Working well & avoiding burnout

As we learned in the past few posts, the life of a junior developer is very busy. You’re learning about new technical things, building your profile, and getting better at teamwork at the same time. All this constant need for improvement can feel challenging. So a central part of your journey is also about learning to work well and avoiding burnout. Taking too much on isn't just a problem for senior developers and can hit junior developers just as hard. Let's discuss a few of the harder issues you will face in tech:

Imposter Syndrome

You might have heard of “imposter syndrome.” In the tech industry it's something that's often talked about, but what does it mean exactly? Imposter syndrome is when you feel that you don't deserve the success you have. You feel like you're just pretending to be good at what you do, and that you're going to be found out at any moment. This can manifest itself in different ways:

• You see other developers and you start thinking that they all are smarter or more talented than you
• You constantly feel that one day somebody will expose you as a fraud and you will be thrown out
• You wonder if it's the right career for you because there are so many things in tech which you don’t know yet

There is not a single way to deal with imposter syndrome. It's a very personal thing and you need to find a way that helps you deal with those feelings. But here are some tips to help you:

• Talk to other developers about it. You will find that you are not alone in feeling this way
• Watch some talks about imposter syndrome
• Accept that you will never know everything. There is always something new to learn, and that's a good thing
• Don't be afraid to ask for help. You're not a fraud and you're allowed to make mistakes. If you're stuck, there is likely someone who enjoys helping you out

Handling gatekeeping / dismissal

As a junior developer or someone new to the industry, you will most likely experience some kind of dismissal or gatekeeping. One of the most common dismissals you will get is if you don’t have a former computer science degree. But there are also other reasons for being dismissed. Personally, as a woman, I have experienced various forms of “Yes, but women can’t be programmers”. I have also experienced being corrected on anything technical I share. But there are also other reasons for dismissal like race, gender, educational background, or even the choice of programming language. Diversity in tech is still a big issue and a lot of people leave tech, just because of this. There will often be people who will try to discourage you from pursuing a career in their field and will try to make you feel like you don’t belong.

The best way to deal with gatekeeping is to ignore it. If someone makes you feel like you're not supposed to be there, you have two options: confront them about it or set boundaries with that person. Not everyone is willing to admit they might be wrong and you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone if you enjoy a certain field, whether is C++ or CSS. Even if you're learning and don't know everything, inspiring, sharing, and encouraging others is one of the greatest contributions you can make to a technical community.

Knowing when to take a break

For a lot of developers, coding is a passion. That’s great if that’s the case because you get to do a lot of what you like during your work time. But it can also lead to programming too much and not being able to take breaks. Especially if you do a lot of extra events and projects on top of your 9 to 5 job. Between working, writing blog posts, teaching classes, joining hackathons and conferences, working on a side project, and connecting with others, it’s quite easy to get burned out. Here are some signs to look out for:

• Constantly think about coding, coding projects, blog post ideas, or other technical things
• Loss of excitement about the area you work in
• Feeling tired or anxious
• Feeling like you can’t keep up with the work you have to do
• Feeling like you’re not good enough

Exercise 8 - Avoiding burnout

Let's be honest. Developing and coding is a lot of fun, but it can also be very taxing on your brain. The best thing you can do when you start feeling stressed, anxious or tired, is to give your brain some rest.

Learn to say no

If you have too many opportunities you will need to start to prioritize the things that are important to you. Saying yes to everything will harm you in the long term and will eventually lead to burnout. By putting quality over quantity you will stay sane and will still grow your career in some ways.

Know what you (don’t) want

At the beginning of my career, I started speaking at conferences a lot. But after some time I learned, that I did enjoy speaking, but just at a few selected events a year instead of all the time. A different choice could be that you do want to help others and build something great, but you don't want to work with a certain technology. It can be helpful to write down what you want and what you don’t want in your professional life.

Exercise, eat well, and sleep enough

This is a no-brainer, but it's still worth mentioning. Since so much of a developer's day is spent sitting, it’s important to build physical movement into your day. This can be a walk during lunch, a quick run in the morning, or a workout in the evening. It's also important to take breaks and not work too much. If you're not feeling well, take a day off. You will be more productive in the long run.

Conclusion

Being a junior developer can be really hard. There is so many things to learn, not to do, do more of and in between all of that you can easily burn out. In the past I often had moments, where I felt I wasn't good enough yet. I also had moments, where I doubted whether it was the right career for me (especially as a women) and moments where I was excited by the communities and feedback I got. But in the long term you can only do good work and help others, when you take care of yourself. So take a break, go for a walk, and enjoy the journey.