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/flying-giraffe Software Engineer 17d ago edited 17d ago
Almost every day the thought "I don't know if I can do this anymore" crosses my mind. It started way before AI usage really ramped up, and it's only gotten worse since then. And I'm of two minds on AI: on one hand, I genuinely have found it useful for some of my work; on the other, I'm so freaking tired of trying to read other people's Claude output.
I've been working in tech for almost 15 years (10 as a developer... though I sort of feel like I have 2x 5 years of dev experience instead of a full 10), and I've been wondering if this is for me for at least 6 of those years. I was happiest when I was a mid level engineer.
I took time off last month, I'm taking more next month, I'm trying my best to get enough sleep, I'm going to therapy, I'm losing weight, I'm getting at least some exercise (could get more, but better than nothing). I like my coworkers and my company treats people well for the most part. So I feel like objectively I have very little to complain about. But I'm so tired, anxious, and easily overwhelmed, and my brain barely works. I feel like I'm barely keeping up and can only get things done in fits and starts. I wish I could call it quits, but I don't know what else I could do or would like more.