The Silent Killer Of Too Many Software Engineer Careers: Burnout

Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling like you have too much to do. Most software engineers will encounter burnout at some point in their career. Four reasons you may hit burnout, and how to mitigate:

1. You can do your job anytime + anywhere. Try to create some separation between work and home, or set deadlines for yourself.
2. Unlimited complexity. A typical codebase will have too much complexity for one person to understand all of it. Instead, share with coworkers where you feel lost, and start small.
3. Unclear roles. There’s often ambiguity around things like handling support requests or maintenance. Try to create structure around this, and acknowledge that this work does exist.
4. Unclear communication. For your work, over-communicate the bad news and refer to this Taro session about communication.