My career history (across different businesses): - 4 years working in-house on software tools. It was not very stressful but also didn't pay great and the tech

My career history (across different businesses): - 4 years working in-house on software tools. It was not very stressful but also didn't pay great and the tech stack was out of date. - 2 years doing boutique consulting. Lots of interesting challenges but very stressful and high pressure. Pay was surprisingly mediocre and there was a lot of sales involved. - 6 years in series A/B startups. Lots of autonomy but the hours can be brutal, even at places that claim to value work/life balance. Pay is also not great unless you get a winning lottery ticket. - 5 years in post-IPO "startups". There are pockets of good culture and pockets of shitty culture. As long as the stock is doing well you're golden for comp. The trick is to land on a good team where your boss is politically connected and can shield you from insane demands on your time. Edit: I went through varying waves of burnout at all these places. For me the thing that helped the most with burnout was having customer interaction and knowing I was solving a real problem. Ultimately I left tech and started working with people more directly which is way more fulfilling.