A presentation at Non Binary in Tech in in London, UK by Damien Senger
BUILDING A NEW LIFE AFTER BURNOUT
Non Binary in Tech • London •
July 29th, 2017
Damien Senger • hiwelo.
UX / UI Designer Accessibility advocate
hiwelo.co
•
@iamhiwelo
Raccoon
my own web studio
raccoon.studio
BUILDING A NEW LIFE AFTER BURNOUT
28 years old, 2 burnouts .
So I will tell you two stories .
Two different experiences in two really different environments.
Working as a campaign manager for a political electoral campaign 1 .
A quick overview of a campaign manager job A final deadline you can’t change. A lot of responsibilities : I was babysitting in charge of 12 candidates. A lot of skills involved in a workday: strategy, communication, administrative and legal stuff, PR, human resources management, etc. Work hours: 9am – 10pm the good days, 7am – 2am the bad days.
Working as a campaign manager for a political electoral campaign 1 .
Working as a front end developer in a small French web agency 2.
3?
I hope this slide will stay empty.
Two different experiences… but one unique pattern .
How can we detect these situations ?
Listen to yourself! Your body can give you a lot of clues.
Less performant Less focused, lack of memory Working more than the regular hours Fatigue, useless holidays Unstable mood, irritability Loneliness and exclusion Musculoskeletal disorders Risk behaviours
Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, inefficiency.
Burnout is hell . !
Burnout is hell . !
But it’s not your fault .
Burnout is hell . !
You must do something against it .
Burnout is hell . !
It will not resolve itself .
How can we recover from a burnout ?
You need to accept
your condition : this is a real disease, ask for help. 1 .
You need to take your time , and sometimes to make choices . 2.
You need to adjust your environment . 3.
Reduce stress .
There is no good stress .
Stress is a natural body reaction, designed to be temporary .
Stress over time turns into exhaustion.
Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion , inefficiency. Fighting stress is the best solution against exhaustion.
I moved to a more peaceful city: Amsterdam.
Reduce fear.
At work, we have fear… of everything.
Judgement, failure, ratings, errors… Is our work this much scary?
Nobody has ever been fired at Valve for making a mistake. It wouldn’t make sense for us to operate that way.
VALVE “ ”
Failure is part of the human process.
We can learn more from our failures than our success.
To fight fear, we need more trust
and more independence .
Trust and independence are
needed to increase
self-confidence.
Three main things to watch: Resignation , exhaustion , inefficiency . Reducing fear is the best solution against resignation.
I chose to focus my job on my main interests: accessibility and improving users’ web experience.
Find help.
Burnout involves one person. This person is not responsible.
Burnout involves one person. But it’s a collective responsibility.
We need to find a better work-life balance.
Don’t hesitate to take sick leave when needed.
Ask for more breaks. Ask for more research time.
After a sprint, you need a break. For your brain, it’s the same!
Say thank you.
If needed, ask for a new team.
Look for new opportunities.
A more inclusive workplace is needed for a good mental health.
Fight for yourself, and for everyone else!
Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion , inefficiency . Asking for help is the best solution against inefficiency.
Feeling over-whelmed, few days ago I asked for a new planning and different tasks: it worked well!
How can we avoid these situations ?
We have no super power.
We are no ninjas , gurus , unicorns , rockstars or whatever.
We are professionals. We deserve respect.
We must say no.
No .
Say it. Say it over and over. Never stop saying it.
Nope .
Listen to yourself. Learn from yourself. Watch for your limits.
I just talked with William, I know you are no backend developer but we have this emergency. Can you fix it for tomorrow morning?
Your project/product manager at 5pm. “ ”
Nope , nope & nope .
If you work on unknown things, you need time. Ask for it.
We must control our plannings.
Tasks, deadlines, schedules: tell your limits and ask for help!
Switching often between tasks is highly exhausting for our brain.
And no, I mean, NO task ever takes only five minutes!
We are not our work . We are more.
Thank you! (and please pardon my French!)
damien@raccoon.studio • @iamhiwelo
28 years old, 2 burnout. Today, all tech jobs offer a good working environment, a competitive salary and… beers! Great, isn’t it? But everyday I hear new stories of people recovering from burnout or severe depression. What is going wrong in our life? It’s time to find a better work-life balance.
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