I have a confession: it’s mid 2019, and I’m burnt out.

It’s a subject that’s only really discussed in past tense, or hypothetical future tense. Like a lot of psychological issues, it’s fine to fear or have conquered, but there’s a stigma around actively experiencing it.

I’d argue I’ve been wrestling with burnout on and off for years, but it’s gotten especially pronounced in the last few months, and caught me off guard.

Burnout has been a huge topic in the tech industry recently, which in a lot of ways is great. People are acknowledging and de-stigmatizing the problem. It’s not perfect, but it’s a process.

It’s not just “too much work”

I’ve been thinking this summer about what has caused me to burn out, and it doesn’t really fit the narative. You know the one… where you had a massive crunch of work, were working late every day and on the weekends, and you got too exhausted to cope?

I’ve been guilty of long days or weekend/vacation work, but that’s not a narrative that consistently describes me. This delayed me naming and shaming the problem… how could I be burnt out if I wasn’t always dramatically overworking?

I don’t recall where I first encountered this concept, but burnout isn’t just a function of how much work you do, or even the stress and demand of it. Burnout is the product of a confluence of things:

• High effort
• High stress
• Low impact
• Low recognition

I may not be an expert in human behavior, but I know humans are wired to do things. We go squirrely when we don’t have a purpose or things to do. (This is something that enrages me about the low value make-work aspect of modern capitalism, but that’s for another day.)

Burnout can be a function of pure stress and exhaustion; nursing in particular is a well documented case of work intensity driving burnout. However, burnout is usually a function of high work and low purpose. This is typically sanitized from conversations on the topic, as it involves some harsh truths about our communities, workplaces, and overarching neoliberal culture of constant hustling.

And sure enough, in the medical field, a key part of burnout is poor treatment (from the system, from frustrated or entitled patients…), and watching failure take its toll.

Working hard is a lot easier when you have purpose. Working hard with little impact and purpose is hell.

I read a fascinating and horrifying article recently on burnout in the service industry. These problems are getting worse, but they’re not new. Burnout is a hot topic because it’s climbing its way through the middle class, and is becoming a more widespread white collar problem, rather than an ignored plight of the service industry and so on.

To put it back in the scope of tech, it’s easy to become burned out if you’re not having the impact you expect. Maybe you feel like you’re spitting at a fire. Maybe you’re not working on something meaningful to you. Maybe your work isn’t seeing the light of day. Or it’s heavy on toil… you get the idea.

Fixing It Isn’t A Linear Journey

There’s two problems at play when you’ve burned out. Firstly, you’re in a situation that is providing this high-work/low-purpose trigger. And secondly, you’re not at your best.

This sounds obvious, but it’s a nasty feedback cycle in depression. The worse the problem is, the harder it is to recharge, or make the best decisions on the path out.

Quitting and having “me time”, or switching jobs, are common recommendations. That can help a lot if you’re in a bad situation, but that may not be the best choice for everyone, even without pesky considerations like finances.

Jessie Frazelle, a high-profile engineer, had this to say on burnout recovery a few months ago:

Anecdotaly, that feels about right. But recovering physically/psychologically isn’t just about saying “I’m fine”, which is another weird myth about the whole thing. It’s a messy process, and even if you do it on a tropical beach, you’ll experience bumps. Let alone if you do it while still living your life.

Recovering from burnout isn’t straightforward, and it will likely get worse before it gets better. Identifying it is only the first step.

I know I can get out of this, and if you’re also burnt out, I bet you can beat it too.

Be kind to one another, and yourselves.