Ask HN: How to deal with burnout close to a major deadline?

2 points by atsushin 4 years ago | 1 comment

How do you deal with burnout, especially when close to a big deadline / release?

I'm a junior dev and have been at a pretty huge company for about a year now. I generally do good work (manager and other team members say as much at least) and I'm often 'visible', having built a good enough reputation among the other teams and leadership in the project to the point where I tend to be one of the main points of contact for my team outside of our technical architect.

However this sprint I've been working on two stories (features?) that I absolutely despise working on (involves working with other team's microservices that have much spaghetti code and parts of the product I've never worked with before), and the deadline for them was cut super short yesterday by leadership as we're close to release. But I am feeling super unmotivated and the mounting pressure isn't helping kick my ass to gear. I know that if I continue work on this I'll just be phoning it in...

Honestly this whole release has felt like a death march and I'm just drained.

In any case, apologies if this sounds like just a rant but how do you get through the slog of sh*t work and shit deadlines while your battery is drained? Not even thinking about salary and insurance is getting me anywhere. I'm wondering if this burnout is a symptom of something deeper.

smarri 4 years ago |

I empathize with you, burnouts a tough place to be. I can only speak anecdotally and for myself, but certain things that work for me are;

Looking after yourself, e.g., sleep, diet, fitness, hobbies, deep breathing, meditation, seeing friends & family.

Work boundaries, e.g. work only the core hours, take your breaks and be unavailable to contact during these times, list all of the things your working on and prioritise them, and talk through the workload with your line manager and let them know how you feel.

Frame of mind, e.g. book a holiday or something after the deadline so you have something to look forward to, try to see the challenges in their most positive light where possible, speak(think) positively to yourself i.e. don't be too hard on yourself if your mind is ruminating negatively. Know that it will be over soon.

Others, e.g. talk to team mates and see how they're doing, remember that going through these tough times can build resilience for future, if your job is the root cause (and not something deeper) consider a new job, if you think it's something deeper consider speaking to a therapist.

Lastly, if you're truly at risk of burnout or on the edge of it, you should certainly seek help from someone in a position to help, your mental health is so important.

Wishing you all the best.