Stress, Burnout and Software Engineering
How stressful really is software engineering, and how to spot an early signs of burnout? This and also basic advice how to ask for help soon enough in this issue of Soft-Skilled Engineer.
Every here and there you can find a new round of discussions around social media on the topic of IT jobs and stress.
Stress can often be closely connected to burnout among other issues, and since I recently researched a lot about that, I thought it might be interesting also for you.
But first a quick poll - please respond if you are working in Software engineering or a similar area.
I am definitely not the first one looking into the subject so I found some good sources of information.
For example, this study claims after polling 1100+ IT professionals that:
IT professionals are significantly less stressed than the general population.
The most stressed IT area is Data Science & Machine Learning followed by DevOps
Over 39% of DevOps engineers admit that work-related stress impacts their personal lives.
Of course that does not mean there is no issue with intense stress burnout in the field, as according to that study “significantly less stressed“ means that “only“ about 34% of IT professionals feel “constantly or frequently stressed in their work.“
I have not always been a software engineer, I experienced also a career in sales in finance, and if I can compare it only on my personal experience - I am definitely more happy and balanced right now.
But that does not mean I don’t need to be careful not to overstretch myself. Software engineering can be stressful especially because of the constant need to learn new stuff.
For me especially FOMO can be often a pain point, and I had to learn how to deal with that.
Some general stress factors in software engineering can include a combination of high stakes and short deadlines, on-call support, and job insecurity… especially now after months and years of large layoffs.
Software Engineering Burnout
Now read carefully.
You feel tired all the time, lacking energy. It’s hard to get a good night's sleep, not necessarily every night most of them. You just have a problem falling asleep, maybe just once or twice a week so you don’t think it is something to be worried about.
You are now something forgetting do to things and small tasks. You feel often out of focus and maybe even have problems getting things done and your work is starting to pile up.
You might even be experiencing some physical symptoms like chest pain, breath shortness, dizziness, and headaches… and you noticed that lately you are more ill more often than usual.
If you can relate to even a part of that description, you should start to be cautious, because all this can be an early sign of burnout.
It’s great to realize that, but what to do now?
In the best-case scenario, an honest discussion with your manager should be the minimum action to take, and based on his/her experience it can be really helpful.
Try to identify the root cause.
Are you overwhelmed with work?
Do you feel out of control of something?
Maybe you feel like working hard without anyone noticing or recognizing and that stresses you. ?
Or do you feel isolated (especially in today’s remote work reality which can be quite significant) and you lack community?
It can be all sorts of reasons.
Just don’t let it rot, take action.
Have you personally experienced burnout in software engineering?
I would love to hear your story!
You can post it to LinkedIn and tag me - Pavel Polcr
OR just leave me a comment here - I will be happy to hear from you!
Apart from this newsletter I also write on Linkedin - every Monday I send Better ME-Better You - Every week the Best Knowledge I have seen around LinkedIn + Insights, Tips, and Bits provided by me.
See you around, have a great day!
Pavel.