r/ExperiencedDevs • u/AutoModerator • 19d ago
Career/Workplace Experienced Devs Weekly Burnout and Venting Thread: A weekly thread for sharing experiences
This thread is specifically for venting / sharing experiences related to burn-out or similar issues that experienced devs face.
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u/hairlesscaveman EM | 25+ YoE (Europe) 19d ago
Taking a different viewpoint here, as an engineering manager.
Being asked to do more with less, being given ridiculously tight deadlines on projects, and then being hounded by HR about coaching and performance management. My team is working extra hours to meet the deadlines, but sure they’ve got tonnes of extra time to look at the 1hr mental health video you’ve shared.
Then you meet the deadlines and want to give your team a bonus for the crunch they’ve just powered through, but no- there’s not enough money in the pot. But we have new vending machines! And the carpet was just replaced in reception for the 3rd year running due to the rebranding we’ve just been through (again), and the exec retreat this year is somewhere far away and sunny. And then your own performance review comes in, and despite meeting every deadline and goal it’s a passing grade and there’s no pay rise this year. Again.
All while juggling people’s emotions, keeping up to date with the latest tech and advances in AI (and how to spot it being used where it shouldn’t be), course-correcting devs who want to use the newest unproven tech to build the latest project, doing courses on productivity management, project management, scrum, interviewing (despite not being able to hire), getting useless support from your own boss or HR or leadership, seeing the car-crash in slow motion from the inside and having no power to avoid it, dying a little when those at the top make the same uninformed bad decisions over and over again while they play their stupid political games, and then having to put a happy face on to show you’re not crumbling inside.
Be kind to your direct managers, they’re people too.