Cameron- what a terrific post!!
wondered why you had been so much quieter :-) you're right about the therapeutic value of vacations, unless you bring a major stressor with you :-( - next vacation will be just the wife and I ! I sometimes get "simmered out" - the pace of my job is slower than most of you developers, very little overtime, few life-or-death project deadlines. Not doing very much rocket science, but a lot of balsa wood airplanes <g>. This can make it easy to get bored or complacent, tasks that should take minutes don't get done. The same kind of "refresh" as with burnout can work there too I found. Have a good one, sir. -Ben > I'm right there with you man... Two years ago I think I was one of the top > 10 or at least 20 posters to cf-talk. Nothing like Dave Watts mind you, but > pretty consistently. I lived and breathed CF (and any related technology I > could get my hands on). I started the Atlanta CFUG, I worked 60-70 hour > weeks at home and in the office, weekends etc... but I loved it! Went to > every conference, read every post on every mailing list... > > Wrote an intranet system from scratch - by myself. big deal, but the > company spun it out into a separate company (www.neighborware.com), got > funding... Hired developers... Flew all over the country selling it to > companies... Then I just got tired of it all. Started coming in to work > late, not really giving things my all... We had enough smart developers at > the company to keep things going without me there all the time, so it wasn't > a huge deal... I stayed with the company for awhile, but then I just had to > move on. Wasn't doing it for me anymore. Company was healthy and moving > along fine... Somewhere in there I resigned my position as ACFUG president. > Didn't feel like I had the time or passion that the group deserved to be > devoted to it. > > I resigned and left the company... Didn't have a job lined up when I made > the decision, but things soon fell into place and I started another new > company. I have a few clients. It pays well, and I do have fun doing it. > But I'm still struggling to get the passion back. It's on it's way back > right now, though slowly... The passion is still in there someplace, I can > feel it, but it doesn't show it's head as often as it use to. Occasionally > it does, and the end result is a frenzy of coding that does more in one day > than I sometimes do in a whole week - two weeks even. > > I am excited about CFMX, and want to play with it a lot more than I have, > but sometimes I find myself just sitting down staring at the monitor and > simple tasks which should take be 2 minutes take be half an hour. I spent a > few good solid evenings with the CFMX betas and managed to bang on it enough > and submit enough bugs to win a prize... but haven't really used it alot > since then... I still post to CF-Talk, CFDJList, CF-Community, ACFUG's list > occasionally... But now as consistently as before. > > The biggest thing that's helped me so far... > > Take a vacation - a long one - no, I mean a really really long one. Minimum > of one week but two or more if you can afford it. Don't bring a computer > with you. Don't check your email. Don't bring anything technology related > with you. No tech mags to read on the plane, nothing. It doesn't have to > be a 3 week international odyssey, but it helps to get away from home. Long > camping trip, maybe a long visit to out of town family, or even stay in > town, but get out of the house. > > Also... I for one ALWAYS come back super-charged from DevCon, CF-North, or > any other tech conference in our field. I get to hang out with people I > only see at the conferences, and talk about crazy fun projects that everyone > is working on. I get to hear about how they are using technology in ways I > haven't thought of, and I get exposed to tons of new things... It's like > the vacation thing, except the polar opposite. You take a trip away from > home and totally immerse yourself in the technology for a few days. Charges > me right back up, and I come back with a head chock full of new ideas and > plans. > > Other than that I also agree with what others have said about hobbies and > such. Though I have yet to really stick to one. > > Ok, I really didn't mean for this to be such a long guts-spilling post, but > I feel better now... Perhaps we need a cf support group for recovering > burnouts? hehe... > > -Cameron > > ----------------- > Cameron Childress > Sumo Consulting Inc. > --- > cell: 678-637-5072 > aim: cameroncf > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Jon Hall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:01 AM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Burnout > > > > > > I need help guys... > > > > Currently I would definitely describe myself as burnt out. It's been > > a gradual process, but I'm definitely there. I don't have the burning > > desire to immerse myself anymore like I used to because there was so > > much to learn. > > There are a few different reasons, that I imagine are pretty common > > reasons for burnout. Learning experiences are few and far between, and > > lack of confidence in management (not the business side, but the > > project management.) All the standard reasons for burnout I guess. > > > > Anyway, any tips on combating burnout? > > > > -- > > jon > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
