5 ms·

I never get tired of hearing people say publicly that they are tired, need a break, and will put themselves first for the foreseeable. I hope that this continu

I never get tired of hearing people say publicly that they are tired, need a break, and will put themselves first for the foreseeable. I hope that this continues to normalise self care and counter balance the hustle culture.

throwaway71271 3y ago
there is a saying in my country: to get a nut tight: Tighten it until it loosens, then back off a quarter turn. As it is pointed in the article, it really creeps up on you, and it is much harder to 'back off quarter turn' when the nut is broken.
- streakfix 3y ago
  How do you tighten a nut until it loosens?
  - viraptor 3y ago
    I read it as "something gives". Either you strip the tread or the nut breaks, or something else unexpected/unwanted happens.
    - tremon 3y ago
      I've never been able to strip the tread off a nut using just the strength of my bear hands (:p). Sure, I've over-tightened screws into nylon walls plugs or even into wood. But to damage a nut just by overfastening the bolt? I'd need a pneumatic drill at least.
      - lelanthran 3y ago
        > I've never been able to strip the tread off a nut using just the strength of my bear hands (:p). I have. small metric 10 nut. Also, with almost no effort you can strip the threads in spark plugs holes (aluminium head).
        doubled112 3y ago
        Different, but I have a habit of breaking valve cover bolts too, with just a screwdriver even. Click, swear, back it off a quarter turn. Often with vice grips. I've been lucky so far. Not great either is the way my impact gun is designed. You put it down on the wrong side, and the direction slider gets pushed so you're ramming it back on instead of taking it off.
  - nmz 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - qorrect 3y ago
      Lefty righty, tighty loosey, am I doing it ?
  - 6nf 3y ago
    You break something
- ChuckNorris89 3y ago
  That was my experience exactly. Burnout creeps on you without you realizing and only once it stops and you disconnect completely do you realize the mess you were.
sph 3y ago
On the other hand, I always get irritated when I hear "yeah, I know I'm pushing too hard, but if I burn out I'll take a holiday." Ha ha. You have not known burnout. It has taken me a drastic break from work, isolation, depression, thousands of pounds in therapy, and 18 months to recover from work-related burn out. I did not write a single line of code for a year. I am better now, maybe even better than I've ever been in my life, but I am a completely different person. There is a pre-burnout self, and a post-burnout one. (I don't code after work anymore. I do not enjoy cutting edge tech as much as I did just a couple years ago. I have become allergic to corporate life.) Those that joke about burnout have no idea what they are talking about.
- ravenstine 3y ago
  Burnout that occurs outside of work isn't talked about enough, maybe because it's mainly restricted to a certain kind of individual in specific kinds of fields like programming. Programming itself can lead to burnout because it provides a promise of infinite possibilities, and some of us get fooled into thinking we are equally as capable as the code itself. This leads to time that could otherwise be spent getting in touch with our humanity instead being spent on countless side projects, many of which we secretly hope will lead to wealth and prestige. Virtually all of those projects will fail or reach a dead end; that may not seem like a big deal in your early 20s, but the realization of repeated failure and time spent in relative solitude can take it's toll once you hit your 30s. The burnout feeling occurs, not because you are doing anything functionally different from when you were addicted to code, but because the novelty eventually fades and it becomes clear how short life is. Worse yet, you may have nothing to show for all your effort. One may even have had their social skills atrophy. Burnout can have physiological components, but most of it is mental. The negative effects of having a passion for code may lead to a sense of worthlessness. Feeling like you are as insignificant as a smudge of excrement on a piece of tissue surging out to sea can be pretty demotivating.
  - ChuckNorris89 3y ago
    >and some of us get fooled into thinking we are equally as capable as the code itself IMHO burnout as a SW dev isn't because of the coding itself, I find that the easiest part to deal with. It's the constant pressure to stay up to date an an industry that changes faster and faster and a job market that get more and more competitive. It's the constant sprinting towards more and more ambitious arbitrary deadlines set by sales or management using half-assed Agile and Scrum processes imposed onto you by clueless higher-ups. It's constant interruptions and multitasking in several tools you have to keep up with throughout the day: chats, calls, emails, Jira, etc. while also being expected to focus and code. It's the exhausting and time consuming interview practices. It's the idiotic and overpaid management and execs who treat you like a disposable resource and thinks colorful beanbags, ping-pong and foosball tables would make me want to spend 2h commuting to the office every day to sit in a noisy open office with a view of a concrete parking lot, and that pictures of employees in funny situations with moustaches drawn on them and turned into memes and plastered around the office means a "friendly" atmosphere and it's what I would enjoy instead of WFH in peace and quiet (maybe I'm too old or something but I can't stand my workplace treating me, a professional in my 30's, like I'm a childish toddler looking to join some kindergarten playground). Coding and debugging alone is very pleasant for me, it's why I became a dev, but it's everything else related to this industry that breaks my will to live.
brianjking 3y ago
We must also normalize the ability to TAKE THE TIME, not just normalize acknowledging the need.

throwaway71271 3y ago

there is a saying in my country: to get a nut tight: Tighten it until it loosens, then back off a quarter turn. As it is pointed in the article, it really creeps up on you, and it is much harder to 'back off quarter turn' when the nut is broken.

streakfix 3y ago
How do you tighten a nut until it loosens?
- viraptor 3y ago
  I read it as "something gives". Either you strip the tread or the nut breaks, or something else unexpected/unwanted happens.
  - tremon 3y ago
    I've never been able to strip the tread off a nut using just the strength of my bear hands (:p). Sure, I've over-tightened screws into nylon walls plugs or even into wood. But to damage a nut just by overfastening the bolt? I'd need a pneumatic drill at least.
    - lelanthran 3y ago
      > I've never been able to strip the tread off a nut using just the strength of my bear hands (:p). I have. small metric 10 nut. Also, with almost no effort you can strip the threads in spark plugs holes (aluminium head).
      - doubled112 3y ago
        Different, but I have a habit of breaking valve cover bolts too, with just a screwdriver even. Click, swear, back it off a quarter turn. Often with vice grips. I've been lucky so far. Not great either is the way my impact gun is designed. You put it down on the wrong side, and the direction slider gets pushed so you're ramming it back on instead of taking it off.
- nmz 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - qorrect 3y ago
    Lefty righty, tighty loosey, am I doing it ?
- 6nf 3y ago
  You break something
ChuckNorris89 3y ago
That was my experience exactly. Burnout creeps on you without you realizing and only once it stops and you disconnect completely do you realize the mess you were.

sph 3y ago

On the other hand, I always get irritated when I hear "yeah, I know I'm pushing too hard, but if I burn out I'll take a holiday." Ha ha. You have not known burnout. It has taken me a drastic break from work, isolation, depression, thousands of pounds in therapy, and 18 months to recover from work-related burn out. I did not write a single line of code for a year. I am better now, maybe even better than I've ever been in my life, but I am a completely different person. There is a pre-burnout self, and a post-burnout one. (I don't code after work anymore. I do not enjoy cutting edge tech as much as I did just a couple years ago. I have become allergic to corporate life.) Those that joke about burnout have no idea what they are talking about.

ravenstine 3y ago
Burnout that occurs outside of work isn't talked about enough, maybe because it's mainly restricted to a certain kind of individual in specific kinds of fields like programming. Programming itself can lead to burnout because it provides a promise of infinite possibilities, and some of us get fooled into thinking we are equally as capable as the code itself. This leads to time that could otherwise be spent getting in touch with our humanity instead being spent on countless side projects, many of which we secretly hope will lead to wealth and prestige. Virtually all of those projects will fail or reach a dead end; that may not seem like a big deal in your early 20s, but the realization of repeated failure and time spent in relative solitude can take it's toll once you hit your 30s. The burnout feeling occurs, not because you are doing anything functionally different from when you were addicted to code, but because the novelty eventually fades and it becomes clear how short life is. Worse yet, you may have nothing to show for all your effort. One may even have had their social skills atrophy. Burnout can have physiological components, but most of it is mental. The negative effects of having a passion for code may lead to a sense of worthlessness. Feeling like you are as insignificant as a smudge of excrement on a piece of tissue surging out to sea can be pretty demotivating.
- ChuckNorris89 3y ago
  >and some of us get fooled into thinking we are equally as capable as the code itself IMHO burnout as a SW dev isn't because of the coding itself, I find that the easiest part to deal with. It's the constant pressure to stay up to date an an industry that changes faster and faster and a job market that get more and more competitive. It's the constant sprinting towards more and more ambitious arbitrary deadlines set by sales or management using half-assed Agile and Scrum processes imposed onto you by clueless higher-ups. It's constant interruptions and multitasking in several tools you have to keep up with throughout the day: chats, calls, emails, Jira, etc. while also being expected to focus and code. It's the exhausting and time consuming interview practices. It's the idiotic and overpaid management and execs who treat you like a disposable resource and thinks colorful beanbags, ping-pong and foosball tables would make me want to spend 2h commuting to the office every day to sit in a noisy open office with a view of a concrete parking lot, and that pictures of employees in funny situations with moustaches drawn on them and turned into memes and plastered around the office means a "friendly" atmosphere and it's what I would enjoy instead of WFH in peace and quiet (maybe I'm too old or something but I can't stand my workplace treating me, a professional in my 30's, like I'm a childish toddler looking to join some kindergarten playground). Coding and debugging alone is very pleasant for me, it's why I became a dev, but it's everything else related to this industry that breaks my will to live.

brianjking 3y ago

We must also normalize the ability to TAKE THE TIME, not just normalize acknowledging the need.