18
nanl
6y

Why in the world IT work is so stressful?
I never been like that since I start developing code professionally, 8 years ago.
Since then, I had many health problems due stress, and some were really scaring (heart problem).

I'm trying to adapt to a healthier way of work, but I'm starting to doubt if that is possible.

Work in technology seems cruel and soulless sometimes. The constant pressure to learn new things all the time, to specialize in a lot of skills, simultaneously. The urgency nature of ALL tasks - even a simple form field slightly out of place seems to be an issue of life and death for clients.

Easy and quick communication made some people lost boundaries and respect. Many times I received calls and messages after midnight, about things like elements alignment.

And the worst is when clients blame you about their business problems. If they are not selling well this week, it's fault of the website you did ( which they are using for months now).

This actually happened to me today, first thing in the morning. After I slept just 3h, because I worked until late yesterday (oh yeah many more of these life/death updates).

What happens in this industry? Will this ever be different some day?

Comments
  • 2
    *relating*
  • 0
    @Null-Device
    What do you do?
  • 7
    I think its just what kind of approach you have as a person. For start if you build some boundaries, relax and don't show interest for every small change the client wants right away, you'll see that they'll also stop pushing, they're doing it now cause they're used that you'll just do it. Also you should realize that you can't carry the burden of company yourself. Nobody can't. If you're in that kind of company now, know that they shouldn't exist, or should reorganize cause in future they won't exist. I had similar approach like you on my previous job and burned out several times during my time working there. While on opposite side of desk I had a chill colleague who is pretty good developer, but he understood that its just job and he was there from 10-18 Mon-Fri. Outside of that time he shut himself off from work in total and didn't gave a fuck, just as everyone should.

    TLDR; There is difference between being passionate about something and being someones money-making slave.
  • 1
    Very relatable.

    I also suffer from the self-induced stress of keeping up with everything. For example, I've meant for a while now to get proficient with JavaScript promises but haven't gotten around to diving into them due to lack of time and a suitable project. Last week finally brought a new project which I decided to do in Angular. Turns out that promises are yesterday's tech, the new thing is observables. Cool, I thought, now I can skip promises. Win!

    Moral of the story (for me at least): there will always be newer tech. Missed the latest fad? Simply wait for the one after it.

    Also, the longer a tech is around the easier it gets to work with it because of an ever growing ecosystem (or lack therefor in which case you can skip it again) .
  • 1
    Depends on the team and how they pick clients. Good teams make sure their code doesn't blow up so have more time to think. Bad teams code like headless chickens and write and fixes that look like shit and unmaintainable
  • 0
    @Condor eheh in this case it is literally Einstein’s quote though original goes like this:
    There is a race between mankind and the universe. Mankind is trying to build bigger, better, faster, and more foolproof machines. The universe is trying to build bigger, better, and faster fools. So far the universe is winning.

    Btw I totally assumed that you still didn’t get the point sorry if you’ve 😆
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