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+1 on the burnout piece. It's a complicated thing. I'd liken it to depression. Lots and lots of people constantly fret about being "depressed". Over time it be
by enjo 13y ago
+1 on the burnout piece.
It's a complicated thing. I'd liken it to depression. Lots and lots of people constantly fret about being "depressed". Over time it became easy to dismiss depression as a legitimate illness. Apparently every time you feel sad you're depressed, the whole thing just loses its meaning.
It wasn't until I met someone who suffered from true clinical depression did I understand exactly the seriousness of it. The difference between someone feeling down and someone suffering from depression is stark. Hell it's pretty scary.
The same thing is true of "burning out". I've met several developers who have talked about burnout and cited it as a reason they just had to quit their job and backpack around Europe. Fair enough, you were clearly just tired of working and wanted to do something that's a bit more fun.
Then I met one (and thus far only one) person who truly burned out. That person became, much like someone suffering from depression, a shell of their former self. They became not just unresponsive but completely unable to respond. It was terrifying. They came to work and attempted to function, but they simply couldn't. The company simply rode them to the point that their brain seemed to turn off.
When you see it, you know it. That guy wasn't rationalizing anything. He had simply been pushed too hard for too long for his mind to keep up.
The company in question was from a VERY high-profile accelerator (not naming names!). The culture of pushing kids at maximum pace over long distances ended costing this company not only key employee but the bulk of their development team as well. After seeing it, no one wanted to be next.
- AJ007 13y agoWhats the timeline for real burnout? I describe burnout is any time an individuals focus drops to the point that their work quality potentially becomes damaging rather than adding value.
- Ygg2 13y agoThat's not burnout. Real burnout is more closer to having to leave software development field for farming, because you can't function as a developer anymore. Tbh for me the fear of burnout is enough to leave a job. I don't want to hate/ be unable to program anymore.
- enjo 13y agoThis is right. The guy I'm reference, many months later, is still on hiatus. The recovery here is obscenely long and hard.
- saraid216 13y agoYgg2's description seemed extreme to me, so I googled and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology)
- InclinedPlane 13y agoBurnout isn't an intolerance for drudgery. Everyone has that to a certain degree and sometimes that intolerance can become elevated due to overwork, boredom, stress, etc. Burnout, in my opinion, is the loss of ability to cope even with ordinary levels of difficulty and stress in the workplace. Someone who is burnt out no longer has any degree of confidence in their ability to achieve difficult objectives. And their ability to do productive work is diminished to a tiny fraction of what they were capable of before. It's not just that they are incapable of doing things that were at the limit of their ability before, it's also that tasks which were well within their grasp are now struggles, if they are able to do them at all. It's fear, aversion, in some cases clinical depression, and loss of confidence. In many ways it bears a lot of similarity with PTSD or shell-shock: the most serious cases of burnout involve constantly reliving past failures or stresses at work, avoidance of triggers, anhedonia, increased irritability, lack of concentration, feelings of shame and hopelessness, etc. I'm not implying that PTSD and burnout are necessarily comparable life-events per se but it seems likely they share some cognitive pathways.
- gedrap 13y agoTotally agree with you. I love the definition of burn out I've seen on HN a few months ago. Burn out is when you participate in high risk - high reward situation for a while and you end up on the losing side multiple times. While many people claim that they have burnt out while they just are tired/bored/lazy, there are some really serious cases when it affects the life of the person in all areas and the person really needs some help and understanding, and rather fast.
- spoiler 13y agoYes, I agree. As someone who is clinically depressed, I get pissed right off when people talked about it like it's a bit of melancholy. Fuck no. Or when they talk about depression like it's something you can will yourself out of. The little fucker burns the will in you to live, what is your arsenal? Hallow words from people who are part of one of the biggest misconceived and stigmatised disease on the planet.