I hit a point like this last year. I have been working at my company for over 3 years and because of that I have A LOT of knowledge about our entire application. Because I was so knowledgable, every time someone needed help or an on-call issue arose, I would be the go to person. Everyone knew I could solve just about any problem the fastest so they came to me. This meant I felt like I was on-call all the time.
Luckily, my team lead and those around me noticed it even before I did. They were concerned back when I would reply "Oh no, its fine, I can handle it." Eventually, it sucked the life out of me. I became more irritable at work and towards coworkers, BUT I kept trying to do it all. I am one of those people that won't let up. I tend to be a people pleaser and always want to help. If someone asks me for help, you can bet I will say sure!
Eventually, my incredible coworkers stepped in. I was forcefully kicked out of Slack channels that were used for on-call issues so I couldn't even be tempted to help. A couple people took my next on-call rotations and everyone laid down a rule that unless the site was down, no one was allowed to ask me. I was the last line of defense. In the end, it worked! After about a month I was back to my old self. And you know what the best part was? Because I let other people solve their own problems they became more knowledgable about our application. Now, application knowledge is much more spread out and the last few big on-call blow ups, I have not even had to be a part of. It was incredibly freeing.
My advice, be aware not only of yourself but also of those around you. Some people might need you to step in and give them permission to take a break.
I love this. That's awesome that you have teammates who recognized that and stepped in to help. I don't know much about your team, but it sounds like a good one.
I hit a point like this last year. I have been working at my company for over 3 years and because of that I have A LOT of knowledge about our entire application. Because I was so knowledgable, every time someone needed help or an on-call issue arose, I would be the go to person. Everyone knew I could solve just about any problem the fastest so they came to me. This meant I felt like I was on-call all the time.
Luckily, my team lead and those around me noticed it even before I did. They were concerned back when I would reply "Oh no, its fine, I can handle it." Eventually, it sucked the life out of me. I became more irritable at work and towards coworkers, BUT I kept trying to do it all. I am one of those people that won't let up. I tend to be a people pleaser and always want to help. If someone asks me for help, you can bet I will say sure!
Eventually, my incredible coworkers stepped in. I was forcefully kicked out of Slack channels that were used for on-call issues so I couldn't even be tempted to help. A couple people took my next on-call rotations and everyone laid down a rule that unless the site was down, no one was allowed to ask me. I was the last line of defense. In the end, it worked! After about a month I was back to my old self. And you know what the best part was? Because I let other people solve their own problems they became more knowledgable about our application. Now, application knowledge is much more spread out and the last few big on-call blow ups, I have not even had to be a part of. It was incredibly freeing.
My advice, be aware not only of yourself but also of those around you. Some people might need you to step in and give them permission to take a break.
I love this. That's awesome that you have teammates who recognized that and stepped in to help. I don't know much about your team, but it sounds like a good one.
This is awesome; I have heard of companies giving compulsory leave to their senior developers.