Logrocket recorded a podcast with me talking about the need for good UX of AI solutions . It is amazing how much opportunities we miss out on by simply trying to copy ChatGPT, not understanding that a faux human chat interaction often only is a flash in the pan success. I will also cover the […]

When I first moved my Neovim configuration over to using lua, as opposed to the more traditional vimscript, I thought I was clever separating it up into many files and includes. Turns out that it became annoying to edit my configuration. Not difficult; just faffy. So I decided to just stick it all into a […]

I chanced upon Garrit's toot today, which led me to Doug Belshaw's newsletter-blog. I do enjoy Doug's blog but fail to keep up for a variety of reasons. A shout-out like Garrit did on his blog helped me find myself to it proper after what's been a while.

If we are talking life/career burnout, I am always in.

Of course I stopped writing as often on this blog, but I am tempted to try and speak openly about something I do struggle with — almost always have, and always will. While I have only landed in the crash and burn scenes a couple of times (so far), I am always very aware that I'm skirting these lines and can tip over very easily.

Today I had a call with my immediate boss to discuss some measures we can put in place so I can deal with work better — away from what feels like a cocktail of depression and burnout presenting in unusual (to me) ways.

What I'm doing now to tackle things.

I have already been taking measures in my individual capacity for a while, but I think it was time to reach out and ask for some more support while I work through this process.

Here are some things I am doing, then:

• Paired coding sessions. At least once a week, more if possible/required. Fight that isolation of working remote.
• Changing my work environment frequently. A change of scenery keeps things interesting, I guess. I do have to give up the big screen but I'll take that over this.
• Picking off shorter tasks from the backlog. This can help me feel more accomplished about my work day and work weeks. Balancing it better with new features.
• Hobbies. I've been at it for a while. Just more of the same. Invest my time in hobbies that are not coding.
• Continue to see my therapist. Keeping my emotional burden and general mental health in check so I have space to…live.
• Talking to friends about it. Call it venting if you will.
• Finding in-person tech events/meetups to feel a connection with coding as an activity again.

I think that's it. It seems to help a little. The proverbial jury is still out.

How do you handle the almost-burned-out stage? What are some things you would do?

I encourage you to get in touch over email by using the following convenience link for any discussion: comment via email.

A little Sketchplanation on "point positive".

Point positive is a rafting term for agreeing in advance to point towards the safe way out of danger rather than towards the dangers themselves.

When you're in trouble, don't dwell on the cause, look for a solution. Only when the waters are calm, take a step back, reassess, and learn the necessary lessons to avoid it in the future.

↗ sketchplanations.com

In 2005, Joel Spolsky’s software company, Fog Creek, filmed a documentary about their summer internship program. The film is called Aardvark’d: 12 Weeks with Geeks, and it follows four college interns as they design, implement, and launch a completely new software product.

That’s not the interesting part.

Looking back on this documentary 18 years later, it’s striking how many interviews it captured with people who would go on to greater fame and success: