Ask HN: Feeling burned out at an early stage in my career

1. This is normal.

2. Take some time off.

3. Realize that your personal identity and value has nothing to do with your job. Outside of a small world of co-workers, no one in the world cares about your job or your promotion or if you delivered your project on time. You almost certainly think about your job performance 10x more than your bosses do. They are probably just shocked/glad you are still there giving them a good return on their investment into your wages. Your value as a human is not related to how fast you close tickets.

4. A company that grows a lot will change significantly. Big companies are fundamentally different beasts that require different skills for success than small companies. At a small company, you are praised for getting things done as fast as possible. At a big company, you are praised for your ability to herd cats to get small things done that other people need. If you don't enjoy the latter, find a different job at a smaller company (or start your own, or do something else entirely).

In other words:

Working for someone else's company is indeed a never-ending treadmill of tasks. Eventually you will get burnt out doing it, which is what this sounds like. So take a little time off and then make a change!

The difference is that you now have 3 years of solid experience at a fast-growing company. It will probably be much easier for you to get your next job based on that and you will probably make more money doing it.

Not OP but in a very similar position.

How much time off do you think would be enough? Are we talking like a one/two week vacation or something more in the range of months (which ofc would imply leaving my job)?

Also does taking time off also include university or is it just the job that's going to be problematic?

Great advice! I would also add it that don't make what you do for work your hobby. Some on here might disagree with me, but I've found programming in my free time just feels like I'm at work.

Explore new hobbies while you have down time. If engineering is your thing, give woodworking or machining a try. Maybe take up a sport or cycling, physical activity is great for your mental health. Just try being more outdoors

I prefer smaller companies. Almost all of the smaller companies I've worked for either grew, or grew and got acquired and become big companies. Big companies are full of bureaucratic nonsense and friction. I would start looking for another small company. Doing that tends to reinvigorate me.

> I am wrestling with this feeling of guilt that I can't get motivated like I used to. I've tried doing the things with tech I love -- like working on my website -- but lose energy quickly.

Your free time activities shouldn’t be similar to your work time activities. That’s a recipe for burnout. Get away from the computer! Go outside, go to the gym, go to a social event. If you sit in front of screens all day for work and then sit in front of screens all evening after work, you’re going to feel unmotivated and burned out. You must get out and do different things. More than you’re already doing.

Second: Learn to pace yourself. It’s not realistic to expect to be motivated by every task forever the same way you were at first when it was new and exciting. The tough truth is that you need to learn how to structure your days as work, which often means doing things that are uninteresting or not naturally motivating. You shouldn’t be doing these tasks for 12 hours per day and crushing the backlog at a rapid rate all the time, but you must learn how to sit down, work for 30-60 minutes on your top priority task, get up and take a 10-30 minute break, and then repeat.

Forget the guilt for not doing everything as fast as possible. Learn how to sit down and work for at least 4 hours per day whether the tasks are interesting or not, then learn how to turn it off and go do the (non-computer) things you like.

It’s not about the work or inherently motivating tasks. It’s about contributing, working with your team, and getting a reasonable amount of work done.

> I started working for a tech company immediately out of high school.

> What should I do?

Go to college, full-time, while you are still young. As you get older, it will be increasingly difficult to have a tech career without a degree.

You are in a place in your life where you're still on the same wavelength as the typical college student. Also, now that you have career experience, college will be significantly easier than someone who went because it's "what you do after high school." If you go back to college when you're in your late 20s, or older, you may find that spending your days with people a decade younger is frustrating.

Hopefully you don't have a large car payment or mortgage, so it's easy to enter college without strings. Thankfully, you can probably sell anything you bought on credit for more than you owe.

I feel completely the same. However I disagree with other ppl saying that 'your job doesn't define you'. You decide what defines you, not what they say. If your job really is your top priority, as it is for some people, and you are not satisfied, try indeed to either pick a new job or start your own company. But don't let others fool you just because you are driven and they are chill: there are passengers for every train: from express to commuter

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15505304

I also went into tech out of high school and burned out after a few years. I wrote a post about it on here and got some really good feedback. There may be some tidbits in there that also apply to you.

Ultimately taking a few months off and traveling/hanging out with family worked wonders. Happy to talk more about it with you. samheutmaker at gmail

Two basic questions:

1) Do you practice a sport regularly?

If you don't, that's almost certainly taking a huge toll on your mental health. Start practicing and check again in a month.

2) Are you sleeping properly?

You need from 7-9 hours of good sleep every night.

Turn off screens at 8 PM.

Go to bed early, you need to be asleep by 10 PM at most.

Avoid junk food, sugar, etc especially hours before going to bed.

I also had similar feelings and experiences very early in my career.

Here are my thoughts

1) Burnout is not a workload problem, it is related to your subjective perception of the meaning behind that workload

2) Ultimately, the 'meaning' you attribute is related to your desired identity

3) The company where you work may change, but you may also change

4) You have to find and negotiate a role related to your long term desired core identity

Good luck!

>1) Burnout is not a workload problem, it is related to your subjective perception of the meaning behind that workload

When I first started in the 1990s, we didn't have scrum / sprints. We used to release quarterly (this was a software shop that sold to around 200 clients). After each quarterly release, we felt a massive sense of accomplishment, especially when hitting the deadline and our scope. We would all join up and have a party at someone's house to celebrate with a release party. We took a few days off after a release. I feel that scrum / sprint ticketing style of work really took that sense of accomplishment away, or significantly diminished it. I think this also leads to higher burnout. It feels like it's now just a ticket grind and not much of a sense of accomplishment as it was before.

Other have said it, but you should probably take some time off. And by that I mean, actually take time off without checking email or slack, or quickly helping put out a fire. I worked for a high growth start-up and I'd always end up checking in on something or answering some questions during my time off and it just negated any benefit from taking the time off.

Also, you mention not having motivation to work on personal tech projects, and I can relate to that. I don't have a good answer except that you don't have to do any of those projects now, and it's probably better for you to find a non-tech related hobby like cooking. You'll use a different part of your brain, while also creating something and solving the occasional problem.

Also, and I say this to most people who are struggling with work, but therapy is a great outlet to help you explore the pressures of work and strategies to deal with them. When I worked at a start-up, half the reason I was in therapy was to have a neutral outlet for venting my work frustrations that wasn't my significant other. It's not for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a shot, especially if you have insurance since there's no real downsize except for the hour or so the session takes (especially now that a lot of therapists are doing virtual visits).

It's the workload and lack of control, recognition or fairness that's causing your burnout.

You have to start making waves and get the job you want, the life you want. I'm not saying that you will get it, I'm saying that the journey itself, the discoveries you make will worth it.

That's an awesome early start. You did not say if you have a degree yet. If you don't that can be a great way to step back from working and explore some new topics. Part of the benefit of the general electives at a university is that you have some chance to explore some subject areas in depth that you might not have otherwise had the chance to get interested in. For example I took an archeology class that covered the puzzle of Linear A and it sparked an interest in computational linguistics.

I think a lot of people go to college too early to really benefit from it and it is an awesome experience if you can approach it from more than just a credential gatekeeping you from your chosen career.

i was kinda in the same position. 2-3 years in. i couldnt concentrate one bit, i showed up to work every day and did almost nothing. It's kinda a long time ago and i dont really remember how that episode ended. I think i slowly got back into it.

But even now, 6 years later. I still have days/weeks where im not motivated at all. And i have had periods where i worked 18 hours a day with full joy. I cant really put my finger on it. I dont know what causes this. I havent really looked into it tbh. Even though i should, because when im lazy, i feel really bad about it.

I recently had this problem again, im looking into it now. Im experimenting with quitting caffeine. quitting endless internet content. Maybe exercise. I dont think its food related. Anyway, it's to soon for me to tell, i wish i had tried to fix this earlier, so i could give u an answer.

Thank you for making this post, curious what others will say.

Working 18 hours a day sounds massively productive but it is not sustainable. You are bound to hit a wall at some point, which sounds like your experience.

Take time off and learn to work at a more moderate pace with some breaks. Or keep doing the crazy productive days but take your time off more frequently, maybe even push for 4 day weeks.

oh yes, i absolutely agree. That was just an extreme example of recent years. It almost never happens. but it does happen. that was my point. the fact that i sometimes WANT to work that much.

I can relate to this, have had similar periods as well. It always seems to get better just to get worse again.

Haven't figured out the cause either, maybe it's some mild burnout? Maybe it's depression? Maybe it's some kind of mild bipolar disorder with quick cycles? Maybe it's just who I am? Maybe it's something I do/don't do, something I eat? Maybe it's the company changing?

I don't know so many possible explanations I guess

> One thing that's worth noting is my job has changed in this time to something that doesn't interest me as much.

Two things to do, not necessarily in that order: 1. Take a break from work and hobby software projects. Distance yourself a bit from all of it - tech world is not going anywhere. 2. Find another project/company that does what interests you. It will do wonders for your motivation.

I went through it - got stuck in some shitty company on a legacy project, just because of the money. I died inside slowly every day. Took two months off and went on, now I am working with new tech and love it again.

> The company has grown to 200+ people and I'm struggling to see how my skills apply to my role since my first role is now no longer relevant to our core business.

This is the type of situation that fosters burnout. The conditions were already there ("work is a never-ending treadmill of tasks which don't interest me") and you don't see how the things that intrinsically interest you align with the business anymore, so your brain says, "I just can't."

In your shoes, I would:

* ask around about lateral moves to something more interesting within the same company, or even a downward move. If they balk that your pay needs to decrease, then you can either accept it, or negotiate a shorter workweek.

* simultaneously: start a low-key job hunt to avoid the feeling of being stuck calcifying further.

If things are really bad, consider cutting your hours, doing less within your hours (and using the extra time to take care of yourself), or taking a sabbatical if you have the means.

I felt burned out too after 3 years in my previous job and looked for another one and I am happier now

Congrats on getting started in a white collar career path right after high school, it was a great career choice.

This is totally normal. There are 2 things that can happen from here in my experience.

Either…

1) You’re going to be rewarded with higher compensation and because of it you determine to stick with the company long term, build up a very stable savings/investment and focus a lot more on your life outside of work for your personal fulfillment. As a side effect, you may find ways to get interested in new challenges at the current job (like organization efficiency).

2) You change jobs for higher pay and focus on a new problem that gets your interest.

Work IS a never-ending treadmill of tasks when you're maintaining a company. It's why some people prefer working on startups, because they get to build features and products instead of working on bugs and minor client-driven tweaks all day long. Also gonna let you in on a secret: there are millions of people in tech who don't spend every waking spare moment glued to a screen in order to do more tech things. It's okay to have other hobbies.

There are plenty on tech forums who will use their undying devotion to creating new websites and programs to be some sort of weird cultish flex, but the vast majority who are just going through their lives are stepping away from the keyboard when the work day is over.

And all you have to do, if you want to do other things, is to pay no attention to that cult. If they require access to your github as part of a job interview, then just don't take that job.

since it seems like you’ve done some soul searching and determined that the job isn’t longer one you enjoy (because the job has changed) or even worse is burning you out, I’d say look for something else and leave before you become too jaded or affected (and a deep burnout can take a very long time to recover from so try not to ever let it get to that). It’s ok to decide you don’t like a job even if your “logical brain” tells you you should be happy, you’re privileged, you have a “bigger” job and you make more money etc. It can be fooling, and happiness and satisfaction looks different to different people (heck it may even change a bit for you over the years). Good luck!

Were there other options besides starting work right at of high school? I imagine being consumed by a job when your HS buddies are excited about graduation puts things in perspective. Is anything holding you to a job? Nothing creates excitement like a bold move.

At the time, I was very much immersed in the tech community and being able to build and create interesting, meaningful technologies appealed to me. Hence, I felt comfortable making the move. But, most of my friends went away to college while I remained working from home. I have started travelling recently and have met some amazing people but I still feel somewhat disconnected.

Take it from a complete stranger, COVID did change the, "should I go to schools or start working" calculus. Things have changed since you made your decision, so it might be time to reevaluate.

If I could assign you a task, it would be to seek, find, and interact with a group(s) of people you admire and respect. Being a little older and wiser now, you would absolutely crush it if you decided to go back to school.

Take time off. As much as you can. Better yet, if you aren't excited about this job anyway just tell them you are taking a month or 6 weeks or more off. When you come back you can better decide what to do (leave, stay, change path etc).

Simple and effective.

Mine is Cycling, but there is a lot to this, especially for your mental state. Rest and activity boost growth hormones and help your brain to sort things out. Burnout can feel like depression. For me, that's when I know I need to be giving myself more time between things. Work hard and rest hard. Work your body like you do your mind.

So find an activity that you like or want to try and get sweaty - get body-tired to match your mental-tired-ness.

And share your efforts with your manager. This is actually part of leveling up. Knowing what you need to do for -you- that will help you do better, more motivated work with a fresh perspective is a value-adding process as much as going to a conference is.

Head off to FAANG land and vest in peace for a few years. You've earned it. The startup life is completely unsustainable long term, and you're entirely right to feel this way.

Your job is not to be Elon Musk and change the world. You work because you are feeding your self, putting salt on the table and keeping the electricity bills paid. So it is important to realize this, and not set expectations to oneself way to high. Just deliver and go home.

It's normal, it's the grind. You can leave to see another business and start back from the bottom, learn new tricks etc. After a few more years join a mega corp and it'll be a breeze.

One thing to note maybe: you will not change the world from your country in a software job, you will not replace experience with self awareness and you will not act upon others unless you have the ability to act for them.

Leave, evolve, stay humble.