devs. My off the cuff response to you is "please, god _please_, talk to your boss." Say exactly what you told us. "I'm burnt out, I've tried ad
by crikli 11y ago
I'm a boss of devs. My off the cuff response to you is "please, god _please_, talk to your boss."
Say exactly what you told us. "I'm burnt out, I've tried addressing the problem..."
Before you do, think through what's causing the burnout. It could be the hours, that's where everyone goes first, but it could be a particular client, it could be the number of projects you're having to concurrently work, it could be your environment, it could something else completely, or it could be a combination of a bunch of those things.
Once you get sorta close to what's causing the burnout you can work to a solution that you can pitch your boss. But I wouldn't lead with it, I'd let him ask you "so what can we do" and then present what you're thinking.
Speaking as a boss, I really don't want people quitting for negative reasons. If they get some crazy offer that I can't match or they get to work on some cool tech that excites them, them's the breaks and it suck for me but I'm excited for them. But if I have people quitting for systemic reasons, man that's bad juju and I need to know so I can fix that shit before quitting becomes contagious and I lose a shop full of good people.
It's also been mentioned a couple times to see a counselor. I concur. You may be dealing with some anxiety and depression issues that a qualified doc can help you through.
- johnward 11y agoAre managers like you common or are you some type of unicorn?
- cam- 11y agoMore common than you think in my experience.
- fredkbloggs 11y agoIt's hit or miss. A lot of the bad managers (and the world's full of 'em) just make sure most of their employees are on H1 visas so they can't plausibly quit. That way they don't have to do anything for the employees, and they don't have to worry about attrition. Not coincidentally, when things aren't as silly-boomy as they are now, being a citizen looks a lot more like being on an H1, and manager behavior often adjusts to match. Fair warning.
- crikli 11y agoNah. Most of the managers I worked with truly wanted to treat their people well, they just didn't have the latitude or power to do so. They were given lots of responsibility with no authority, they got dumped on by the jackwagon MBA(s) they reported to, and they didn't have the power to do anything but serve as a conduit between upper management and the field. It was/is a culture problem endemic to many big corporations (and lots of small ones too).
- baconner 11y agoI think it's important to understand that burnout is situational depression and/or anxiety. If you are burning out it's important to recognize that it's not some special software developer thing its a real psychological issue that professionals can help with. There's no shame in admitting that and getting help beyond just trying to talk to your boss.