heavy sigh
I love programing/development/coding. I love my web development job. I love my lifestyle so far. I've been a developer for almost 3 years now.
Before that, I used to work as a project coordinator for a couple of months and I hated my job. But I remember I almost worked myself to death. I remember one time staying in the company offices till 2 am working on a high stake project all by myself to make it easier for my colleagues working on it the next day. Even though I was well paid and had a great boss, I was miserable and depressed. I think because I tried too hard to like my job by working my ass off. But truth of the matter was that I found the job boring, considered myself expandable, and it just wasn't my jam.
The career switch I made really did do wonders to fend off that depression.
Fast-forward to today. I find myself spending most of my free time working on coding side-projects, reading docs, reading tech blogs, trying new dev tools, solving coding challenges, helping others with their coding projects, etc. I am sure many developers can relate to this routine. I still occasionally see and hang out with friends, but I don't seek them out, and I do prefer alone time (I am an introvert).
But when does this become workaholism? I've burnt out once before, but that was due to high pressure working as a fullstack dev in a small team at a startup and I have recovered. I am just scared I would burn out doing the "free time" dev activities I mentioned above, and that it would cause the same depression I got years ago.
Does anyone have experience dealing with and avoiding workaholism/burnout?
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