Programmer Burnout

Have you ever experienced that deep, overwhelming exhaustion where you don't have motivation or will to do your normal daily work? Ever felt so brain fried and overworked all you wanna do is sit on your couch with a big bowl of candy and watch Netflix for the next two weeks?

Right, we all feel it at some point in our life and it can take a toll on us if aren't careful about it.

Main cause of burnout is usually overload of tasks and work. You start feeling like you're not in control anymore, deadlines are coming closer and you feel like you can't keep up. Other causes may include problems with a boss or customer or professor, lack of social support from your friends and family or simply a lose of interest and motivation for the job.

Often when we are starting a new project or activity we feel enthusiastic and driven, everything is exciting and new and we have the vision of how amazing that end product or result will be. First week of January we all rush to the gym, no place on a parking lot of all the people ready to achieve that New Year's resolution. But as the initial period goes by and we realize how much hard work it requires, so our energy and enthusiasm drops. Plenty of space at the parking lot.

Being a web developer, in the last couple of weeks I felt a little overwhelmed and lacking of energy to completely focus on the projects I'm working on. With this year coming to an end, I was working hard to finish it strong and complete some goals I've set for myself.

So in the last month I was working on a big project for a customer, while redesigning my personal website from scratch. About three years of CSS and HTML code rewritten from scratch in a cleaner way. And did it take a lot of work. For a freelancer to be able to create a standard website or application, he needs to take a role of project manager, researcher, designer, developer, quality assurance tester. Like a superhero, always changing his outfits and masks. And that is terrifying and super-exciting at the same time.

And it definitely takes it's toll. I'll be staring into screen without mental energy to solve the problem or write a simple block of code. Fortunately, in my case this doesn't happen often. But, at least for me, it's sometimes hard to relax until I have something done. If something is not working I'm obsessed about it until I figure out what's the problem. I'll be sitting with my friends, playing video games or watching a movie, but not hearing half of the conversation as I'm reexamining that issue in my head.

So how do we deal with this nasty phenomenon? Best way to tackle it is to recognize early symptoms and prevent it before it happens. At least one day a week should be left free from any job or project oriented activity. Instead, dedicate it to yourself, take a trip somewhere in the nature, meet with friends, read a book, play a video game. Whatever feels good. This is the time to recharge. Don't think about any obligations you might have.

If you recognize the symptoms like lack of motivation and interest, increase of cynicism, criticism or stress, there's two possibilities. One way is to push through the pain, through the wall, stay with that project a bit longer and try to come out on the other side. As Albert Einstein said:

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

If you are not having a complete and undeniable burnout try this out and see what happens because so few people does it.

But if you hit the wall and than it starts hitting you back and you feel like your brain is smoking, it's time to take time off. Go do something completely unrelated -
take a trip for a week or a month, go on a meditation retreat, go volunteer with orphans in Africa... You will return with a new perspective on life. And with those batteries charged.

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Image credits 1, 2

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