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I'm stunned that one can be burned out at 26. Assuming a four year degree and graduating at 22, you only worked for four years and are burned out? And if you'r

I'm stunned that one can be burned out at 26. Assuming a four year degree and graduating at 22, you only worked for four years and are burned out? And if you're a typical graduate with $50k in debt how can you take that much time off and still cover your debts and rent? This smells like one of those "im 26 and own my own home because my patents have me $100k" kind of stories.

empath-nirvana 3y ago
I went bankrupt after a lay off (no college debt, stupid amounts of credit card debt accrued before I was even 20), so I had no debt, then at my next job, compulsively saved money because I was afraid of getting in debt again and getting laid off again, that job was a disaster that I hated every day. Saved up a few thousand dollars, finished my lease on my apartment, put my stuff in storage, parked my car at my parents house, and bought a one way ticket to Guatemala with no plan. You can do it _fairly_ cheaply if you have no debt, are healthy, have no obligations, and have a place to crash for a while when you get back and you have useful job skills so are relatively assured of finding a job quickly. I think I spent $5000 in 3 months including plane tickets there and back, and with me not particularly making an effort to save money (some nights staying at nicer hotels and hostels, paying for nicer buses, going out to eat a lot). I probably could have done it for half that if I really pushed it and stayed at cheaper hostels and made more of my own food (keeping in mind this was 2012.) and could have really extended the trip if I worked. I had a friend who stayed on the backpacker circuit for 2 years taking jobs at random hostels and farms.
sixo 3y ago
Lots of people burn out in high school and don't really come face to face with it until a few stops further down the "tracks".
giraffe_lady 3y ago
Meanwhile a 26 year old in the trades has probably been working 50-70 hours/week for the last 7 or 8 years. Has taken a total of about 30 paid days off in that time. Is just reaching the point where they are able to claw some autonomy and free time out of their job. To me this article fits pretty cleanly into that huge category of "journalists write about the experiences that they and their friends have."
- dagw 3y ago
  Meanwhile a 26 year old in the trades has probably been working 50-70 hours/week for the last 7 or 8 years. Has taken a total of about 30 paid days off in that time. I know several people who managed to finance 6 month of traveling off of 12-18 month working various 'unskilled' jobs.
- yardie 3y ago
  Trades has always been feast or famine. No one in the trades is doing 50-70 hours/week over 8 years. If there is money to be made now you make it now. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Ask anyone who works in petroleum what that market is like.
yardie 3y ago
From experience I can say the burn out doesn't start at 26. If you've been an academic high achiever all your life burnout is real and the fuse is probably lit when you're a preteen. Then you graduate, get your first real job and the last bit of fuel is finally extinguished. In my consort, if you didn't follow the "program" you were written off as a lazy slacker.
some_random 3y ago
I don't know how old you are, but my impression is that high school to good college to job pipeline is significantly more intense and stressful than it used to be.
reedf1 3y ago
This comment seems very holier-than-thou. Some people are burned out by their degree. Burnout is highly personal - I've no doubt I could've succeeded in a law degree but it is completely orthogonal to my natural interests and would have been gravely taxing. I've personally known people who pulled 10-12 hours of school/studying since probably the age of 16 - to get to an elite university program and then to go to an elite firm only to burn out around two years in.
serjester 3y ago
Take the “burnout” with a grain of salt. I think what actually happens is many people graduate, work a menial, entry-level job for a couple years and start wondering is this really it? 40 more years of this? As for financing, I backpacked Europe in my 20’s and it was pretty straightforward. After graduating, most people I knew lived in super nice, downtown apartment paying 2-3X what I was paying in a less lively area with a couple roommates. You do that for a couple years and you’ve got plenty of cash - not to mention I spent less money traveling abroad than I did just existing in the US. Taking that extended time off was one of the best decisions I ever made. You talk to any European and they’re shocked that Americans never take more than 2 weeks of vacation. It’s a shame more people don’t get to experience it.
- MattPalmer1086 3y ago
  Yep, sounds like me. Worked for a couple of years after graduating. Always worked in holidays during my degree so never travelled before. Went to Spain and lived there for a few months, learned the language, had an immense time and refreshed my perspective on life.
dfxm12 3y ago
I urge you to talk to some of these young people to understand the issues they face. Work is far from the only source of burnout, but now more than ever, people are expected to be more productive for less wages. Newbies in the workforce tend to have the least say in their schedules, what they do, have the lowest pay and have the most pressure from different people close to them to follow their desired career trajectory.
lopkeny12ko 3y ago
As someone who manages many developers who are 26 and younger, they are not "burned out." They are reaching for "burnout" as a convenient, widely-accepted-in-this-industry excuse for not delivering expected work. I've never seen this kind of behavior from non-Gen Z.
wink 3y ago
I guess you're assuming that getting a degree can't be as bad or worse than the job itself, and 4+4 years is plenty. I suppose even 4 years is plenty. Also I think this was in the UK, not the USA. Who says they did have debt, or a lot of it? My huh? moment was the quitting after 9 months in (what sounded like) their first job, but I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I suppose I should've jumped ship earlier a couple times in my life and not try to wait it out.
tayo42 3y ago
4 years is plenty of time to burn out. I burned out on competitive high school sports faster then that. There is also a quarter life phenomenon.

empath-nirvana 3y ago

I went bankrupt after a lay off (no college debt, stupid amounts of credit card debt accrued before I was even 20), so I had no debt, then at my next job, compulsively saved money because I was afraid of getting in debt again and getting laid off again, that job was a disaster that I hated every day. Saved up a few thousand dollars, finished my lease on my apartment, put my stuff in storage, parked my car at my parents house, and bought a one way ticket to Guatemala with no plan. You can do it _fairly_ cheaply if you have no debt, are healthy, have no obligations, and have a place to crash for a while when you get back and you have useful job skills so are relatively assured of finding a job quickly. I think I spent $5000 in 3 months including plane tickets there and back, and with me not particularly making an effort to save money (some nights staying at nicer hotels and hostels, paying for nicer buses, going out to eat a lot). I probably could have done it for half that if I really pushed it and stayed at cheaper hostels and made more of my own food (keeping in mind this was 2012.) and could have really extended the trip if I worked. I had a friend who stayed on the backpacker circuit for 2 years taking jobs at random hostels and farms.

sixo 3y ago

Lots of people burn out in high school and don't really come face to face with it until a few stops further down the "tracks".

giraffe_lady 3y ago

Meanwhile a 26 year old in the trades has probably been working 50-70 hours/week for the last 7 or 8 years. Has taken a total of about 30 paid days off in that time. Is just reaching the point where they are able to claw some autonomy and free time out of their job. To me this article fits pretty cleanly into that huge category of "journalists write about the experiences that they and their friends have."

dagw 3y ago
Meanwhile a 26 year old in the trades has probably been working 50-70 hours/week for the last 7 or 8 years. Has taken a total of about 30 paid days off in that time. I know several people who managed to finance 6 month of traveling off of 12-18 month working various 'unskilled' jobs.
yardie 3y ago
Trades has always been feast or famine. No one in the trades is doing 50-70 hours/week over 8 years. If there is money to be made now you make it now. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Ask anyone who works in petroleum what that market is like.

yardie 3y ago

From experience I can say the burn out doesn't start at 26. If you've been an academic high achiever all your life burnout is real and the fuse is probably lit when you're a preteen. Then you graduate, get your first real job and the last bit of fuel is finally extinguished. In my consort, if you didn't follow the "program" you were written off as a lazy slacker.

some_random 3y ago

I don't know how old you are, but my impression is that high school to good college to job pipeline is significantly more intense and stressful than it used to be.

reedf1 3y ago

This comment seems very holier-than-thou. Some people are burned out by their degree. Burnout is highly personal - I've no doubt I could've succeeded in a law degree but it is completely orthogonal to my natural interests and would have been gravely taxing. I've personally known people who pulled 10-12 hours of school/studying since probably the age of 16 - to get to an elite university program and then to go to an elite firm only to burn out around two years in.

serjester 3y ago

Take the “burnout” with a grain of salt. I think what actually happens is many people graduate, work a menial, entry-level job for a couple years and start wondering is this really it? 40 more years of this? As for financing, I backpacked Europe in my 20’s and it was pretty straightforward. After graduating, most people I knew lived in super nice, downtown apartment paying 2-3X what I was paying in a less lively area with a couple roommates. You do that for a couple years and you’ve got plenty of cash - not to mention I spent less money traveling abroad than I did just existing in the US. Taking that extended time off was one of the best decisions I ever made. You talk to any European and they’re shocked that Americans never take more than 2 weeks of vacation. It’s a shame more people don’t get to experience it.

MattPalmer1086 3y ago
Yep, sounds like me. Worked for a couple of years after graduating. Always worked in holidays during my degree so never travelled before. Went to Spain and lived there for a few months, learned the language, had an immense time and refreshed my perspective on life.

dfxm12 3y ago

I urge you to talk to some of these young people to understand the issues they face. Work is far from the only source of burnout, but now more than ever, people are expected to be more productive for less wages. Newbies in the workforce tend to have the least say in their schedules, what they do, have the lowest pay and have the most pressure from different people close to them to follow their desired career trajectory.

lopkeny12ko 3y ago

As someone who manages many developers who are 26 and younger, they are not "burned out." They are reaching for "burnout" as a convenient, widely-accepted-in-this-industry excuse for not delivering expected work. I've never seen this kind of behavior from non-Gen Z.

wink 3y ago

I guess you're assuming that getting a degree can't be as bad or worse than the job itself, and 4+4 years is plenty. I suppose even 4 years is plenty. Also I think this was in the UK, not the USA. Who says they did have debt, or a lot of it? My huh? moment was the quitting after 9 months in (what sounded like) their first job, but I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I suppose I should've jumped ship earlier a couple times in my life and not try to wait it out.

tayo42 3y ago

4 years is plenty of time to burn out. I burned out on competitive high school sports faster then that. There is also a quarter life phenomenon.