Totally!
I hit burnout an now “productivity” is a dirty word. I’ve discovered that it is healthy to take time for yourself, even if it is to literally do nothing.
Programming is both my career and hobby, but I’ve had to adjust my free time to allow my mind to just let go a bit more often.
I’m teetering on this edge currently. “Oh, I haven’t made GitHub contributions to my two open source projects in awhile, and I need to brush up my coding skills in case I cannot find another Director level job, and …” then I’m exhausted and dreading the next day’s meeting schedule.
I’d really like to do some personal projects, both to learn new stuff and scratch my digital itches.
The bitch is that ⅓ of the day goes to sleeping, ⅓ to work (where i do what i like but not how i like it because management) and the other ⅓ is for groceries, workout, friends & family, chores etc… and after a mentally-exhausting day at work i can’t really motivate myself to work on a project… i’d rather just be dumb in front of online video frivolities for a while and hit the hay 'cos tomorrow’s another (work) day.
Burnout’s a dirty word for be 'cos the only people i’ve seen using it are managers who don’t deserve the air they breathe.
I’d really like to do some personal projects, both to learn new stuff and scratch my digital itches.
Likewise. There are so many things I’d love to do. Hell, I’d even love to just practice and improve at things that I do in my day job. My current job requires golang and while I’m competent, I’m nowhere near the level of comfort that I want to be. And that’s just the language, there are other libraries, technologies, etc. where I’d like to improve too.
But unfortunately, I have to pace myself. And that basically means I can never do anything computer-related in my spare time. A part of me hopes that some day, I can reduce my hours, or just find a very chill job that still pays decently so I can do more important things in my spare time. But for now, this is the choice that I’ve made.
