IT Burnout is a serious issue, and one that we’ve covered on Gestalt IT. Heck, we dedicated a full On-Premise IT Roundtable on the topic. Our premise for the episode was that burnout is inevitable. We framed it as such because I think a lot of IT pros consider it part of their job, something to deal with and eventually get over on your own.
Eric Shanks echoes a lot of what we discussed on the episode in this piece. He heard an extensive talk on the subject while at the Devops Enterprise Summit. He rightly points out that this isn’t people just a little tired from work, it’s a diagnosable medical condition that can lead to exhaustion, cynicism, depression, even suicide if left untreated.
It’s a really important discussion for IT pros to have, I’m glad Eric wrote up such a thoughtful piece.
Eric Shanks comments:
Another problem I see with burnout is that you might not realize that you’re burned out. Remember that burnout happens over a long time so it can sneak up on you. A difficult workload or having little control over your situation may be something you’ve always dealt with at a job. So, if you start to feel depressed thoughts, you might not be able to pinpoint why you feel that way. Even if you identify that you’re feeling depressed, you probably won’t be able to figure out when it happened or whats changed because its been this way for so long. There isn’t a single event that you can point to as the reason for your feelings.
Read more at: This is Not Fine!
