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For tech and burning out, it's important to know that the lack of a clear output or goal can increase the likelihood of burnout. Double that if you have little control over your environment due to technical decisions made where you had not useful input.

If you're at severe burnout, which it's definitely sounding like, consider taking a leave of absence (LOA). Time can vary between a couple of weeks to a couple of months, YMMV. If you can afford the LOA, rediscovering things you love is going to help.

Places to start thinking about investing some time are a) physical activity, like weightlifting or hiking; b) learning something new, ideally from a different stack than you've been working on; c) trying to spend more time on hobbies to see if you can find a sense of satisfaction in creating or completing a task, particularly if you can form social bonds at the same time. That said, if you're not good at handling boredom and don't think that having time to do _whatever you want_ is going to be helpful, ease into this step.

If you do stay at your job, try to find different responsibilities. Have a good conversation with your boss (if you can) where you explain that you need to rotate to a new responsibility where you can have a greater sense of mastery and control. Being able to determine your own success and failure can help recover from the hopelessness that goes with burnout.

No matter what, take the time to actively invest in self-care. Not "I'm sitting on the couch" self-care, exercising and eating better self-care. Staying up late learning something you've always wanted to self-care. Painfully changing your life so tomorrow is better self-care.

Good luck, and PM if you want to get to talk. I'm just finishing an LOA for burnout myself, and it's been a trip.



Did you consider medical leave instead of LOA? Medical leave should be paid at some capacity.


I took a medical LOA. Who... did not pay out. I'm glad I'm in Washington State in the USA, they gave medical leave pay, as opposed to the STD and LTD insurance I assumed would actually help.


Can you explain? The insurance didn't pay you anything during your medical leave?




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