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Discussion on: What having a programmer burnout at age 21 feels like

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Joel Kinzel

This is common in young developers. They feel a need to know and experience every possible technology and project they come across.

First thing is to be comfortable not knowing everything. You can never with any reasonable degree of expertise understand even a fraction of the different frameworks, libraries, tooling, and languages that are available to a modern developer. Pick a few you really like and run with them.

Second, you have to start limiting yourself on how many hours you spend coding each day. It is a mentally demanding and draining job. This means you will have to prioritize and even drop all together certain projects. It will be hard but if you spend more time focusing on things that truly interest you and that you enjoy, you will feel greater satisfaction in your career and your life.

Third, find a hobby that doesn't involve staring at a screen. Physical and social activities will make you a better developer. You'll gain "soft skills" and reduce stress (which will allow you to think more clearly during the time you are writing code).

Spending more time away from the keyboard and doing other things is really the only way to recoup from burn-out. You need to give your brain a chance to rest.