063 JSJ Burnout

June 14, 2013

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3 min read

Panel

Jamison Dance (twitter github blog)
Joe Eames (twitter github blog)
Merrick Christensen (twitter github)
Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up)

Discussion
01:47 – Burnout

Google: define burnout

04:57 – Pair Programming
06:19 – Burnout Guilt

Thought-workers vs Laborers

10:15 – Positive Reinforcement
11:18 – Causes of Burnout

Prolonged periods of high stress
Crappy jobs
Long hours
OCD
Organizational challenges
Fighting
Bikeshedding
Difficult work environment
Twitter
Comparison

20:41 – Overcoming Burnout

Rest
Do something else
Gratitude
Talk to your boss
Twitter / @bmf: Burnout is not caused by working hard. Burnout is caused by not shipping.
Measurable progress

28:17 – Short-term Burnout

Exercising
You Are Your Own Gym (YAYOG)
Meditation
Take lunch

32:17 – Reaching out to others who may be burning out
35:50 – Preventing Burnout

Positive environments
Motivation
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
[YouTube] Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Picks

America's Got Talent (Joe)
Storm Front (Derrick Storm) by Richard Castle (Joe)
Derandomized - Khan Academy: Machine Learning -> Measurable Learning (Jamison)
Get On Top (Jamison)
Ben Bernanke to Princeton Grads: The World Isn't Fair (and You All Got Lucky) (Merrick)
General Assembly (AJ)
AJ needs a room to rent in San Francisco (AJ)
You Are Your Own Gym (YAYOG)
Run 10k (Chuck)
Nike+ Running (Chuck)

Transcript

[Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at Bluebox.net.]

[This episode is sponsored by Component One, makers of Wijmo. If you need stunning UI elements or awesome graphs and charts, then go to Wijmo.com and check them out.]

CHUCK: Hey everybody, and welcome to Episode 63 of the JavaScript Jabber Show. This week on our panel, we have Jamison Dance.

JAMISON: Hello friends.

CHUCK: Joe Eames.

JOE: Hello there.

CHUCK: Merrick Christensen.

MERRICK: Hey.

CHUCK: And I’m Charles Max Wood from DevChat.TV. This week we’re going to be talking about burnout, I’m assuming you’ve all experienced burnout?

MERRICK: Does anybody else feel weird saying hello into a microphone? I feel like Joe sounded like this Texan guy. Like you never know what you’re supposed to say.

JOE: Howdy, partner.

MERRICK: Yeah, exactly. More like a response coming, you know. It’s funny.

CHUCK: Yeehaw!

JAMISON: You’re just rolling the dice.

MERRICK: Yeah. I feel like [inaudible] or something, so people know it’s me.

JAMISON: You just never know what’s going to come out.

MERRICK: You really don’t. Sometimes, I’m like, “Maybe I’m going to go Little John on this thing and I don’t know.

[Chuckles]

JOE: From now on, instead of saying hello, I’ll do this one, [sound] [Laughter]

JAMISON: Let’s get a soundboard.

JOE: I’ve got a soundboard here.

CHUCK: Oh, nice.

MERRICK: We could really, really degrade the quality of the show, or improve it, with cool sound.

JAMISON: I think we just have.

[Laughter]

CHUCK: I’ve thought about getting soundboards for the different segments, like the picks and stuff, but nah.

JAMISON: It took us 30 seconds to wander off topic.

CHUCK: I know.

JAMISON: Let’s talk about burnout.

CHUCK: Burnout.

JAMISON: Can we get a definition of burnout, to channel Josh Susser.

JOE: You define it, Jamison.

JAMISON: I was reading on Wikipedia, as one does when you’re trying to learn about something. It says it’s a psychological term for long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work.

CHUCK: Ooh, that’s very good.

MERRICK: I like that.

JOE: A long-term exhaustion. Okay.

JAMISON: So, it’s not just like, “I’m feeling lazy today.” It’s, “I’m feeling lazy this month or lazy when I’m at work this month.”