Comments on: Avoiding (Or Recovering From) Burnout

By: Jim Geurts

Jim Geurts — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:29 +0000

I was in the same position earlier this fall… I found that the major force to help get me out of the slump was to write down everything that annoyed me or made me angry about software development. Doing so freed my mind from constantly rehashing those ideas and continually reminding myself why I hated what I was doing. I knew I could go back to those papers and read that information at any time, if I wanted. The ironic thing is that while you are going through the burnt out period, you probably don’t even want to take the time to go online to see how others survived it.

By: Elegant Code » NHibernate 3.0 QueryOver

Elegant Code » NHibernate 3.0 QueryOver — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:23:57 +0000

[...] for software. I was suffering from something similar to what Davy Brion (quite bravely) outlined in Avoiding (Or Recovering From) Burnout. For me the age old adage of “a change is as good as a rest” has proven to be an extremely [...]

By: Dann

Dann — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:20:36 +0000

My girlfriend was building a website and every day after I came home from work for around 2 months she was frustrated by HTML, CSS, ftp, browser quirks. And every time she would get angry I was there and I had to help or she got shitty at me. It was a quick way to lose passion for programming and your girlfriend.

By: Howard Pinsley

Howard Pinsley — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:59:41 +0000

Yup. Everyone needs downtime. Even Ayende.

By: Jan Van Ryswyck

Jan Van Ryswyck — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:37:52 +0000

If I learned one thing this year is that doing all that “after hours stuff” also requires some form of time management in order to prevent exactly this kind of burnout. I started using Toodledoo and create a weekly planning of all after hour stuff including writing code. I even created tasks for all the house chores my girlfriend ordered me to do.

The main result is that you get all the TODO stuff out of your head and into this tool. I keep plans realistic, so when I have an evening where I planned to do an 9 km run, I’ve also planned reading a technology book after that instead of an late night coding sessions. Coding sessions are planned on times I know I have the most rest and peace.

I picked this up from the magnificent book “Getting things done”. Highly recommended. It prevents a burnout and gets things done .

By: BjartN

BjartN — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:33:52 +0000

“..not just occasionally, but frequently.”

I will take a mental note of the “frequently” part. Couldn’t agree more

By: Dhananjay Goyani

Dhananjay Goyani — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:49:49 +0000

This is true in the age of information overload. When I browser for stuff I tend to gather questions and not the answers – the things I don’t know. And you won’t believe but it adds 10+ things everyday. Well, I use sticky a lot and just forget them. When I visit my ‘dont know’ list in a month or two, I realize that most of them become invalid because they no more remain – unknown. I really don’t put lot of pressure on my brain and so I am able to manage being happy geek.

By: den Ben

den Ben — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:43:04 +0000

I’m with ya… Though this phenomenom doesn’t limit itself to development tasks alone.

And believe me, you didn’t have a real burnout. I guess, luckily, you realized something was wrong before things got completely out of hand. A real burnout goes way much further than showing disinterest and loss of motivation (although those are the first symptoms). If you don’t realise something is happening to you and you do not find the cause of the ‘problem’ pretty soon, then it evolves in lack of self-confidence and in more extreme cases even into paranoia and constant, sometimes undefinable fear, tiring you out even more… Off course this also has a physical impact (headaches, tiredness, stress, hyperventilation, etc.)

This almost happened to me too, now a bit more than a year ago. I actually believe back then I reached a more critical phase in this then you did but I too got out of it just in time by taking some time off, talking to my superior about it and focussing on something different. And things are going way better now

By: Mikael Henriksson

Mikael Henriksson — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:33:50 +0000

Word! I did the same a year ago. Think it was in July. I didn’t slow down though I moved to another location another job and staying as busy. It has taken me almost a year to get back on track!!

That’s why I am so happy now that I finally found at least a temporary balance. If I don’t feel like geeking then I’m not forcing myself either.

By: Kalpesh

Kalpesh — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:04:17 +0000

I am in a similar situation. My interest/passion is reduced due to overload of stuff.
Much needed break is coming for me before I start afresh.

Thanks Davy!!