Mental Exhaustion
How do you guys deal with the mental effort and stress of work. I'd say it's 40% stress from the company (deadlines, requirements, performance, etc) and 60% stress from myself worried about my performance, my gaps in knowledge, etc. My performance is never an issue, it's just my anxiety making me worried. I'm never relaxed and it feels like my mind moves so quickly like I'm panicking to get stuff done so the anxiety of having to do it goes away. I want to quit software so badly. I would take a 50% pay cut and do something where I don't have to use my brain so much. How do you guys do it? I guess those that got out of software dev arent on blind...
I can sympathize with you....this economy has really kicked engineering into light speed. I feel constantly pushed to achieve the extraordinary in condensed timeframes. Here are my tips from 15yrs in the trenches: Your brain is a muscle. Feed it extra protein. Make sleep a priority and not an inconvenience. Don’t look at your cell phone before going to sleep. Exercise often and/or play some team sports (love softball). If you have slight anxiety, it could be because of diet. Eat clean food and avoid excessive sugars and anything that converts to sugar. Paleo type foods would be good to help structure what you consume. I was on high blood pressure medication until I severely decreased the amount of gluten I consumed (hypertension and anxiety were eliminated). Explore a leave of absence - even six weeks away would do wonders. You’re doing good. And you’re gonna hit your stride in about 5yrs but realize engineering is a marathon with occasional sprints.
That’s really hard. What you’re describing sounds like more than typical levels of panic and anxiety. I’d suggest talking about it with your Dr. Great advice above from RHYNO too.
Find hobbies outside of software, stop giving a shit about what you don’t know, and take a hard look at how you do your work. I guarantee there are ways to optimize your time.
Getting stuff done puts me through so much strain. I literally feel all jittery and panicky. And when the work is done, it's directly onto the next task. I suppose a part of it is that software is so complex that I can't build up confidence since each task is so different. I've been doing this for 6 years. I still feel like Im lost and fresh out of school.
If it makes you feel any better I’ve been at it for more than twice that long and still feel like there is always new stuff to learn. You just have to accept that this career is one that requires constant improvement and self education. Sometimes it’s a helpful exercise to take a look at some work you did in years past and compare it to what you’re capable of doing now, seeing an improvement can be a good way to gain some perspective. :)