There are some things we can do to understand and help alleviate burnout:
-1. Realize that we're burned out, or about to burn out. Acknowledging that we're about to burn out is key to not experiencing the burnout. That seems simple enough but we tend to ignore the symptoms when we're nearing the throes of burnout. If we can recognize that we're about to burn out then we can take measures to avoid it. And if we realize that we're burned out we can take measures to be kind to ourselves and help ourselves out of this burned-out state.
-1. Examine our emotions. Sit for a while and notice what emotions come into view. Are we feeling stress, fear, anxiety, nervousness, or anger? Notice what feelings emerge and recognize these feelings. Examine where these feelings are coming from and what might be triggering these emotions.
-1. Re-negotiate our commitments. Many times burnout is the result of over commitment, whether to ourselves or others. We always have too much to do, and despite our best efforts we will always acquire new obligations. Perhaps the plans we made were too aggressive, or something changed in the world that disrupted our plans. Whatever the reasons we may need to re-evaluate what is expected of us and what we are capable of doing. If we see that we've created an intractable situation for ourselves we need to figure out how to remove some of these obligations or re-negotiate them.
-1. Give our "drive" a rest. Unlike our mechanical counterparts we need downtime and rest. We can't work a straight eight or more hours without at least some moments where we aren't working. Programming demands a lot of mental bandwidth and pushing ourselves to exhaustion can lead to emotional instability, stress, and burnout.
-1. Examine if this is truly how we want to live our lives. We need to determine if what we're doing is really what we want to be doing. If we're not happy with what we're doing then every moment we continue doing it can compound our feelings of unhappiness. If we feel nothing but dread for our current situation then we may need to renegotiate our commitments. That can be something as simple as agreeing not to learn something right now, or can be as complex as taking on different work or changing careers.
+* Realize that we're burned out, or about to burn out. Acknowledging that we're about to burn out is key to not experiencing the burnout. That seems simple enough but we tend to ignore the symptoms when we're nearing the throes of burnout. If we can recognize that we're about to burn out then we can take measures to avoid it. And if we realize that we're burned out we can take measures to be kind to ourselves and help ourselves out of this burned-out state.
+* Examine our emotions. Sit for a while and notice what emotions come into view. Are we feeling stress, fear, anxiety, nervousness, or anger? Notice what feelings emerge and recognize these feelings. Examine where these feelings are coming from and what might be triggering these emotions.
+* Re-negotiate our commitments. Many times burnout is the result of over commitment, whether to ourselves or others. We always have too much to do, and despite our best efforts we will always acquire new obligations. Perhaps the plans we made were too aggressive, or something changed in the world that disrupted our plans. Whatever the reasons we may need to re-evaluate what is expected of us and what we are capable of doing. If we see that we've created an intractable situation for ourselves we need to figure out how to remove some of these obligations or re-negotiate them.
+* Give our "drive" a rest. Unlike our mechanical counterparts we need downtime and rest. We can't work a straight eight or more hours without at least some moments where we aren't working. Programming demands a lot of mental bandwidth and pushing ourselves to exhaustion can lead to emotional instability, stress, and burnout.
+* Examine if this is truly how we want to live our lives. We need to determine if what we're doing is really what we want to be doing. If we're not happy with what we're doing then every moment we continue doing it can compound our feelings of unhappiness. If we feel nothing but dread for our current situation then we may need to renegotiate our commitments. That can be something as simple as agreeing not to learn something right now, or can be as complex as taking on different work or changing careers.
By understanding that we're headed toward burnout (or are burned-out already) we can take measures to course-correct so we can approach our programming practice with joy and enthusiasm. Sometimes taking a step back and re-evaluating what we're doing can help us not sit in the constant loops of frustration, anger, and guilt. Changing our story to better fit reality can keep us from trying to match an impossible dream.
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+I mentioned before about re-negotiating commitments. We often get ourselves into situations where we have way more to do than is physically possible, even under the best of circumstances. This may be in part because we've said "yes" to too many things, or because we're being swamped with work commitments, such as a large high priority project, or several smaller projects that need urgent attention. The best way to renegotiate your work load is to review your work load and notice which tasks feel "urgent" and which ones feel "important". "Urgent" tasks are tasks that feel like they need to be done immediately. They might not be "important" tasks, but they have a sense of urgency to them. "Important" tasks are tasks that will benefit yourself or others. These are tasks that have significant value when completed, both monetarily and significance. Take out a sheet of paper or open up a text document and create two categories: "urgent" and "important". List out the tasks you need to complete and categorize them under "urgent" or "important". Next mark the due date (as best you can) of each of these tasks. If you have more than three urgent and important items and they're all due the same week then it's likely you're overworked and will need to renegotiate those commitments. You may feel that you are capable of doing all of these things but if you're already feeling stressed, tired, and burned out then you'll only compound those feeling by trying to meet the deadlines. If you can, find out if you can move some of these deadlines to the next week, or check with your customers to find out if these are really as urgent and important as you think they are. If they are urgent or important then find out if your management can assist you with other resources, or if they can intervene to renegotiate these deadlines and priorities. If you're truly stuck (management won't budge and the customers won't renegotiate the commitments) then you have some decisions to make about how important their priorities are versus your own capabilities. There's the temptation to say that your management and your customer's priorities are more important than your own priorities (they facilitate your income, which contributes to making your lifestyle possible), but your own health and well-being should have more weight in your decision than their priorities and deadlines. Perhaps you can negotiate some down-time after this period so you can rest, relax, and regain your strength and mental acuity before being plunged into a similar situation.
-I mentioned before about re-negotiating commitments. We often get ourselves into situations where we have way more to do than is physically possible, even under the best of circumstances. This may be in part because we've said "yes" to too many things, or because we're being swamped with work commitments, such as a large high priority project, or several smaller projects that need urgent attention. The best way to renegotiate your work load is to review your work load and notice which tasks feel "urgent" and which ones feel "important". Take out a sheet of paper or open up a text document and create two categories: "urgent" and "important". Note which tasks fall into those two categories. Next mark the due date (as best you can) of each of these tasks. If you have more than three urgent and important items and they're all due this week then it's likely you're overworked and will need to renegotiate those commitments. You may feel that you are capable of doing all of these things but if you're already feeling stressed, tired, and burned out then you'll only compound those feeling by trying to meet the deadlines. If you can, find out if you can move some of these deadlines to next week, or check with your customers if these are really as urgent and important as you think they are. If they are urgent or important then find out if your management can assist you with other resources, or if they can intervene to renegotiate these deadlines and priorities. If you're truly stuck (management won't budge and the customers won't renegotiate the commitments) then you have some decisions to make about how important their priorities are versus your own capabilities. There's the temptation to say that your management and your customer's priorities are more important than your own priorities (their income contributes to making your lifestyle possible) but your own health and well-being should have more weight in your decision than their priorities and deadlines. Perhaps you can negotiate some down-time after this period so you can rest, relax, and regain your strength and mental acuity before being plunged into a similar situation.
+Learning to say "no" is an important skill as a programmer. Too often we regard ourselves as super-beings that can do anything, in part because the computers we work on seem like they can do anything. Unfortunately, we have finite physical and emotional resources, so learning to pick and choose the projects that are most important to us (depending on our own internal criteria) will help sustain us as we progress through our programming careers. If we say "yes" to everything that someone pitches to us then we'll have less time to work on things that really matter to us. We'll be at the mercy of folks whose priorities and desires do not match our own. The most effective way to burn-out is to spend all of your energy working on projects that don't match your own priorities and desires.
-Learning to say "no" is an important skill as a programmer. Too often we regard ourselves as super-beings that can do anything, in part because the computers we work on seem like they can do anything. Unfortunately we have finite physical and emotional resources, so learning to pick and choose the projects that are most important to us (depending on our own internal criteria) will help sustain us as we progress through our programming careers. If we say "yes" to everything that someone pitches to us then we'll have less time to work on things that really matter to us. We'll be at the mercy of folks whose priorities and desires do not match our own. The most effective way to burn-out on programming is to spend all of your energy working on projects that don't match your own priorities and desires.
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-You will experience periods of burnout in your programming career. Things will come at you that will overwhelm your ability to cope with them. You will find yourself stuck in loops wondering if this is really what you should be doing. Understanding what you're feeling and acknowledging your feelings as valid is the first step to changing your trajectory into burnout and stress. Programming shouldn't be drudgery (no work of value should be drudgery). There should be something in your programming day that keeps you motivated and helps you grow your skills. Adding bits of learning, joy, and wonder (along with periods of downtime) will help sustain you through the emotional turbulence that awaits. And recognizing when you're burning out and renegotiating your agreements with yourself and others can help reinvigorate your desires to keep programming.
+You will experience periods of burnout in your programming career. Things will come at you that will overwhelm your ability to cope with them. You will find yourself stuck in loops wondering if this is really what you should be doing. Understanding what you're feeling and acknowledging your feelings are valid is the first step to changing your trajectory from burnout and stress. Programming shouldn't be drudgery (no work of value should be drudgery). There should be something in your programming day that keeps you motivated and helps you grow your skills. Adding bits of learning, joy, and wonder, along with periods of downtime, will help sustain you through the emotional turbulence that awaits. And recognizing when you're burning out and renegotiating your agreements with yourself and others can help reinvigorate your desires to keep programming.
## Reaching out for help
-I want to highlight that it's OK to ask others for help. I've struggled with asking for help. Part of my reluctance in asking for help was instilled in me whenever I would ask a question and get the dreaded "you should know that already" response. Other times I believed that by asking for help I would somehow diminish my reputation. I'd be exposed as a fraud and an impostor. Folks would wonder why they ever trusted me in the first place. But when I actually asked for help the responses I received weren't "why don't you know this?"; they were "why didn't you ask for help sooner?". Sure, there were occasions where someone would be surprised I didn't know something, or I would receive some criticism for my ignorance, but I've found that the benefits of asking the question outweighed the negative effects I might face.
+I want to emphasize that it's OK to ask others for help. I've struggled with asking for help. Part of my reluctance in asking for help was instilled in me whenever I would ask a question and get the dreaded "you should know that already" response. Other times I believed that by asking for help I would somehow diminish my reputation. I'd be exposed as a fraud and an impostor. Folks would wonder why they ever trusted me in the first place. But when I actually asked for help the responses I received weren't "why don't you know this?"; they were "why didn't you ask for help sooner?". Sure, there were occasions where someone would be surprised I didn't know something, or I would receive some criticism for my ignorance, but I've found that the benefits of asking the question outweighed any negative effects.
-Asking for help isn't just limited to asking technical questions; there are many more ways that we might need help. We may need to ask our colleagues to help us during a difficult time in our lives. We may need the help of our management when we're struggling personally and professionally. We may even need a whole other set of support staff to help us along (doctors, therapists, etc.). Involving other people with our struggle can be daunting (even overwhelming) but getting help early can help prevent the more serious forms of burnout and stress.
+Asking for help isn't just limited to asking technical questions; there are many more ways that we might need help. We may need to ask our colleagues to help us during a difficult time in our lives. We may need the help of our management when we're struggling personally and professionally. We may even need a whole different set of support staff to help us along (doctors, therapists, etc.). Involving other people with our struggle can be daunting (even overwhelming) but getting help early can help prevent the more serious forms of burnout and stress.
-The most common reason for our reluctance in asking for help is our desire for comfort. Asking for help means placing ourselves into a state of vulnerability and hoping the people we're asking to help us will treat us with kindness, respect, and dignity. This vulnerability can be amplified if we don't know the person we're asking for help, or if the person is a medical professional. But putting ourselves in these vulnerable situations is necessary, especially if the problems or situations we're facing are out of our control or experience. If we're close to burning out (or are suffering through burnout) we may need the help of a doctor or therapist to uncover better ways to cope with what we're experiencing. If our job is causing stress and strain we may want to talk with others in our community to find out if others are also experiencing these feelings. Even the simple act of commiseration with our peers can help us realize that we're not alone in facing these issues, and may help us find better ways of managing our workload and stress. They may also help us recognize abnormal or abusive situations that we're facing. Sometimes we don't realize when our jobs or relationships have turned from caring and nurturing to ones where we're getting more harm out of the relationship than anything positive.
+The most common reason for our reluctance in asking for help is our desire for comfort. Asking for help means placing ourselves into a state of vulnerability and hoping the people we're asking to help us will treat us with kindness, respect, and dignity. This vulnerability can be amplified if we don't know the person we're asking for help, or if the person is a medical professional. But putting ourselves in these vulnerable situations is necessary, especially if the problems or situations we're facing are out of our control or experience. If we're close to burning out (or are suffering through burnout) we may need the help of a doctor or therapist to uncover better ways to cope with what we're experiencing. If our job is causing stress and strain we may want to talk with others in our community to find out if others are also experiencing these feelings. Even the simple act of commiseration with our peers can help us realize that we're not alone in facing these issues, and may help us find better ways of managing our workload and stress. They may also help us recognize abnormal or abusive situations that we're facing. Sometimes we don't realize when our jobs or relationships have turned from caring and nurturing to ones that bring us more harm than anything positive.
"There's no shame in asking for help" is an overused phrase, but asking for help is not a shameful act. We need the help of others. Even someone saying "I'm sorry you're dealing with that" can be a connection with someone else who sympathizes what we're going through. Finding others who are willing to listen, empathize, and commiserate can be the difference between feeling part of a community and feeling like we've been abandoned in our profession.
-We also need to recognize when our support systems aren't supporting us. If we find that talking with someone else is not helping us resolve the issue we may need to find other means of help. You may realize that you need additional support. Realizing that you need additional support can be a difficult realization, but once you have that realization I'd encourage you to act and get additional help. This requires self-awareness and honesty with how you are feeling. Only you know your situation and if you're being honest with yourself. And if you're not being honest with yourself then only you can take the initiative to seek out the help that you need. Nobody else knows your inner-workings better than you.
+We also need to recognize when our support systems aren't supporting us. If we find that talking with someone else is not helping us resolve the issue we may need to find other means of help. We may realize that we need additional support.
+
+Realizing the need for additional support can be difficult, but once you have come to that realization I'd encourage you to act and get additional help. This requires self-awareness and honesty with how you are feeling. Only you know your situation and if you're being honest with yourself. If you're not being honest with yourself then only you can realize this and can take take the initiative to seek out the help that you need. Nobody else knows your inner-workings better than you.
-Asking for and receiving help is a skill and like any skill it needs practice. When we're young we have simple means of asking for help (crying, pointing, etc.). These skills are baked into us as part of our survival mechanisms. But as we grow our world becomes more complex. Our methods for asking for help need to mature as we mature. This is not something that comes naturally to any of us. We will struggle to ask for help, and we will resist when we're receiving help from others. Repetition and careful practice will help us improve our skills in asking for help. Improving these skills will help us to overcome the obstacles we face throughout our day. That improvement will help us to become not only better programmers but also better at handling the challenges that life gives us.
+Asking for and receiving help is a skill, and like any skill it needs practice. When we're young we have simple means of asking for help (crying, pointing, etc.). These skills are baked into us as part of our survival mechanisms, but as we grow our world becomes more complex. Our methods for asking for help need to mature as we mature. This is not something that comes naturally to any of us. We will struggle to ask for help, and we will resist when we're receiving help from others. Repetition and careful practice will help us improve our skills in asking for help. Improving these skills will help us to overcome the obstacles we face throughout our day. That improvement will help us to become not only better programmers but also better at handling the challenges that life gives us.
## Giving up
-Programmers don't like to think about giving up. How many times have we asked others to be patient while we try to fix something that isn't working? ("Just a few more minutes, please. Honest!") We work on machines that feel like they have limitless possibilities, and as programmers we feel compelled to explore those possibilities. But sometimes we don't want to do that exploration. Sometimes we look at the list of things we should be learning and wonder if it's worth the effort. We look at job postings for our set of skills and find nothing but lists of meaningless work. New programmers ask us what it's like to be a programmer and we consider if we should warn them about the dangers of choosing a career that led us to being unhappy and unfulfilled. The joy that sustained us while learning the craft disappears and we struggle with the fear that we will never cultivate that feeling again.
+Programmers don't like to think about giving up. How many times have we asked others to be patient while we try to fix something that isn't working? ("Just a few more minutes, please. Honest!") We work on machines that seem to have limitless possibilities. As programmers we feel compelled to explore those possibilities, but sometimes we don't want to do that exploration. Sometimes we look at the list of things we should be learning and wonder if it's worth the effort. We look at job postings for our set of skills and find nothing but lists of meaningless work. New programmers ask us what it's like to be a programmer and we consider if we should warn them about the dangers of choosing a career that have led us to being unhappy and unfulfilled. The joy that sustained us while learning the craft disappears and we struggle with the fear that we will never cultivate that feeling again.
-Programming isn't for everyone. There are times when I've wondered if I should continue working as a programmer. I'm frustrated that I can't possibly learn everything that I want to know. I worry if I'm learning will still be relevant by the time I'm finished. I'm anxious that I won't be able to compete in a job market where everyone else seems like they got a head start. I struggle looking through job positions that offer work that I don't think will be relevant six months from now, let alone 10 to 100 years from now. I feel like the computing future I was promised has been corrupted and we're stuck in a world where computers are little more than levers for companies to pry open the wallets of their customers.
+Programming isn't for everyone. There are times when I've wondered if I should continue working as a programmer. I'm frustrated that I can't possibly learn everything that I want to know. I worry if what I'm learning will still be relevant by the time I'm finished. I'm anxious that I won't be able to compete in a job market where everyone else seems like they had a head start. I struggle looking through job positions that offer work that I don't think will be relevant six months from now, let alone 10 to 100 years from now. I feel like the computing future I was promised has been corrupted and all of us are stuck in a world where computers are little more than levers for companies to pry open the wallets of their customers.
-It's easy to become fatalistic about the practice of programming but I've realized that there's more to computing and programming than what the job market has to offer.
+It's easy to become fatalistic about the practice of programming, but I've realized that there's more to computing and programming than what the job market has to offer.
-Part of the joy of programming is curiosity. If we can nurture our curiosity while programming then we have so many avenues to explore. There are always other ideas and other topics to discover, such as game development, esoteric languages, or other programming paradigms. The job market uses a fraction of the programming ideas that are out there, waiting to be explored. There are also many emulators and retro-computers available with good documentation and vibrant communities. One area that has intrigued me is learning about how older computers work. Older computers are simple and can be learned with patience and the right mindset. These machines are well-understood and most of these older programs were put together by one programmer. They make an excellent space for learning not only how older machines worked, but many of the concepts that still permeate our modern machines.
+Part of the joy of programming is curiosity. If we can nurture our curiosity while programming then we have so many avenues to explore. There are always other ideas and other topics to discover, such as game development, esoteric languages, or other programming paradigms. The job market uses a fraction of the programming ideas that are out there waiting to be explored. There are also many emulators and retro-computers available with good documentation and vibrant communities. One area that has intrigued me is learning about how older computers work. Older computers are simple and can be understood with patience and the right mindset. These machines are well-understood, and most of these older programs were put together by one programmer. They make an excellent space for learning not only how older machines worked, but many of the concepts that still permeate our modern machines.
What happens when we realize that there is no joy left for us in programming? What do we do when the thought of programming computers no longer excites us? How do we keep going when even the thought of trying something new fills us with dread? What then?
-If we don't find any joy in programming then we need to understand why we are feeling this way. Maybe we're tired after a rough project that sapped out all of the fun and excitement of programming for us. Perhaps the communities we've joined in our area and online are hostile and unwelcoming. Maybe we thought programming would be more fun but every time we start we wish we were doing something / anything else instead.
+If we don't find any joy in programming then we need to understand why we are feeling this way. Maybe we're tired after a rough project that sapped out all of the fun and excitement of programming for us. Perhaps the communities we've joined in our area and online are hostile and unwelcoming. Maybe we thought programming would be more fun but every time we start we wish we were doing _something_ / _anything_ else instead.
-Programming is at its best when you really want to do it. It isn't for everyone. If you're stuck in a situation where you don't want to program anymore then your best course of action is to quit being a programmer. There's no shame in quitting programming --- many programmers have lost the spark and the desire to keep programming and have moved into other fields. It's OK to leave the field of computer programming and do something else.
+Programming is at its best when you really want to do it. It isn't for everyone. If you're stuck in a situation where you don't want to program anymore then your best course of action is to quit being a programmer. There's no shame in quitting programming --- many programmers have lost the spark of joy and the desire to keep programming, and have moved into other fields. It's OK to leave the field of computer programming and do something else.
Programming is only one facet of our lives. True, it may be a big facet of our lives, and it may feel scary to give up something that we've worked so hard to accomplish. But if we realize that we're just going through the motions and are no longer experiencing any joy in programming then it's time to think about what else we can be doing with our lives outside of programming. We're granted a limited amount of time to live our lives. Doing something we don't enjoy robs us of a meaningful life.
Giving up should not be a negative experience. There is no shame in taking time away from being a programmer. Plenty of programmers have given themselves a "sabbatical" from programming to explore other interests and recharge themselves. Breaking loops of negative experiences in programming can help us identify what we want out of programming and a programming career. It can help us find and confirm our innermost feelings about programming and see if we're still meant to keep pursuing this path.
-There are several fears that can keep us from making this break with programming. The first fear goes by the fancy name of the "sunk cost fallacy". The sunk cost fallacy is the belief that the time and effort we spent learning and programming is an investment, and that investment will be wasted if we quit. Thus, in order to preserve our investment we must keep programming. The problem with this fallacy is that it assumes you have not already received the benefit from that time and effort. I'd argue that learning any sort of programming is not a wasted skill. Programming can be applied to many facets of our lives, such as simplifying tasks into manageable steps, applying structured thinking, and understanding basic Boolean logic. Many other fields have also adopted computers so having computer skills can be helpful for yourself or other colleagues who are struggling to learn the technology. The knowledge you have will not go to waste.
+There are several fears that can keep us from making this break with programming. The first fear goes by the fancy name of the "sunk cost fallacy". The sunk cost fallacy is the belief that the time and effort we spent learning and programming is an investment, and that investment will be wasted if we quit. Thus, in order to preserve our investment we must keep programming. The problem with this fallacy is that it assumes we have not already received the benefit from that time and effort. I'd argue that learning any sort of programming is not a wasted skill. Programming can be applied to many facets of our lives, such as simplifying tasks into manageable steps, applying structured thinking, and understanding basic Boolean logic. Many other fields have also adopted computers so having computer skills can be helpful for yourself or others. The knowledge you have will not go to waste.
-The second fear is the fear that we'll somehow let down our fellow programmers and others in our organization if we stop programming. This one is tricky. It's tricky because it includes others in our decision-making process. We might be in an organization that has a substantial load of tasks to complete, and our decision to quit will mean these tasks won't be completed the way we wish them to be completed. It's not hard to imagine our absence causing harm to the entire organization and resulting in its eventual collapse. Is this scenario true? It's up to us to tease out whether our absence will truly let everyone in our organization down. This puts us in a situation where our fear leaves us feeling stuck. We feel stuck because our fear has created a situation where we're choosing between our own well being or the well being of others. This is a false dichotomy. Our absence might be the catalyst for someone else to pick up our tasks and work on them, and possibly complete them more effectively than we can in our current state. We need to ask ourselves if we are truly irreplaceable for this organization or could someone else take our place? The answer might be "I am irreplaceable, but I need to leave this situation or I will cause harm to both myself and others if this continues". It's up to us to review if we are helping ourselves and the organizations we serve, or if we are harming them and ourselves by deluding ourselves that this is working.
+The second fear is the fear that we'll somehow let down our fellow programmers and others in our organization if we stop programming. This one is tricky. It's tricky because it includes others in our decision-making process. We might be in an organization that has a substantial load of tasks to complete, and our decision to quit will mean these tasks won't be completed the way we wish those tasks to be completed. It's not hard to imagine our absence causing harm to the entire organization and resulting in its eventual collapse. Is this scenario true? It's up to us to tease out whether our absence will truly let everyone in our organization down. This puts us in a situation where our fear leaves us feeling "stuck". We feel "stuck" because our fear has created a situation where we're choosing between our own well being or the well being of others. This is a false dichotomy. Our absence might be the catalyst for someone else to pick up our tasks and work on them, and possibly complete them more effectively than we can in our current state. We need to determine if we are truly irreplaceable or could someone else take our place? The answer might be "I am irreplaceable, but I need to leave this situation or I will cause harm to both myself and others if this continues". It's up to us to review if we are helping ourselves and the organizations we serve, or if we are harming them and ourselves by deluding ourselves that this is working.
-The third fear deals with our own personal fears of identity and the memory of our community. If we decide to stop being a programmer will that somehow erase a part of our identity? Will our community stop identifying us as a programmer and will we lose contact with folks that have become friends and colleagues? Again, this fear is tricky to overcome because programming may be a large part of the identity you have crafted for yourself. Letting go of programming can lead to feeling like you're stripping away a piece of yourself and your identity. There's also the fear that folks will stop calling you for jobs or other programming projects if you decide to take a temporary break from programming. If the break is temporary will people remember your programming skills when you decide to return?
+The third fear deals with our own personal concept of identity and the memory of our community. If we decide to stop being a programmer will that somehow erase a part of our identity? Will our community stop identifying us as a programmer and will we lose contact with folks that have become friends and colleagues? Again, this fear is tricky to overcome because programming may be a large part of our identity. Letting go of programming can lead to feeling like we are stripping away a piece of ourselves and our identity. There's also the fear that folks will stop calling us for jobs or other programming projects if we decide to take a temporary break. If the break is temporary will people remember our programming skills when we decide to return?
-Each of these fears and worries are valid to have, but they may not be the truth. We can be afraid that we wasted our time as a programmer, but the truth is any learning isn't wasted effort. We can worry how others perceive us or how the organizations we were a part of move on without us, but the truth is we can't control their perceptions and actions. What we can control is our participation in each of these communities and our perception of the time end effort invested. We can determine if a hard break from programming would be better than gradually easing ourselves out of our commitments. We can clarify to others what our current status as a programmer is and if this status is permanent or temporary. The most important thing is not letting others persuade us into doing something that we don't want to do or is harmful to us. If we need to stop programming because we are emotionally drained and burned out then we need to make it clear to others that we will be doing a disservice to them and ourselves if we continue.
+Each of these fears and worries are valid, but they may not be the truth. We can be afraid that we wasted our time as a programmer, but the truth is any learning isn't wasted effort. We can worry how others perceive us or how the organizations we were a part of move on without us, but the truth is we can't control their perceptions and actions. What we can control is our participation in each of these communities and our perception of the time end effort invested. We can determine if a hard break from programming would be better than gradually easing ourselves out of our commitments. We can clarify to others what our current status as a programmer is and determine if this status is temporary or permanent. The most important thing is not letting others persuade us into doing something that we don't want to do or is harmful to us. If we need to stop programming because we are emotionally drained and burned out then we need to make it clear to others that we will be doing a disservice to them and ourselves if we continue.
Mature communities will understand the need to take a break and stop programming. They will understand that your mental and emotional well-being is more important than their need for you to continue, and they will be able to piece together what needs to be done and heal from your absence. It is normal and natural for folks to move on from organizations and pursue other priorities.
projects / themediocreprogrammer.git / blobdiff