Avoiding Burnout As a Software Developer during the Pandemic
By: Varun Joshi
Tags: Covid 19, Pandemic, Burnout, Software, Software Development

Software Developers are very prone to burnout, especially if they’re overly ambitious early on in their career and try to be a ‘rockstar’ developer in the team. I know a lot of you might be shaking your heads and saying, “Pfft, burnout is a just a fancy term, I’m never going to burn out!”. But it’s very real, most senior developers have faced being burnt out at some point in their career.

Also, the current pandemic situation doesn’t seem to be helping much. Working from home is awesome, agreed, but no one ever told you about the sudden lifestyle change that comes along with it. Suddenly, everything changed, no more water cooler conversations, no brief social interactions with colleagues and no more whiteboard discussions (how else are we supposed to spend hours finalising a simple feature!?)

I, for one, miss the quick ping pong matches with my team at work. It’s a great stress buster, and you get to know your team mates beyond work.

My first experience with burnout was about 2 years ago and it was terrifying, it made me question my abilities as a software developer and my performance degraded over a period of a month.

Knowing how to deal with burnout is essential, and we’re going to talk about exactly how to ensure this pandemic or working remote in general doesn’t burn you out.

Create a schedule

Working from home can be fun at first, but work quickly takes over since you’re always a few steps away from your laptop, which gives your colleagues & clients the illusion that you’re always available. It’s important to have a fixed start and end time for your work day, setting adequate time aside for lunch and breaks. This is your ‘me’ time at work, so make sure you’re free of distractions during your breaks.

Create a designated office space

Now this is difficult if you live with family or in a small apartment, but your work space has to be different that the room that you spend most of your time in on a holiday.

You can’t work efficiently in a room where you also sleep or relax in. I didn’t think this would make much of a difference either, but it does. Try it. I usually work in my small balcony, and the fresh air makes a difference.

Setup virtual water cooler groups

Water cooler conversations are fun, you get to socialise with your colleagues and it gives you a break from the usual work day stress. To be honest, such small breaks improve your performance at work, I always go for a walk when it seems that I can’t solve a 🐛 in my code.

But now that we’re working from home, it’s all weird and quiet. Not seeing your colleagues everyday makes you socially distant. So, why not setup a weekly or even daily time slot to talk to your colleagues about that cool Netflix series you watched over the weekend?

Plan your tasks and priorities

When you look at your list of tasks that you have to accomplish in a day, figure out how much you can really get done that day. By being honest about what you’re going to be doing just today, you can focus on giving the gears in your brain some rest.

Actually make yourself a to-do list, stick to it, and don’t write so much that you always have tasks left over. By giving yourself dedicated time to relax, you’ll be able to get your tasks done driven with more purpose, rather than driven by the gloomy feeling of being overwhelmed.

Exercise!

Now that you’re at home, working all day, I’m pretty sure a lot of us don’t get enough exercise. Being at home all day really messes with your head, and you will burn out a lot faster than if you went to work everyday. Also, being at home takes a toll on your body!

So get out and refresh your body & mind! Go for a walk, grab a bicycle and explore your neighbourhood!