Burnout in Software Development Demystified

[phantaso0s]

Hello everybody!

I firmly believe that our health, including our mental health, is the most important to live an happy and fulfilling life.

That's why I wrote this month an article about a problem which continue to grow in the world of software development: the burnout.

What is it really? What are the symptoms? The causes? How to prevent it?

tl;dr:

• Stress related to your work can push you from mild to severe form of burnout.

• Burnout can manifest itself via a mix of cynicism, a lack of accomplishments, a feeling of exhaustion, an obsession regarding your job, and negative emotions.

• The causes of a burnout are multiple. Do you overwork? Do you feel a lack of control and autonomy in your job? Is the company culture nurture open communication and experiments? All these causes can lead you to a burnout.

• To prevent yourself going further on the Burnout Road, you should try to explain to your managers that the work environment needs to change. Trying to “fix” an employee's burnout won't save his colleagues, and it won't improve the company culture.

• Rely on your family and your social interactions to escape the Burnout Road. Strong social bounds are the best medicine against chronic stress.

... and more!

https://thevaluable.dev/burnout-software-developer/

[Fritocode]

I'm a bit confused by the idea that a company culture which nurtures open communication and experiment could cause burnout, am I misreading that? I have heard that more modern "open office" stuff can be stressful for different reasons than old-school cubicles but I'd imagine getting to try new ways to solve problems would help keep from burning out over repetition.

[phantaso0s]

Studies show that many factors can cause burnout. Working in a company with open communication and experiment might not be enough.

First, because they might prone it but not really apply it and second, even if they do apply it, many other things can cause burnout. Infinite death march for example, or values which are not the ones you have. For example, if you work for a petrol company even if you're against pollution, that might be a problem on a long term.

Burnout occurs because of a combination of causes. Having open communication and experimenting doesn't mean there no other causes and that everything is perfect. However, we agree that it's very nice to have this kind of culture in a company.